Comic Review: Exorsisters #4

Exorsisters #4

Image Comics

Writer: Ian Boothby

 Artist: Gisèle Lagacé

Exorsisters‘ storyline focus on the jobs of two twin sisters that work as professional exorcists for anyone that is able to hire them. As a magic and mysticism fan myself, I got very excited when I read the synopsis to this series. Tragically my enthusiasm was practically gone by the end of this last issue.

In the fourth chapter of the sisters’ story, we follow them as investigate the angel rain which concluded issue #3. Mid-investigation they encounter a man claiming another man, dressed as the devil, is trying to steal the first one’s soul. This all leads to a neat twist and a well-paced build up for the villain’s official presentation which appears to be on its way in the next issue.

The first thing I’d like to make clear about the writing is that I’ve never read any other of Boothby’s work. That being said, I do think he does a fine job keeping an engaging narrative throughout the whole issue. He delivers likable characters and funny situations that help to keep the reader entertained. However, the main storyline seems to be taking too long to build itself never being the main encouragement for the reader to buy next month’s issue. Surely the idea may be to slowly build the tension on this world, but the chapters definitely cannot sustain themselves for much longer.

The magic in this series also fails to deliver, at least on these first issues. It all feels average. Of course, there is a mention of Heaven, Hell and what can or not be done here or there, but none of it innovates in any way whatsoever. I’m not trying to tell Boothby how to write fantasy, but the magic has been coming across more like a plot device than an element for the story.

The artwork in this series as a whole has undoubtedly been one of my biggest disappointments. I thought I was reading a tale of exorcism, demons, and magic which are, very often, not cute at all. Lagacé’s art is beautifully executed and she’s an artist that deserves recognition, but I cannot see how her work fits in this series, always highlighting Boothby’s light moments and never his dark ones. I’m pretty sure contrast between the theme of the series and its artwork was what they were aiming for except even Lagacé’s demons and creatures are incredibly bland and harmless, failing disastrously at inspiring fear.

Despite being the result of a partnership between to extremely capable professionals, maybe they should’ve passed on their idea to another set of artists or tried a different, more dark approach. This comic has great potential and maybe it lifts after having the chance to dive deeper into its own mystical world and show different creatures and their designs, sadly, however, I don’t have strong hopes that it will.