Hellcity [Paperback]

Macon Blair (Author), Joe Flood (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 20, 2006

Hellcity, Hell. Population infinity. A nightmare metropolis where cursed human souls go about their dreary "lives" as second-class citizens endlessly tormented by the cruel, demonic upper crust. Tension simmers as social unrest verges on civil war: human revolutionaries vs. the demon fascists. The Devil himself is losing control of the government . . . and perhaps his sanity. Whispers of a coup are in the works. Enter Bill Tankerslee: former private eye, now a kitchen slave and damned by suicide. He's approached by the mysterious she-demon Mary, who blackmails him into undertaking a top-secret mission: to spy on the Devil to determine the cause of his meltdown and to stop it. The future of Hell may depend on it, but Bill's not so sure when he sees Lucifer sneaking a visit to Bill's dead wife! Set in a garish noir netherworld, this over-the-topic graphic novel showcases two new stars in the field.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Bill Tankerslee was happy being a good detective as long as he could come home to beautiful, soothing, supportive Allie. But an automatic-toting vampire blew her away one night. Soon, Bill did the same for himself. Now he's in Hellcity, working a slavish job and suffering a demon roommate, like everybody else at his level in the infernal metropolis. When a leggy, high-ranking devil offers him better digs, he incredulously brushes her off. She won't be brushed, and so he's back to sleuthing, tailing "the Big Fallen" himself, who's been behaving strangely of late--mercifully, you'd think, if you didn't know better. This is the first of three parts of a single hard-boiled caper in Hell, which Blair has written with wry authority and Flood has drawn as if he were simultaneously channeling the pencils of Jose Munoz (Alack Sinner) and Will Eisner. The basic conceits here--Hell is New York, and Satan the mayor--may be obvious, but they're played out with considerable panache. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 104 pages
• Publisher: Gigantic Graphic Novels (October 20, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0976303833
• ISBN-13: 978-0976303831
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,856,315 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars INTERESTING VERSION OF HELL, January 18, 2007

By 

Tim Janson (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Hellcity (Paperback)

Hellcity is the product of Gigantic Graphic Novels who produced the small press gem Dead West in 2005. Hellcity is a typical, 40's style crime noir detective story with one major twist...it is set in hell. In this case, Hell is a major urban city where demons delight in torturing humans by giving them wedgies, slamming automatic doors on them, and forcing them into all manner of humiliating manual labors. Bill Tankerslee had been a detective in his life which was shattered when his wife was blown away by a shotgun-toting guy dressed like Bela Lugosi in Dracula. Bill took his own life and ended up in hell where he spends his days cooking bacon at the "piggery" and his nights with his annoying demon roommate who drinks Bill's last beer and draws mustaches on the picture of his wife.

Bill is given the opportunity to change his fortunes when a beautiful demon comes to him with an offer he can't refuse. She wants to put his detective skills to use. He can get out of the piggery and get an apartment uptown without a demon roommate, and all he has to do is follow Lucifer himself in order to find out why the Lord of Hell has been acting so strangely as of late. Hell is on the verge of chaos as the demon underlings all want to be in line for Hell's throne.

Hellcity presents a clever twist on the infernal plane. Ironic in that it isn't so different than real life, sans the demons running around and pooping on the sidewalk. I loved writer Macon Blair's modern version of hell even more than the story. The story ends up being a bit of a clichéd detective story but it's the elements surrounding the story that lift it above the ordinary. The art by Joe Flood is solid but not flashy. Straight black & white line work. I loved the expressions on the faces of the demons while they went about their work annoying their human guests in various ways. I was somewhat let down by the fact that the story will be continued in vol. 2 but there's enough good stuff in here to make me want to see the conclusion.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best Graphic Novels Around, November 13, 2007

By 

Goreblin - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hellcity (Paperback)

I am relatively new to the world of graphic novels but am doing my best to cath up on my reading. I love Sandman, and Hellblazer, am into DMZ and Ex Machina. Astro City was brilliant and there is much more to go... but I have to give extra kudos and appreciation for Hell City and the Indie lable Gigantic Graphic Novels. This is one of the smartest, most interesting and seemingly most underrated titles I've come across and I hope to see a lot more from Macon Blair and Joe Flood in the future. How this hasn't become a feature film I don't know, but Blair seems to write with cinematic undertsanding and flair in mind and Flood translates the accompanying aesthetic seemlessly.

I've since checked out some of the other Gigantic titles and can highly recommend Teenagers From Mars and Dead West as well. As always it seems that the overlooked indie writers are doing some of the darkest, smartest and most compelling work, here's to hoping they get the attention they deserve.