The Black-Jack Demon #1 is a comic written and drawn by Nick Hermes. Silas enlists help to go after whoever killed his father. This is a supernatural Western comic with a good dose of drama and plenty of mystery. The main man here is Silas, he is a teenager who lives with his father and they run and own a nearby mine. Humphrey is a large and loud woman who loves to gamble and is handy with a gun. This story begins with Silas waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of blasting in the mine. Him and his pa head out with their rifles and make a plan of attack before separating. When Silas doesn’t hear any gunshots he goes to investigate. The violence here is mostly off-screen but there are some bloody and gruesome sights. The pacing is a tad bit slower than average and the tone is like a horror-themed classic black-and-white Western movie/show. There are a few dramatically and violently intense moments. The dialogue is very Western with the appropriate talking style and slang. There is a good amount of back-and-forth and some humor. There are no word-heavy pages here. This is a debut issue with a creepy, mysterious story and a young lead that is determined to get to the bottom of this.

            The art here is detailed and looks like something from the Golden Age of Comic Books. The color palette matches the time period and the lighting and shading is well done. For scenery there are the Western staples: rocky mountains, long stretches of plains, grassland, and dry desert. Most off this story is spent on horseback traveling but the Sheriff’s office and the saloon are visited. The backgrounds here usually the detailed surroundings but occasionally it’ll be a solid color. The expression level here is below average as Silas has a blank, unfeeling look for most of this. Emotions we’ll see are sadness, tiredness, happiness, fear, and confusion. The faces have a decent to high amount of detail and they tend to show the different expressions clearly. The violence here is mainly off-screen and implied but there is a lot of blood and gruesome aftermaths. The action scenes have a low amount of panels with decent flow.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes, if this is up your alley.

“Would I like this?”

If you like supernatural Western stories that star a hardened teenager and a tough woman and that features mystery and drama then this is for you.

“What would this comic’s film rating be?”

R. Violence, blood, gruesomeness.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“But it ain’t nobody like that, is it?”

 

Purchase Link: https://www.literatipressok.com/the-blackjack-demon

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/literatipress/the-black-jack-demon/description

***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 23

Violent Pages: 6, for 26% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 0, for 0% of the comic

 

**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**

 

Violence Level – 3

“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”

“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”

“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”

“This was a tournament arc.”

“All my life I had to fight.”

 

Gore Level – 4

“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”

“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”

“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”

“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”

“This is a slaughterhouse.”

 

Death Level – 2

“And everybody lived happily ever after.”

“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”

“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”

“Yeah this was a tragedy.”

“Think Gettysburg.”

 

Porn Level – 1

“Everybody kept their clothes on.”

“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”

“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”

“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”

“Oh. This is porn.”