Planet Of Daemons #4 - Amigo Comics

PLANET OF DAEMONS No. 4, August 2017

As showdowns with a daemon of war go, Amos Deathridge’s final battle against the forces of Count Eligos and the horrifying revelation as to the Seventeenth Century magistrate’s origin, arguably provides its audience with precisely the sort of cataclysmic conclusion one would expect to immediately have its readers clamouring for more. In fact, Kevin Gunstone’s narrative for Issue Four of “Planet Of Daemons” provides something akin to the perfect ending for this mini-series, as his penmanship not only addresses the myriad of mysteries surrounding “the real identity of the Succubus Queen, Heinous", as well as the cause of the puritan’s vague visions concerning “the life he left behind”. But also sets the jailer of the Prison-House of Angels up for a scintillating sequel courtesy of the grieving father both glimpsing his dead son’s soul as a trapped entity in the occult realm of evil, and the morally-strict church-goer’s cajoling of the boy’s misguided mother into eternal servitude at his side.

Foremost of these ‘hooks’ is debatably the disclosure that the grizzled amnesiac inadvertently killed his own treacherous spouse whilst riding down a group of hooded cultists who were desecrating young Zachary’s corpse for their own nefarious ends. Enraged at the sheer monstrousness of their actions, and the probable slaying of Ezra as the man desperately tried to rescue the dead lad’s “body from the flames”, it is all too easy to imagine the red mist blinding Amos as to the dangers of his headlong charge into the void in vengeful pursuit of a horned daemoness. Just how the man’s sanity is going to recover from such a torturous vision in the long-term is left teasingly unanswered at the end of this twenty-seven page periodical, especially when an unholy supernatural spirit of Trinity now administers to his needs.

Likewise, thanks in part to some pathos-packed pencilling by Paul Moore, Gunstone also delivers a fitting resolution to the eternal troubles of Deathridge’s former friend Silas, whose death on Earth was both hauntingly harrowing and utterly unjust. Now seemingly destined to walk Gamaliel, a world of the Qliphoth, as a cloven-hooved monstrosity, the man finally succeeds in extracting a revenge of sorts against his persecutors by shooting Heinous through the head and ending his miserable existence during the destruction of Eligos’ fortress; “Finally… My torment here is at an end. In flames, I am free of this world.”

Writer: Kevin Gunstone, Art: Paul Moore, and Colour: Stefan Mrkonjic

Planet Of Daemons #3 - Amigo Comics

PLANET OF DAEMONS No. 3, December 2016

Riddled with more treacherous acts than the diabolical labyrinth of Sathariel has dead ends, Kevin Gunstone’s script for Issue Three of “Planet Of Daemons” must surely have made many readers of this mini-series doubt anyone except the strait-laced Magistrate of the Qliphoth was capable of telling anything even remotely resembling the truth during "The Eye Of Lucifer". Indeed, by the time a supposedly blind Husk leads Amos Deathridge into a seemingly fatal trap deep within a demonic warren literally teeming with ungodly hooved ones, it is arguably difficult to even maintain much confidence in the Puritan’s own memories as he chillingly recalls the dread night when he discovered his wife in Salem had actually been replaced long ago by Nehema, the Succubus Queen.  

So thoroughly disconcerting a doubt as to the Seventh-Century soldier’s sanity starts straight from this twenty-four page periodical’s opening sequence and subsequently peppers the plot throughout, as an entirely innocent Silas is roughly arrested inside a New England “den of iniquity” simply because a befuddled Amos has fallen for his false spouse’s treacherous lies. To make matters even worse Deathridge is later further infuriated by his former friend’s threat to publically shame Trinity “during my trial” in front of the whole town, and resultantly doesn’t question the logic of the man's imprisonment until he investigates the so-called acolyte's apparent suicide a short time later; “He was many things, but never a coward. I believe that is the coward’s escape. The guards have deceived me in the past. They are protecting someone.”   

Equally as eloquently penned is the main protagonist’s confrontation with a cabal of truly horrific-looking devils deep within the Spirit of War’s nightmarishly configured realm. Splendidly pencilled by Paul Moore, the mass of horned ones, complete with sightless facial features, tusks, fur and chaotic symbolism, genuinely help depict the sheer depth of unholy depravity into which Amos has unwisely allowed himself to be drawn to and perturbingly illustrates just how many enemies the guardian of the Soul Key has infuriated with his past noble actions. Admittedly, there is a moment of satisfaction when the Magistrate rewards Salis’ duplicitous betrayal with a lethal lead ball in the back, but such a delightful act of retribution is soon swallowed up by the Justice of the Peace’s ultimate fate at the hands of the ethereal Despair and his vengeful sword.

