Yarva Etrigan Daemonicus, aka, Blood of the Demon #1

John Byrne revamps the Demon! This was something I'd been looking forward to, and I must say I wasn't disappointed. It's a very action oriented issue, quite graphically violent at that, and it's setting itself up for a great story.

It's a pretty accessible issue. There's a quick two page recap of Etrigan's origin in the beginning, something very rare among the six-issue origin books of today. The story begins with Jason Blood being methodically, and quite ingeniously, tortured. Someone is after the secret of Etrigan. After a lackey's goof-up, the villain dumps Blood away, believing him to be dead. Surprise, he isn't! If he were, it wouldn't be much of a revival, would it? Anyway, he's found, taken to the hospital, escapes the cops, gets back to his pad, and return's to the villain's den to do some serious butt kicking. And, in a very interesting, and central, plot development, he's finally free of Merlin's control and influence. He's on a rampage, with a vengeance.

This book has a very old school feel to it. No lengthy set-ups, no decompression of any sort, and no unnecessary flashy pinups or double spreads. Will Pfieffer does a decent job on the scripting, though I'm hoping he had a more active role in actually developing the plot. The art is fairly good too. Like I said, nothing flashy, but Byrne has a very good sense of panels and layouts, and wastes no space anywhere. Thankfully, he's isn't handling the inks. That job falls upon Nekros(?!).

Oh, and the Demon rhymes no more. While that was quite a unique quality, it also made him seem like a goofball at times, which he most definetely isn't here. All in all, a very engrossing read, and something to look forward to.