In Touched By a Demon we follow Bifrons and Pazuzu, a duo of demons who rebel against the status quo of Hell and instead decide to start a life coaching business on Earth.
Published by Dark Horse Comics, Touched By A Demon is a fun and creative new comic from writer and artist and Kristen Gudsnuck, the acclaimed creator of Making Friends and Henchgirl. This 4-issue series gets off to a solid start, asking moral questions of the reader — even delving into quite a distressing topic — all while providing plenty of laughs along the way.
Touched by a Demon follows Bifrons. Once a resident of Heaven, and well on his way to becoming an archangel, Bifrons (better known as Fronz) decided to instead venture to Hell in favour of tormenting souls for a living. However, he grows tired of such insistent torment, and attempts to earn redemption by opening a life coach agency in the mortal realm. He does this along with his trusty assistant Zuzu. Together they launch their company, but get more than they bargain for when they meet their first client, Wendy. A timid young girl, Wendy is a victim of emotional abuse from her parents. It’s a heavy situation for her, and Gudsnuck excellently balances the emotional weight of the situations along with humour. These demons have no idea what they’re doing — they say as much themselves. Honesty is a good first step to redemption, after all.
The structure of issue #1 jumps around the timeline quite heavily for a debut issue, but that’s absolutely fine. It’s a little convoluted, but Gudsnuck keeps the narrative flowing nicely. It begins with former angel Bifrons falling from heaven; then shifts to the ‘present’ where he and Zuzu embark on their life coaching foray; and sitting in the middle is a flashback to Hell where Bifrons struggles to liaise with his fellow, more popular, demons. The latter flashback was a highlight, especially on the comedy side of things. On Anti-Christmas Eve, when Frons is fed up of feeling ostracised by his fellow denizens of Hell, he decides to embark on a new journey, one of redemption. Rather than torturing the souls of humans, he wants to help them. Perhaps with enough good deeds, the heavens may reinstate him. Or perhaps not. But clearly, it’s worth the shot.
The artwork is superb. Gudsnuck captures emotions with ease. It’s expressive and eye-catching throughout. I could continue rhapsodising about it, or you can see for yourself below with a page that I think captures the greatness of the comic’s art:
The story is fantastical by nature. I mean, look no further than the demons. However, something that really sticks out and makes it unique is how it’s grounded in human emotion. It’s not a love story, but a story about wanting to be loved, belonging, and feeling almost guilty about who you are and what you mean to those closest to you. That theme is not only present in Wendy’s story, but it’s also echoed in Bifrons’ inability to settle in Hell. Typically demons are portrayed as dark and meddling entities — and the two central to this story are a tad callous — but their portrayal also subverts the traditional view of demons. They sympathise with Wendy, our protagonist.
The vision of Hell is unique. Compared to the depiction of Hell in The Sandman, for instance, this is a different take. It takes similar narrative beats, such as demons abandoning Hell and moving to Earth, but this one adds Gudsnuck’s signature wit.
We won’t go spoiling plot points for you. That said despite issue #1’s focus on world building and establishing its core characters and their motivations, it leaves you on what can only be described as one HELL of a cliffhanger.
Touched By a Demon #1 is out new from Dark Horse Comics. You can pick up a copy here.
