As one of my uncles is a fan of music he tried his best to turn me on to blues. I never quite caught on with the exception of Shemekia Copeland and Nathaniel Rateliff. Both of these musicians are two of my favorites.  That doesn’t mean I didn’t appreciate the music and the amount of soul bearing this particular genre gives its listeners. I dare anyone to listen to “You Shook Me” by Willie Dixon and not be enamored with Dixon’s voice and the subject matter of the song itself.

As my uncle exposed to every great Blues musician in existence, too many to name here, the most prominent being Stevie Ray Vaughn and T-Bone Walker. Each song gave listeners truths everyone can relate to. Of course, there’s also Robert Johnson and the many legends regarding how he became such a great musician the most famous being the deal he did with the Devil. In Saxton Moore’s Papa Cherry, we meet one such musician on the precipice of the fight between good and evil.

In the opening pages, we meet a man and a woman, playing chess, but these are no mere mortals, as the reader is witnessing a match God and The Devil, as they debate who is the best rapper of all time, and as the Devil lost the match, in a fit of anger, she found a “wayward soul”, in desperate need of her services. That wayward soul was Pap Cherry, who becomes a rock star along with his band mates, Orchid and Alex, but must fight evil in all its forms as penance for his fame and who are on a national tour which leads them to Richmond, Virginia. This is where he meets another mortal who got help from the Devil, Lamar Cutty, the leader of a rival band, Scorpion Piss, who has been showing up in the same venues as Papa Cherry’s band. Meanwhile, there is another evil being in the city, looking to pit the civil war reenactors against the young music fans which inhabit the city, as their concert has ousted the annual reenactment from their traditional fairgrounds. By book’s end, the two factions clash, in what is a pure power grab by an evil Confederate General, who is using the zombies to take the city, but is quickly decimated by  Papa Cherry and his band , as this stop becomes more than they ever anticipated, as not all is dark, as a long gestating reunion between the ghosts of one heartbroken slave and her  long lost husband finally happens, one which gives the band, hope in the better angels of every man.

Overall, a story that is both entertaining and action packed. The story moves at a rapid pace that’s a ride readers will enjoy. The story by Moore is gripping, smart and well developed. The art by Philip Johnson, Jared Bowditch, and Moore is gorgeous and feels like an episode of The Boondocks. Altogether, an excellent story which gives readers a new hero to believe in.

Story: Saxton Moore Art: Philip Johnson, Jared Bowditch, and Saxton Moore
Story: 10 Art: 10 Overall: 10 Recommendation: Buy