Valentine’s Day is a time for love – or at least, desire – even between non-humans. In the first issue of the weekly Twisted Romance from Image, readers get a look at “love gone wrong” in three short tales.
Twisted Romance 1
Written by Alex de Campi, Sarah Horrocks and Magen Cubed
Art by Magen Cubed, Sarah Horrocks and Katie Skelly
One of the frequent responses I get from people who don’t read comics is surprise at how many different types of comics are out there. Pretty much everyone is familiar with superhero comics – easily the most well-known genre – and others will identify with Archie. You also have stories like INCOGNEGRO: RENAISSANCE, which I reviewed yesterday – an intense story looking at racism.
Then you have a book like Twisted Romance. A four-part weekly anthology series from Image, the first issue of Twisted Romance gave us three stories that look at familiar themes of love, lust, jealousy and heartbreak, put in unfamiliar settings.
The main story in the first issue, written by Alex de Campi with art by Katie Skelly, follows a man who runs an agency that specializes in the end of relationships. At the behest of a woman who knows her husband is cheating on her, the agency’s founder finds the husband and discovers an old rival is behind the husband’s seduction. Turns out, both the detective and the seducer are demons. He’s recanted his ways, like vampire-with-a-soul Angel, while she feeds on the energies of humans.
Skelly’s art is fun and matches de Campi’s provocative story. The short tale has everything a fan of bad romances can possibly want: demons, fights, sex and misery. It’s a great opener to the weekly series and sets the tone for the book.
Backing up the main story are two other tales, one a prose story by Magen Cubed about a vampire in love with a human Wendigo hunter. The final short story, by Sarah Horrocks, follows a woman suffering through her own hell after the loss of her love. The art is off-putting and a bit creepy and gives off the sense of loss as the woman longs to join her partner.
The book is a great alternative to the typically sappy Valentine’s fare. The second issue of the weekly series is out today and is available in print and digital.