Review: Dan Schaffer’s Malefic #1 + #2
MALEFIC is an 8 issue series from 1First Comics/Devil’s Due, with Story and cover art by Dan Schaffer (White, Dogwitch, The Scribbler) and with interior art by David Miller. MALEFIC will most certainly appeal to fans of the insane pulp-classic must-have must-read Dogwitch, with which Dan Schaffer the hero to a lot of fans!
SYNOPSIS: Young doctor Evelyn Freust gets a chance to redeem her disgraced career when she signs on at a mysterious asylum harboring violent, paranormal psychotics. Freust must learn a new fringe science in order to treat their supernatural disorders and survive the madness, but a destructive battle of wits begins with Inmate Eleven, the asylum’s oldest and most diabolical inmate who, rumor has it, may actually be the Devil.
With this premise, the stage is set for Master Schaffer to go all hands on deck with yet another highly volatile yet confrontational story to readers, and to society itself. No matter what story you read by Schaffer, it keeps ticking back to an intrinsic critique towards [insert theme or subject ] and he uses both his art and an abundance of words. An abundance… yet it never bores. Yet it never smells like “I much rather read a book” cause the visual style is a huge part of the experience in slurping up all the information.
One of the stronger points of each character Dan Schaffer comes up with is that he does not seem to write towards a reader and liking that character. A reader has the freedom to dislike the character as much as to admire her actions or even judge the interactions.
In the case of Freust, the fact that she had a XXX-moment with a patient and the intermediate “karma is a bitch” that followed oozes the options for the reader to like or dislike, to judge or dismiss or to even discard.
Freust needs to pucker up and make sure that she stays on top of every situation in the Asylum she now works in. Freust makes use of every out-of-the-box tactic she can find and that is part of her charm… although it is also very frightening and confrontational to the reader even. Why? It makes you rethink your own choices and helps you realize that each person in the sum of their own choices as well as the sum of their inability to stretch their borders.
With #1 setting up the stage, the #2 makes sure we step right into the abyss and into the heart of this out-of-the-box experimentation to see if that certain devilish inmate is indeed a demon that is being suckered by his human counterpart or a human being twisted and deformed by that devilish presence… let alone the effects on the asylum and Freust!
O wait… I need to address the art by David Miller before rounding up this feerie-tale!
David Miller would never be my personal choice since well… have you SééN Schaffer’s art on Dogwitch?!?!
Having said that… Schaffer sometimes has more ideas then time to play with his pencils, so I hereby and forthwith officially welcome David Miller and say aloud: THANK YOU!!
Your art on #1 was spot on and made sure that the insanity of the story was felt panel by panel. The art on #2 however… it was better! Perhaps the use of more washed-art or a tad more time (or less?) on these pages, made somehow more sense. I cannot claim to be what exactly is the change in panels, art, greys etc, since I feel superbly submerged in the story and that alone is what I needed today!!
So thanks… a LOT! To the both of you! Onto the next sizzling seizure you call a comic!!
Dan Schaffer’s Malefic #1, 2
Writer: Dan Schaffer
Art: David Miller
Covers: Dan Schaffer
Lettering: Crank!
Editor: Ken F.Levin
Production Director: Alex Wald
Publisher: 1First Comics
SRP: $4.99
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About the Author
Richard Boom Richard is the driving force behind Comics for Sinners. His love and admiration for female comic book characters is virtually unparalleled, which immediately explains his biggest 'sin': his Hot Mummy fetish. This sketchbook theme is philogynistic in nature and even the source of his WIP comic book series "The Sisterhood".
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