Broken Frontier

Lucifer treads into dangerous territory to steal an even more dangerous artifact… and that’s only the start.

Writer Michael Alan Nelson continues his tale of dark magic, sins past, violence, and surprising loyalty and friendship. In this issue he spends a little more time continuing to flesh out Lucifer and we get to see more sides to this tough witch. As we do we are drawn deeper into the character.

Lucifer enters a watery, hellish dimension in order to steal a magical object called the Carasinth. The object is as deadly as it is delicate looking and its current owner is none too happy to find Lucifer trying to take it away. Lucifer has no choice; however, as the wicked Dietrich has threatened the life of the one person Lucifer cares for – her employer, Val. In order to get herself and Val out of this mess alive she’s going to have to keep dancing to Dietrich’s tune but it’s dancing with the devil and things are looking to get a lot worse before they get better…. if they get better.

Nelson’s work just moves from strength to strength. He crafts magical realms which are dark and disturbing and there are touches of horror mixed in here. Hexed is a series where the dark side of magic comes into play. There are no sparkles or bright beams of light to this magic; instead there is blood and death and demonic entities. Smartly, Nelson also keeps the story very grounded in the characters – the magic mixes in and around the characters but at the core the story is driven by the sweet and caring Val as well as the sardonic and villainous Dietrich as well as the true star here – the smart, tough, and still a bit mysterious Lucifer.

Emma Rios also continues to create the delicious visual imagery for this series. Her work has a light, delicate aura about it that only heightens the dreamlike sense of the world… or perhaps nightmare-like would be better. Her work is emotionally nuanced, which makes it all the more shocking when she produces scenes of violence. It is a real pleasure to see her shift effortlessly from horrific magical realms to real life and some of the horrors that occur there as well. She manages to craft Lucifer as at times a vulnerable girl and at other times a tiger fully able to take care of herself and both sides seem real and believable.

Hexed is a terrific display of a comic book where everything works. Script, characterizations and art all mesh together to create a fascinating world full of dangerous magic, mysterious pasts and one haunted girl who may be the only thing standing between the people she cares about and a powerful evil. If you haven’t tried Hexed yet, it’s past time you took a waltz with Lucifer. You won’t get burned…