Review: Slayer Repentless #3
Yet another rock band turns their material into a comic book. This story is inspired by 3 Slayer videos: Repentless, You Against You, and Pride in Prejudice. This is a tale of two brothers, Wyatt and Adrian. Wyatt is aggressive while Adrian is more passive (though by no means pacifist, he is simply the less aggressive of the two.) We see their lives in the current situation and then in flashback to when they were kids. Wyatt shows psychopathic tendencies at an early age and does something horrific that scars Adrian for life. This is a violent, bloody tale that won’t be for everyone. I enjoyed issue one a lot and the third issue is just as good. Anyone familiar with Slayer’s music knows that the band shoots for controversy and pulls no punches. The violence and language used is not for the squeamish.
The creative team:
John Schnepp keeps the action and violence pouring onto each page from chapter one through three and is relentless in his telling of this Slayer saga. He takes J.B. McDonald’s story and rolls with it. He matches the aggression of the videos and heats it up some along the way. Schnepp gives us a passionless antagonist in Wyatt that brings forth hatred from his brother. There is no doubt that Adrian has grown bitter toward Wyatt and this is a showdown between the two. It’s a tense read that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Guiu Vilanova lays down the art work with an aggression that matches Schnepps’ words. The hatred is etched into the brothers faces each time they think of themselves, their lives growing up, or come face to face with each other. There are several splash pages in a row, each more violent than the one before it. Then the final splash is the brother’s meeting face to face. It’s a breath-taking moment that sure to make anyone who reads the issue stop and linger on this strained moment that the issue has been leading up to. Something needs to be said about Mauricio Wallace here too. His colors bring the story to vivid life in much the same way that Villanova’s art does. The splash pages are filled with blood and gore and the flashback scenes each have a different hue that tells you that you aren’t in present time. Nice.
In Conclusion:
An adult comic for adult readers. I appreciated the work that went into creating this story from three videos. I have never reviewed (or even read for that matter,) a comic book based on a music video before. The shock value is just as strong on the printed page as it is in the videos and this is a great finale for any fan of the Slayer video trilogy. I hope they can keep the momentum going with future issues based on Slayer music. ***1/2 (9.5 rating)
Slayer Repentless #3
Writer – John Schnepp
Art – Guiu Vilanova
Colors – Mauricio Wallace
Letters – Nate Piekos
Publisher – Dark Horse
Publication date – June 2017
About the Author
Kevin Given Kevin Given has studied with "Longridge Writers Group" and "Writer's Boot Camp" a speech/communications major from the University of Maine Presque-Isle/Orono sites. He has created the "Karl Vincent Vampire Hunter" franchise which includes 2 novels and 8 comic books. They can be found on amazon, Indyplanet and Kindle. For a limited time you can get digital copies of "Karl Vincent: Vampire hunter" #1 and "Files of Karl Vincent" #1 for free on Indyplanet. Kevin is producing the third novel in the series "Dracula Rising" (working title) and developing "Foul Blood" into comic book form.
