Hellstorm: Son Of SatanEquinox by Alexander C. Irvine

Hellstorm: Son Of SatanEquinox Reviews

• 
  Jean-Pierre Vidrine

  I was reluctant to pick this book up. I love the Son of Satan comics from the seventies, and the character's subsequent appearances in the Defenders. Daimon's appearances since then have been amusing, even if the character was watered down a little. The Hellstorm series of the nineties started out on a fairly strong note, but got muddled before too long and lost my interest. Seeing the character turn up under Marvel's Max imprint didn't get me excited. I have very little Max in my collection for a reason. But, seeing the name "Son of Satan" back in the title, I thought, "Well, that's a step in the right direction." I was miffed at comics through the eighties and nineties saying that he wasn't "really" the son of Satan but instead: some other demon, the Babylonian god Marduk, Satannish . . . Phooey!
  Rarely have I been so pleasantly surprised by a book I was reluctant to read. Alexander Irvine did something that no other writer really did for Daimon Hellstrom: he gave him a believable personality. I said that I loved the seventies comics with the character, but I have to be honest. As much fun as they are, Daimon is so busy griping about his fight between his light and dark sides that we never get to know him. Later writers have played up his good or bad self to make things simple, but the result was never convincing for me. Here, Irvine strikes a near perfect balance. Hellstorm isn't exactly a hero, nor a villain. He becomes a sort of bad boy with principles, if not actual morals.
  The story was a real eye opener. Comparative religion is something of a passion of mine. A story featuring Satan's son that draws parallels between Christian and Egyptian myth is something I never even conceived of. It even cast a little light on a small mystery that I never realized was a mystery. Why was it always golden ankhs and not crosses?
  The artwork by Braun, Janson, and Brusco was superb. Crisp, clean, and even a little experimental.
  I would like to see more of this incarnation of Hellstorm, rather than the flame-headed version that's been skulking around Marvel lately.
• 
  Devero

  Irvine ai testi, Braun ai disegni e Klaus Janson alle chine.
  Partiamo da Janson, artista quasi completo (ai testi non si è mai visto a mia memoria) di innegabile bravura che anche qui fa un gran lavoro. In effetti Braun non sarà poi male come disegnatore, ma qui è ancora alle prime armi e si vede nettamente la mano di Janson alla guida.
  Irvine è uno scrittore letterario che a un certo punto ha iniziato a fare fumetti. Di lui ho letto poco, praticamente solo questa miniserie. Si vede subito che ha un paio di ottime idee, e le sfrutta molto bene. La sua caratterizzazione di Hellstorm è ottima, migliore di quella del tanto ingiustamente osannato Warren Ellis. Il tema trattato è quello della religione come racconto, e di come i racconti siano ciò che organizzano il mondo. In effetti, il mito di Osiride e Iside è una delle forme più antiche del racconto di morte e rinascita. La ricostruzione dell'aldilà Egizio, e la rappresentazione di Anubis, Thot, del Demone padre di Diamond e delle loro motivazioni sono ottime e chiariscono quanto Irvine ha ben compreso sia le dinamiche Marvel sia quelle dei miti in se stessi.
  Per me 4 stelle e mezzo ci stanno tutte.
• 
  Abdulmajeed Al-Qutaiti

  Interesting synopsis, poor execution.
  
  Hellstorm builds up to a climax that never arrives. What arrives is a twist that in another novel you find early on in your reading: minor & barely changes a thing.
  
  There is an interesting utilization the tale of Anubis, the god of death in ancient Egyptian religion, but even that is rather flat & poorly done.
  
  Most of the lines in this graphic novel are the monologue of the main character, who is an extremely generic "handsome & mysterious" kind of guy. Feels initially that he'll be interesting but gets boring very quick. Plain & forgettable!
  
  The cover art is the best thing about this novel. The comic art is up to the standards you'd expect from a Marvel release: really well done but nothing amazing.
  
  In short, Hellstorm is the work of someone who had an interesting idea & tried his best to make it into a story but it came out forced & boring.
• 
  Lokita

  ...well. Um. I knew nothing about Marvel's Maximum off-shoots until AFTER I got through this, so I was just a wee bit surprised by full-blown nudity and references to much worse. (And not remotely veiled. If you know the story of Osiris, I'm sure you can, ahem, put the pieces together.) I LIKE the plot. Quite a bit, actually. Hellstorm+Egyptian deities+catastrophic setting+decent art=happy me. I had the misfortune to start my Hellstorm reading on Prince of Lies, in which Daimon is much more an anti-hero than anything else, so seeing him be an actual hero was nice. I'm glad I read it...equally glad I didn't spend money on it.
• 
  Ahdom

  Of all the Son of Satan/Hellstorm/Helstrom comics, this one I enjoyed the most. It was a nice cohesive story with good artwork. If you are going to read just one graphic novel, this may be the one to read.
• 
  Charline

  Meh, this story was mildly boring and plain. I don't understand why because it has mythology in it as well as the son of Satan and an interesting setting. But it doesn't work for me.
  I was disappointed by my reading, I expected better.
• 
  Robin

  Good art, good writing, great Shakespeare quotings. The story is just about to go bizarre, when it all of a sudden comes right and thence to a proper ending.
• 
  Yankee Southerner Reads

  This is always a great read for any and all comic book collector