Comics Review: "Nightworld" #1

- by Señor Editor, 8 August 2014

Image Comics has a brand new miniseries out, called „Nightworld”. It’s by Adam McGovern and Paolo Leandri, it has demons, and boy, it’s the Kirby-est comic I’ve read in a long, long while! Let’s check out #1.

The cover. Click to enlarge.

“Nightworld” is a 4-issue series that has as much style as anyone could ask for. It is set in a world (a “Nightworld”, I guess) full of demons, spells and curses, and even though it will make you think of some of the most imaginative classic comics, it manages to feel really fresh and modern at the same time.

The protagonist of the book is a lonely demon named Plenilunio (it means “a night lit by a full moon”). He wasn’t always a demon – he used to be a man, but he made some sort of pact with a supernatural being. A pact that was meant to save his beloved, “who fell into a waking sleep” (it’s all very poetic and otherworldly – something that’s a big part of this comic’s feel). It didn’t work out exactly as planned, it seems.

Plenilunio looks like some kind of a cross between Batman and Nightcrawler, with possibly plenty of other influences thrown in for good measure. He seemingly has some power to change his appearance, because he can look like a man in a cape and a blue costume at one time, and then he does this BAMF (or “FWUMP!”, actually) sort of thing, and he suddenly has a tail and his cape can change into gliding wings. He also lives in a castle, which makes him even more awesome.

Plenilunio glides! (All images here are © Image Comics)

In order to save his beloved, Plenilunio must acquire something called “The Soul Key”. To do so, he must searching for a book that is said to have a map to the Soul Key. He almost gets the book, but then… A DEMON ATTACK! Co-ordinated from the Underworld by this big bad demon, who looks like an absolute pimp:

Big pimpin'

Our hero is attacked by Hellena and a dark, hound-like thing called Lotus. There’s also a demon wearing a green tracksuit, racing from the bottoms of hell to the surface of Earth. I don’t know what his deal is, but I already like him.

Hotspot in Hell.

There’s a lot of stuff happening in this book, and we’re introduced to this world without having everything explained outright. This is good, because it makes it feel like we’re put right in the middle of some epic story, with a colorful and mysterious world unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Adam McGovern’s writing has plenty of flair, creating a whole new, complete and colorful world right in front of our eyes. A world, that I'd say has the potential to be as unique and imaginative as Kirby’s “New Gods”.

Speaking of Kirby… There are many similarities between the artwork of Leandri and The King’s. That’s not to say Leandri is some Kirby-clone (far from it), but the influences are there for anybody to see. He uses a style that mixes the classic inspirations with his very own, original designs. Looking at this art, you feel that it is something new and beautiful, but full of that classic Kirby spirit. I love the way this book looks.

“Nightworld” is off to a good start, and it’s definitely a series I will be following to the end. I hope that the four issues won’t be all we see of Plenilunio, though. I would love to see this world continued in future volumes. If you like entertaining comics that make your imagination run wild, then I highly recommend you get this. It’s a fresh new book, with all the best elements of classic comics. 


Have you read “Nightworld” #1? How awesome was it?!? Sound off in the comments!

Tagged: comics, Reviews.

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