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Dead Of Night Featuring Devil-Slayer Kindle & comiXology
Abandoned by his fiancée, his family, his church, and his government, Sergeant Dan Sylva returns to Iraq for a third tour of duty -- and a descent into Hell itself. If the demon Belathauzer and the mysterious mercenary group known as Bloodstone have their way, Iraq, the place where civilization began, may also be where civilization ends. The reinvented Devil-Slayer takes Marvel’s DEAD OF NIGHT to terrifying new heights, from award-winning horror novelist Brian Keene (The Rising, Dark Hollow) and artist Chris Samnee (DAREDEVIL: BLOOD OF THE TARANTULA)!
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherMAX
- Publication dateJune 10, 2009
- File size270438 KB
- Due to its large file size, this book may take longer to download
- Read this book on comiXology. Learn more
Product details
- ASIN : B084D3YR52
- Publisher : MAX (June 10, 2009)
- Publication date : June 10, 2009
- Language : English
- File size : 270438 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Not enabled
- Enhanced typesetting : Not Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Not Enabled
- Sticky notes : Not Enabled
- Print length : 95 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,457,946 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,135 in Two-Hour Comic & Graphic Novel Short Reads
- #3,569 in Horror Graphic Novels (Kindle Store)
- #6,719 in Horror Graphic Novels (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors
Chris Samnee is a Eisner and Harvey award winning cartoonist. He is best known for his work on Daredevil, Black Widow, Thor: The Mighty Avenger and Captain America. He lives in St. Louis, MO with his wife and three daughters.
BRIAN KEENE is the author of over forty books, mostly in the horror, crime, and dark fantasy genres. His 2003 novel, The Rising, is often credited (along with Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead comic and Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later film) with inspiring pop culture’s current interest in zombies. Keene’s novels have been translated into German, Spanish, Polish, Italian, French, Taiwanese, and many more. In addition to his own original work, Keene has written for media properties such as Doctor Who, The X-Files, Hellboy, Masters of the Universe, and Superman.
Several of Keene’s novels have been developed for film, including Ghoul, The Ties That Bind, and Fast Zombies Suck. Several more are in-development or under option.
Keene’s work has been praised in such diverse places as The New York Times, The History Channel, The Howard Stern Show, CNN.com, Publisher’s Weekly, Media Bistro, Fangoria Magazine, and Rue Morgue Magazine. He has won numerous awards and honors, including a World Horror Grand Master award, two Bram Stoker awards, and a recognition from Whiteman A.F.B. (home of the B-2 Stealth Bomber) for his outreach to U.S. troops serving both overseas and abroad. A prolific public speaker, Keene has delivered talks at conventions, college campuses, theaters, and inside Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, VA.
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Dan fights for his life, but is only saved by the intervention of a man who had previous claimed to be a reporter, but is really a magi sent to protect him and tell him about his true purpose. It seems Dan Sylva is more than just a soldier in the US Army, he’s also a shagish chultepi, or “Devil-Slayer.”
There’s a plot at work here that Dan couldn’t have dreamed of on his best day, involving angels and demons working together to bring about an early Armageddon. But after retrieving the Sword of Naram-Sin, Dan is the only human alive with the power to stop the oncoming destruction.
Honestly, I think that all sounds a lot more exciting and interesting than it really was. This book was originally published as a 4-part comic series, part of Marvel’s more adult-oriented MAX line of violent books, in 2008. Written by horror author Brian Keene with art by Chris Samnee, DEAD OF NIGHT: Devil-Slayer is “meh” at best.
The story isn’t that intriguing and once we get to the point of it all--“They use ritual sacrifice to gather energy from human souls… With enough energy, they’ll unleash the forces of Hell. With the planet overrun by demons, Heaven will mistakenly believe that Hell invaded Earth. They’ll retaliate. An orchestrated Armageddon.”--um, no, I don’t think so. It all seems very elaborate and farfetched, don’t you think? And the idea the demons are using Earth’s own wars to hide their atrocities, ok I can buy that part. But the rest of the plan feels like it all hinges on a “Three’s Company” punch line. Jack Tripper’s gonna overhear Chrissy’s date from the kitchen, talking to someone innocently on the phone, and mistake the entire context of the call for something sinister and not very wholesome at all, and he’s going to cause a big misunderstanding when he tries to do the right thing. Come on, now. Heaven is going to mistakenly believe Hell has invaded? Seriously? I’m no theologian, but I’ve read my Bible enough times to know that is possibly never going to ever happen. For one, the angel Gabriel is in league with the demons here, but isn’t the big deal about angels having beef with humans because God gave man free will, something he didn’t give to the angels? So how is Gabriel in league with ANYONE? And that’s just a minor detail in it all, one I could be totally wrong about. But you know what I’m NOT wrong about? The idea that God would look at the demons running rampant on Earth and cry in shock, “They’ve invaded! Arm the angels, we march at dawn!”
I mean, I can’t see the angels declaring war without the say-so from Capital G, so this whole plan succeeds or fails based on God’s pulling a Jack Tripper?
Ok.
But for me, that wasn’t the only con.
Devil-Slayer, at least a different version of him, Dan Sylva’s uncle Eric, has been around since 1977. For this version, however, Keene has created his own take on the character. Dan Sylva knows only that his uncle suffered from PTSD after Vietnam, but nothing about his stint as the Defender known as Devil-Slayer.
