With their seventh issue, Alterna Comics and the creative team behind Satanic Hell, attempt to wrap up the mini-saga of a rebellious and rambunctious rock band’s struggle against an iron-fisted and oppressive religious authority ruling over the state of Texas. While the series finale features a number of revelations and forward momentum, the open-ended feel may leave some readers with more questions than answers and a hankering for some Satanic Hell-style closure in the form of further issues.
MINOR SPOILERS BELOW
Satanic Hell #7 picks up with the band members finding themselves rescued from Doctor Wartech’s horrific and demonic experiments by a surprising ally. While they manage to escape Wartech’s clutches, Dante, Death Priest, and Exodus are left permanently altered into demon-like creatures with supernatural abilities. While not thrilled with their new forms, the band members adjust to their new bodies and powers, eventually using them to battle against Reverend Scudder’s forces. In the end, Scudder escapes, but the band embraces their new, hellish looks as they prepare for the release of a new album, their band now more famous than ever.
Grigoris Douros, the creator and writer behind Satanic Hell, wraps up his comic series with some huge moments and massive changes for his lead characters, and while those elements work really well to ratchet up the stakes for the final issue, it also comes off a bit jarring with this last leg feeling almost like a surprise origin story for the demon rockers the band becomes by the end of the story. It almost feels as if this lead up has only just now gotten to the true story Douros would like to tell and readers would love to follow. The character of The Saint, one of the most mysterious and intriguing in the series, also suffers slightly from this feeling, as well. While we get a few tasty bites of his path and can come to our own conclusions regarding his final acts against the church, it feels like the character still hasn’t received a real moment in the spotlight and is being “saved” for further adventures. While this may provide mild frustration for some readers, maybe, in the long run, it’s a good thing for Satanic Hell that readers will be left expecting more and, potentially, hungry for it, too.
Satanic Hell’s art team of Kevin Enheart (art), Newel Anderson (additional art), and Jimmy Kearst (colors) finish out the final issue as strong as ever. The team finally gets to draw the beasties that they’ve clearly been itching to get, and Enheart and Kearst tap into that advantage by also delivering the best cover of the series so far.
FINAL VERDICT: While the wrap up of Satanic Hell is a little uneven, it has a number of high moments and sets the stage for a potential return to the series that will surely excite and thrill fans of the comic. There have been better issues of Satanic Hell in its seven-issue run, but if you’ve followed the band this far, you’re not going to want to miss their final “performance.”
Be sure to read my previous reviews of the series to get an even more detailed examination of this unique comic series:
‘Satanic Hell #1’ Review: Welcome to Texas (Now Get the F#$% Out!)
‘Satanic Hell #2’ Review: We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Religion!
‘Satanic Hell #3’ Review: Still Rockin’ in Texas!
‘Satanic Hell #4:’ Comic Book Review (Introducing The Saint)
‘Satanic Hell #5:’ Comic Book Review (Escape from Hospital Hell)
‘Satanic Hell #6:’ Comic Book Review (No Rest for the Wicked)
Find out more about Satanic Hell by visiting the official website. Satanic Hell #7 is currently available for purchase on ComiXology.
That’s all for now, comic book sniffers!
‘Till the end of the world,
-Bryant the Comic Book Slayer
@ComicBookSlayer
