Customer Reviews

Girl Rule of Darkness: Rule of Darkness

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Girl: Rule of Darkness continues where the original Girl graphic novel ended. Girl is now the manager of the Kit Kat Klub and having a little trouble "finding relief". Unfortunately for Girl, some friends of her demonic possessor from the first book have come back with vengenance in mind.

This book is shorter than the original Girl and the scenes are not quite as explicit as the original. Some of the more outrageous scenes (like demonic coupling) are done in silhouette.

The illustration is rough and not particularly sophisticated. However, it crude format matches the content fairly well. The subject matter is extremely explicit and Taylor uses the power of illustration to show scenes that could never happen in real life. Some people will not care for the scenes with the semi bestial demons, others will be interested in it's "over the top" nature.

If you are looking for novel about a sexually uninhibited woman, who is open to anything and always ready for more, you are going to love Girl. If you are looking for sophistication illustration, try Eric von Gotha instead. If you are looking for complex characters and plot, try Laura Rees.

The old saying "Don't judge a book by its cover" applies nowhere better than here.

I totally loved the cover art and was expecting more wickedly delicious goodness inside, but instead all I got was a massive disappointment at the utterly lame and untalented contents.

The plot is so simple as to be virtually nonexistant. Hell, a primary school kid could probably think up a better plot than this: Girl runs a strip joint. Girl gets threatened by mobsters. Girl goes out and has sex with 2 guys. Girl then has sex with another guy who used to be her old flame. Girl goes to have sex with him again but gets sucked into another dimension where some guy who we suppose is Asian (due to some racial stereotype dialogue) has her repeatedly raped by demons (more on this part below). Girl somehow escapes and ends story by taking care of mobsters with mysterious new super-powers. -- Say what???

Added to this is really poor quality art. I think I can draw better than this guy! Yeah, so he made his name drawing over-inflated breasts and exaggeratedly huge male genitalia. -- So what? And the demons he draws in the other dimension are so badly done they're laughable. NOTHING like the promise he showed on the cool cover.

I deeply regret wasting the money I did on this. Unless you happen to already be a fan of his work and know what you're getting, for anyone else I would say don't bother.

Girl: Rule of Darkness is the first follow-up story to Kevin Taylor's original Girl miniseries. The comic was originally published by Last Gasp in 1992 and sold-out pretty quick during the comic collector craze of the early 1990's. Rule of Darkness had a limited-publishing run and every issue was picked up quickly. Taylor's fanbase for his Girl character had built up through the preceding years. I was one of those fans and I was one of the first to purchase the original follow-up book. Even then I thought that Taylor wasn't sure what direction he wanted to go with Girl and it showed in the overall quality of the story and, in due course, the look of the artwork.

Rule of Darkness pales in comparison to the quality of the first Girl miniseries. There's a sense of a rush to get the book out to capitalize on the cult success of the original Girl comic. The artwork wasn't as solid in its lines which at times looked as if Taylor hadn't bothered to finishing inking some of his pencilling. The artwork still retained the overt, sexuality of the original Girl series. Taylor didn't fail to disappoint in that department. Though I would say that the book being a one-shot follow-up sure limited Taylor in the amount of sex scenes and encounter he drew for the story. To say that Rule of Darkness was more than abit tamer than its predecessor was an understatement. Maybe, if he had given himself to creating a couple more issues to tie the story together then the quality of work would've reached the same level as Girl, but alas those are what-if's that may never be answered.

The good thing about Rule of Darkness was some of the small details Taylor gave about the growing and developing character of Jaleira aka Girl. We see her trying to deal with the aftermath with her encounter with the demons Malachii and Dongath. The intervention of her protector Daemon has given Jaleira something extra in helping her cope with the many distractions (some trivial and some lifethreatening). Starr makes a cameo in the end to inform her that she now has newfound abilities that she needs to use more wisely. I think the story would've been better if Taylor did take his time and spread it out over a few more issues.

Rule of Darkness is a tame and pale comparison to the original Girl series, but it does have it's appeal in bringing back girl for more hot and sexy adventures with her seemingly in the middle of one sexual encounter (normal and daemonic) after the other. Rule of Darkness counts as a low-point in Taylor's work in the erotica side of comics, but he returns to form in his follow-up books of Body Heat, Jill: Part-Time Lover and Girl: The Second Coming.