Falling in Love on the Path to Hell Vol. 1
Gerry Duggan & Garry Brown, story & art; Chris O’Halloran, color artist; Joe Sabino, letterer; Elliott Gray, designer
Image Comics, 2025

The story begins in 1876, with a gunman named MacRaith and a samurai named Ogata Asami. MacRaith is in Los Angeles, where he has caught up with five men he has been pursuing. He kills them, but gets shot in the process. The samurai is on the Japanese island of Kyūshū, where she is supposed to disarm after a failed rebellion. But dishonor sends her into a rage, reigniting the uprising, and finally getting her shot as well. They find themselves on the seashore, gazing at a strange island they had not seen before. The tale takes a major supernatural turn as they awake together in a purgatory ruled by a ruthless society of damned warriors. Asami and MacRaith will need to overcome the dead, the dying, and the undead. Every day at dusk, the river Styx dries up, allowing legions of the dead to cross over from Hell. Both dislike Mohan and the warriors he leads, so they live away from the barracks. Eventually, their distrust of each other grows into something more (love is in the title, after all). And MacRaith has stumbled into a possible way to escape the island. The art is rough but serviceable, but it does feature quite a bit of creative panel design which makes for energetic storytelling.

The Deviant Vol. 1
James Tynion IV, writer; Joshua Hixson, art & cover; Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, letterer
Image Comics, 2024

The story begins in Milwaukee during the 1973 Christmas season. A man masquerading as a department store Santa has brutally murdered some young men. Fifty years later (December 2023) a troubled young writer named Michael interviews this so-called Deviant Killer, a gay man who who still maintains his innocence from prison. He agreed to the interview out of boredom, but soon he is questioning the writer about his motivation. Is he writing the comic as a way of exploring his feelings about being gay? Michael still isn’t sure what kind of story he is writing. In the meantime, another homicidal maniac in a Santa suit has begun murdering young men. The police find Michael’s drivers license at the scene of the crime–and when they visit his apartment they discover a bloody Santa suit and mask in a closet. Quite a setup for the series! Hixson’s art is well-suited to the story: it reminds me of Sean Phillips’ work on the Criminal series with Ed Brubaker.