Creators: Peter J Tomasi & Peter Snejbjerg
Colorist: John Kalisz
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Cover Artists: Peter Snejbjerg & John Kalisz
Editor: Brian Cunningham
Designer: Steve Blackwell
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $14.99
Release Date: September 3, 2025
When nations go to war, resolving the issues that sparked the conflict can be difficult. Often, the underlying problem is that they're different and don't understand each other. Ancient cultures brokered peace by exchanging royal children and letting their adoptive families raise them as their own.
There are no more ancient cultures than Heaven and Hell. When the two realms wish to broker peace after years of war, they exchange babies. Who will raise these children from Heaven and Hell? And how will the realms ensure that the children grow up to accept both realms? Let's grab a party hat and blow tickler, leap into Hornsby & Halo TP Vol 1, and see!
Story
Zachary was an infant sired by angels. Rose was born to rule the Underworld. The task of overseeing their development fell to the Adjudicator. He placed them with Human families of opposing natures. The Hornsbys adopted Rose. As she grows, she helps them run the local community center. The Adjudicator placed Zachary with the Halos, who operate a funeral home. While Rose helps feed and clothe the unhoused residents of Warwick, New York, Zachary performs all the menial tasks so his parents can preen in their finery and go skiing on a snowy weekend.
As thirteen marks the beginning of the teen years, agents from Heaven and Hell arrive to test the children. These are not authorized visits in Peter J Tomasi’s story. Instead, they are surreptitious attempts to activate the children's inherent natures and help them reclaim their destiny. The Adjudicator has watched over Zachary and Rose for twelve years. But because the agents come in disguise, he doesn’t realize they are trying to break the celestial peace.
In Hornsby & Halo TP Vol 1, an unintended act of vandalism stirs Zachary's and Rose's emotions. When Zachary's parents upset him, his spirit attempts to rectify their foul deed. Linked by Zachary's hurtful act, Rose's spirit rises to pursue him. When their paths cross at Mount Hope Cemetery, Zachary and Rose compete for the same goal. While one wins the prize, both must deal with the consequences of victory.
Art
While baby Rose bathes in fire, baby Zachary flies with doves in Hornsby & Halo TP Vol 1. As she plays with skeletal birds and a toy ferryman in his boat, he eats tufts of clouds and shares his meal with his avian playmates. Rose clutches her mother’s horns when a sword-clad demon lifts her daughter from her bath. Zachary clambers over an angel's back, yanking out wing feathers as they fly over a field of fallen demons. More feathers descend as angels and demons hover above heavenly and hellish cities. Swords, pitchforks, and spears glow as energy and fluids spill from their lifeless bodies.
While Peter Snejbjerg provides tantalizing visions of Heaven, Hell, and small-town life in New York, John Kalisz lavishes a loaded palette on Hornsby & Halo TP Vol 1. Stars shine amid the darkness surrounding the blue-skinned Adjudicator as he clutches the orange and pink infants. After the intensely colored eternal realms, red-haired Rose sits amid gentler colors in her school bus. Her green art bag hovers before her as her schoolmate grabs her sketchbook. Zachary garners more attention as he leans out of the bus window. As he closes his eyes, birds soar above his outstretched arm.
Black uppercase letters in gray boxes reveal the children’s cosmic origins. Black letters in white balloons convey dialogue as the children fail to recognize the bond uniting them. Rob Leigh shows the children’s pets bark and meow into nonspherical balloons with lightning bolt arrows. Sound effects fill panels as agent provocateurs descend on Warwick, unleashing a variety of colored and shaped dialogue balloons. Thanks to Image Comics and Ghost Machine for providing a review copy.
Final Thoughts
What does becoming an authentic person involve? Can you accommodate others' differing worldviews without diminishing your identity? In Hornsby & Halo TP Vol 1, a celestial war has slaughtered millions of angels and demons. All that prevents the conflict from restarting is two children who don't know who they are and must decide who they wish to become.
Rating 9.5/10
For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.
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