Spinal Tap Meets Ghostbusters

1974: the world’s most famous rock band thought they were “worshiping Satan,” only to find they were actually . . . worshiping Satan.

Comics about musicians have gotten a bad rap from critics and readers for years, as comics about musicians like Kiss to comics where they have fascinating characters that take on features of say someone like Prince as in The Wicked and The Divine, have proven that comics about musicians can not only be fun but interesting. So When I heard about This Damned Band, I was definitely intrigued, as the press release from Dark Horse, indicates, they are a rock band who actually unbeknownst to them, were very much worshipping the devil.

As many of us have heard through the years, the connection between the devil and rock music, have some long known legends in rock and roll history, which the writer, Paul Cornell takes full advantage of. The band is called Motherfather, which is hilarious in and of itself while the front man, Alex, looks very much like, Roger Daltrey, which I am pretty sure, was intentional. The dialogue itself is a thing of beauty as he possesses panache for settings and mood, and lives very much in the vein of these rock stars, so much so, you feel as though you were watching a better version of Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park. The band gets into all the debauchery you would expect forma rock band, unknowingly they are creating a debt only they can pay the devil. While on tour in Tokyo, one night they take mushrooms, and either are hallucinating off of what they ate or have encountered all of what hell brings.

The art by Tony Parker is reminiscent of John Romita Sr., and very much compliments this story.

Overall, a solid beginning to what seems to be a very interesting concept.

Story: Paul Cornell Art: Tony Parker
Story: 9 Art: 9 Overall: 9 Recommendation: Buy

Dark Horse Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review