By Rob Siebert
Fanboy Wonder

CREATORS: Lonnie Nadler and Zac Thompson (Authors), Kyle Charles (Artist), Dee Cunniffe (Colorist), Ryan Ferrier (Letterer)

THE SCENE: A middle-aged woman continues to mourn the loss of her family before quite literally taking a journey into hell.

WHY THEY’RE AWESOME: In storytelling of any nature, much is made of the narrative “hook,” i.e. what the author uses in the opening moments of the story to draw their audience into the story.

Her Infernal Descent is a modern re-telling of Dante’s Inferno. Desperately longing to see her dead family again, our main character Lynn is approached by the spirit of William Blake. Despite the risk, she descends into hell with him and begins her journey through its nine circles.

But before any of that happens, we spend a handful of pages with Lynn at home (shown at right). They’re absolutely heartbreaking. It’s all so excruciatingly realistic. Look at some of the backgrounds. The kitchen is an absolute wreck. There are dirty dishes in the sink as she eats a casserole out of the dish. All the boxes from packing up. The cluttered on the floor. The empty wine glasses. Dee Cunniffe’s colors are so beautifully muted. Even when Lynn sees the sun, there’s a bleakness to it. Note the details Kyle Charles gives us with her body language. Look at Lynn’s face. Look at her posture. The unkempt hair.

But what pushed these three pages over the edge for me was the script. I’m not sure how Lonnie Nadler and Zac Thompson broke down the writing duties. But these lines punch you right in the gut because they’re so relatable. The ones that really got me were the ones about the silence in the house:

“…the first thing I noticed was the quiet. I thought I could handle it. But I can’t. I wake up and there’s nothing. I’ve hardly said a darn word to anyone since. When I was with them, they drove me up a wall. Now I’d do anything to feel that again.”

I mean, holy crap…

From there we go into a two-page spread. It’s Lynn climbing up into the attic. There are so many memories up there, and she’s flooded with them. I wont’ show it to you here, because I want you to see the issue for yourself.

Her Infernal Descent #1 is published by AfterShock, and hit comic shops April 18. It’s also available on Comixology. The next issue is solicited for release on May 23.

Email Rob at PrimaryIgnition@yahoo.com, or follow Primary Ignition on Twitter.