MORE CLICHED CRAP: A review of BRIMSTONE AND THE BORDERHOUNDS #1

You’ve seen it all before. The cop on the edge. The doughnut-chomping racist detective who exists only to fuck with the cop on the edge. The douchebag businessman who has IT coming. What makes BRIMSTONE AND THE BORDERHOUNDS different from the rest?



Not much, really. Hey, a lot of this story happens in Hell, rather than the tough streets of Anywhere, USA. That’s got to count for something, right?


Nah. Like too many writers, M.H. Carnevali depends too much on the crap he saw on TV rather than creative intuition to get his tale across. For example, the douchebag in question, Jack Dursey, is such a piece of shit that he couldn’t ever exist in the real world. Hell, even TALES FROM THE CRYPT might be reluctant to use him. He is the Enron of this book. He has just ripped off a bunch of people so badly that they probably won’t survive, and he doesn’t care. Shits given = zero. He even seems to enjoy hurting people. There is no humanity in him to the point where he’s not believable as a character. Do you think the folks behind Enron were this cold? No, they had reasons for doing what they did. Human reasons. They did what they felt they needed to do to survive, whatever other people may think of their underhanded dealings. Dursey seems to be doing it just for the fuck of it. The only reason he’s like this is so Carnevali can make his readers feel glee when Dursey gets murdered brutally by the real villain of the piece. Carnevali wants us to laugh at Dursey when he arrives in Hell and can’t believe this is happening to him. Cheap trick, fella. Cheap trick.


And then there’s the unapologetically named Lt. Altar, the aforementioned cop on the edge. He’s come upon serial killer, Mr. Hostile, in the past, and was even killed by Mr. Hostile for eight minutes. The problem is, Mr. Hostile is dead. Lt. Altar is brought in on this case because everyone thinks it’s a copycat. In the meantime, he’s got to weather a bunch of racist comments from the above-mentioned doughnut-chomper while he tries to do his work. The crime scene is an absolute laff riot, as per the needs of a clichéd crime story.


Shall we even bother with Mr. Hostile himself? Needless to say, he’s the usual psychobabble psychopath the genre has gotten used to. The kind of fella who listens to the voices in his head. Nothing more need be said.


It should be said, though, that Carnevali has taken on some fairly dark, visceral work. And for someone who wants to do that, he certainly seems to have censored himself. There are no truly bad curse words to be found in this book, not even when it’s really called upon. On the first page, Dursey says to one of his financial victims, “Tough spit, Manny.” Whoops! Sorry, Mr. Carnevali, but there goes your credibility.


It also helps to not have an overly involved prologue on your first page. Carnevali takes the time to go into the huge mythology of the world he has created (complete with footnotes!) to help the reader get into the work. However, this only serves to bore the shit out of the reader. Instead, why not let the reader learn about these things over the course of the story? Why not let the reader be surprised?


Here’s another problem: the book is called BRIMSTONE AND THE BORDERHOUNDS, right? And Brimstone is clearly the hero of the story. Then why is it that he isn’t introduced until the last page of issue one? He needs to be there at or near the beginning, so readers can get to know (and hopefully, identify with) him.


As with most books in Artist Alley this year, the artist is much more proficient at telling the story. Sajad Shah’s work is astonishingly good. Shah gives us something cool to look at while we’re trying to ignore how lame the story and characters are. Shah almost makes Hell’s stereotypical Jamaican DJ look cool (and almost is the best compliment on this one, really).


But for five bucks? It ain’t that pretty. Pass.


BRIMSTONE AND THE BORDERHOUNDS #1
Writer: M.H. Carnevali
Artist: Sajad Shah
Publisher: Hound Comics
33 pages
$5