While I felt sympathy for Dan at the start--fiancee met someone else while he was away, he can’t find a job after returning to the States--that sympathy quickly turned to eye rolls reading Dan’s inner monologue captions.
“Speechless, I let the M-4 talk for me instead.”
“This guy better have some answers.”
“I hear the wind picking up outside. Storm coming. Suits my mood.”
“[The sword] feels like a part of me. Natural. Like I’ve been using it all my life. Gotta admit, I could get used to this.”
“I should be scared. But I’m not. Only thing I feel is vengeful.”
I could go on, but even just reading these to myself, I can’t do it in anything less than a gravelly voice, and my inner monologue throat is getting sore from these captions.
Do people really think like this to themselves? I mean, outside of badly scripted war movies or westerns? And 80s action films? Dan Sylva, Devil-Slayer, reads more like Dirty Harry meets Mad Max. And it’s boring. Maybe if this book had come out 20 years earlier, sure. But in 2008, I’d like to think we’ve moved beyond this sort of shallow characterization where the hero is this ridiculously overly-macho alpha male lunkhead.
To me, Sylva reads like a man who can’t get out of his own way long enough to look around and realize there are things in this world other than chest-thumping. And I just can’t buy a character like that. Not in 2008, and certainly not at the end of 2015. At 43, that type of character is just too narrowly drawn for me to take any interest in.
As for the art, since this is a comic, Samnee’s work suits the tone of the book very well, but I think June Chung’s color palette works against the art sometimes, especially when everything is tinged in red, making the human characters hard to distinguish from the demons. Samnee’s panel layout moves smoothly, telling the story very easily. Also, his detail in some of the more horrific elements works perfectly, especially when the main demon of the story reveals its true form near the end.
While I enjoyed this book from a visual standpoint, if this had been an ongoing monthly series, and I read these first four issues just to finish off the first arc, I wouldn’t have picked up issue #5. The direction would obviously have been nothing new at all, demon of the week tropes with the occasional soul-searching Sylva issue sprinkled throughout, all of it amounting to nothing because when the going gets tough, Sylva would just revert right back to letting the sword or the M-4 do the talking for him. And honestly, I’d rather just go watch PREDATOR again.
Devil-Slayer follows a SGT in the US Army as he returns to Iraq for another tour, as part of a QRF for on call missions. His first mission out, he takes his squad to a building to look for a Soldier who is MIA. He finds the Soldier amongst some "bloodstone" operatives and is subsequently thrown in the middle of a much larger war, one between heaven and hell. What follows is some demond and devil slaying amidst an interesting plot.
Very highly recommend this to anyone. The story is masterfully told and the artwork suits it well.
On the up side modern Iraq is a really good place for a horror story and military-themed horror is a rare but very interesting side of the genre. Our lead character, Dan Sylva, is an easy guy to relate to. A veteran who got shafted by the economy, he finds himself with no choice but to return to the military and Iraq. It's a good spin and a reasonable way to give the lead the considerable fighting skills he needs to survive what's coming.
Modern Iraq feels like a real place and the complex issues at work there are always in the background keeping what really is a fairly basic "chosen one" story from seeming dull. But standard story or not Keene spins his yarn well. I enjoyed reading about Dan's adventure and by the time it was done I found myself wanting to know what would happen to him next.
On the downside there's a few things that I found confusing. First, it's not made clear if this is set in the normal Marvel Universe. There are nods to characters like Dracula and Damion Hellstrom, but the info we're given on the last Devil Slayer is VERY much at odds with what was presented when the character was last seen back during Secret Invasion. Also, the badguy "military contractors" are called Bloodstone. The Bloodstone name is normally associated with goodguy monster hunters. This is never explained in the slightest.
Also, the ending glosses over a lot of things that really should have been given some room to breath. That made the ending seem rushed which was a shame as the climax is pretty well written.
Overall I found this to be a solid read. If you're in the mood for a good action/horror story Devil-Slayer is worth a try.
Top reviews from other countries
After reading some reviews it looks like it's a new spin on an old comic but I was unable to find any of the original stuff. I gave it a read anyway and I have to say it was a pretty good little story.
I do have a few complaints though. First off it's way too short. Read it in about 15 minutes. The good thing is I was left wanting more.
I also wasn't too keen on the artwork but I do feel that's down to specific taste as I find I don't like artwork in other graphic novels that others rave about.
To be fair unless more in the series appears I wouldn't suggest you pick this up but at the same time I did enjoy it overall. Keene is a great story teller and although this is a different format to usual I don't think he's lost his touch.
I am however deducting a star due to the length.
Wer so wie ich, als Fan von Brian Keene, ohne nähere Recherche die oberste Zeile liest, denkt es handelt sich um ein 96-seitiges Taschenbuch. In Wahrheit ist es ein Comic-Heft mit dicken Hochglanzseiten.
Die Story ist in 4 Kapitel unterteilt, saftig bebildert und mit Texten von Keene versehen. Im Wesentlichen kämpft der Hauptdarsteller gegen abtrünnige Engel und Dämonen, die auf Erden den Endkampf zwischen Himmel und Hölle (=Armageddon) herbeiführen wollen.
Lesezeit: maximal 60 Minuten.