Writer: James Tynion IV
Artist & Colorist: Joshua Hixson
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
Cover Artist: Joshua Hixson; Dani; Andrea Sorrentino; Sean Phillips; Christian Ward; Bermejo
Publisher: Image
Price: $5.99
Release Date: November 15, 2023
Christmas shopping reminds Michael that he can’t wrap Christmas presents. His friend Derek agrees: he’s terrible at it. Why does this bother Michael so much? Let’s ring in the holiday season, peer inside The Deviant #1, and find out!
Story
In 1973, Randall Olsen played Santa Claus in a department store. When a worker forgot her keys and returned after hours, she found Eddie groaning and bleeding in Randall's chair. Cops raided Randall's barn, where they found two boys. The police also found photos of the boys who portrayed elves in Randall's store. He's been in prison ever since.
Michael is a comic book writer. He interviews Randall in search of a story. Randall insists that he only photographed the boys. If so, who hurt Eddie and killed the boys? Who was the axe-wielding Santa the cops spied near Randall's "Murder Barn?" And why did Randall have a barn in the country if he lived in the city?
In The Deviant #1, James Tynion IV comments on the state of the comic book industry. He tackles societal views on homosexuality from a historical and contemporary perspective. He also shares the storyteller’s search for truth. Randall seeks answers to who he is. He desperately wants to know where he fits in. Or does he?
Art
Joshua Hixson’s art in The Deviant #1 evokes a 1970s department store through interior design, clothing, and a cash register. Glimpses of blood trickling down from Eddie's eyes and the mutilated boys adorned like a Christmas tree are shocking but not grotesque. Light touches of lavender suggest background displays while Derek clutches Michael's hand. Yet the most haunting of all remains the moment when the searching officer falls into the snow, and his flashlight reveals the blood-splattered, axe-wielding department store Santa Claus.
Giant white letters introduce the dates and locations of scenes in The Deviant #1. Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou’s black uppercase letters in white dialogue balloons are easy to read. Eddie's groans look organic and rounded. The Deviant Killer's grunts are sharp and angular. Were they clawed into panels by an animal or cut into scenes with the edge of a blade?
Thanks to Image Comics for providing a copy for review.
Final Thoughts
A comic writer seeking a key to his past finds affinity with a condemned killer in The Deviant #1.
Rating 8.4/10
To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.
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