Writer: Kevin Gunstone, Art: Paul Moore, and Colour: Stefan Mrkonjic

Planet Of Daemons #2 - Amigo Comics

PLANET OF DAEMONS No. 2, December 2016

Absolutely packed full of all the puritanical persecutions its fans probably anticipated from a mini-series partially based upon Seventeenth Century New England, Kevin Gunstone’s screenplay for Issue Two of “Planet Of Daemons” must have kept many within its audience thoroughly riveted to their reading chairs with its fascinating mixture of "mystery, intrigue, and dark sorcery." For whilst the twenty-four page periodical somewhat lacks in pulse-pounding action, especially once Amos Deathridge has wisely fled “the forsaken Palace of Lilith” following its partial destruction at the hands of a pair of Eligos’ winged emissaries, the reason behind just why the former Puritan magistrate now “serves as jailer of the daemons and evil spirits who cast their sinister influence over mankind” proves an utterly enthralling narrative.

Indeed, this slowly unfolding tale of the god-fearing man’s harrowing fate on Earth, courtesy of a foul deception “by those closest and dearest” to him, becomes particularly compelling once the esteemed “man of experience and wisdom” starts to doubt the chasteness of any town resident who even so much as dares to ask a question of him, and simply has them arrested. Such an oppressive atmosphere of disquiet and suspicion is genuinely palpable, and resultantly it comes as no surprise when Amos’ conspiratorial wife seemingly uncovers a treachery beyond the mortal realm being committed by one of his closest friends; “I saw Silas pray to the evil spirits of beyond. His call was answered by a succubus called Nehema.”

Of course, that isn’t to say that the main protagonist’s pursuit of a daemon of war on the world of Sathariel, prodigiously pencilled by Paul Moore, isn’t equally as absorbing. Deathridge’s discovery of the nude Heinous and her subsequent rescue from a collapsing royal residence provides the lone traveller with a much-needed companion, as well as an opportunity to illuminate this book’s audience with more insights into his tragic backstory, even when it is made abundantly clear straight from the start that “this was an act I would live to regret…” In fact, by the time the past justice of the peace has witnessed the disturbingly bizarre demise of a trio of daemonic concealers, who stalk “doomed souls trapped in the maze”, he has acquired a second intriguing acquaintance in the guise of the “misplaced soul” Salis and unknowingly already entered the Labyrinth within which resides the fortress of Count Eligos.

Writer: Kevin Gunstone, Art: Paul Moore, and Colour: Stefan Mrkonjic

Planet Of Daemons #1 - Amigo Comics

PLANET OF DAEMONS No. 1, September 2016

Proudly entered “into our little family” by “Amigo Comics” in July 2016, this “hell of a book” undeniably contains an incredibly well thought out universe “created by the British team of Kevin Gunstone and Paul Moore” which seemingly mixes the very best elements of Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic poem “Divine Comedy” with the paranoid prosecutions of the Salem witch trials. Indeed, up until her death by hanging, during which she curses the land “in the name of the succubus Nehema”, the persecution of poor old widow Barebones, which progresses throughout this twenty-two page periodical, appears to simply be the unjust maniacal imaginings of an overzealous magistrate rather than any actual practical demonstration of witchcraft.

Delightfully however, as this “bewitching” book’s audience immediately discerns, it is not just the Borough of Ipswich in Massachusetts, New England upon which the servants of Satan wantonly roam, but also the occult realm of the Qliphoth. Plagued by beaked bat-creatures and wookie-like horned beastmen, this shadow world “of sorcery and ill-intent” proves as fascinating a landscape as it is clearly deadly, and provides plenty of pulse-pounding action-packed exploits to beautifully counter the somewhat slower-paced court-room tensions of Amos Deathridge’s 17th Century investigation into a cattle plague; “For you and your kind, I offer only imprisonment or oblivion... There is no escape! Daemon, it is time we bartered words..."

In fact, one of the most harrowing scenes in this publication occurs upon one of the spheres “hidden from man’s perception” when the puritan discovers the corpse of his fellow adventurer Baron Aubert and utilises “the pure light of Adam’s Jewel” to command the cadaver to “tell me who is responsible for your ruin.” Dressed in the chainmail of a crusading knight, the image of the magistrate’s desperately struggling friend being stretched over Count Eligos’ sacrificial tree stump, held firmly in place by the blue-skinned demon’s red-robed acolytes so as to extend the fiend’s “influence on Earth and the Qliphoth” is disturbingly penned by Gunstone and additionally provides an ample example of just how perilously quick one’s gruesome death can be within the jailer of evil spirits’ world.

Quite possibly this book’s only downside therefore is in some of Paul Moore’s pencilled panels, which occasionally appear a little too roughly-hewn for a professional publication. There should though be no doubting the artist’s ability to imbue his figures with plenty of dynamism, as the gaoler of daemons’ closely fought battle with a pack of fur-covered fiends attests, but a fair few of the illustrator’s faces arguably appear to wear a disconcerting grimace which distractingly detracts from the overall storytelling.

Writer: Kevin Gunstone, Art: Paul Moore, and Colour: Stefan Mrkonjic