Exorsisters #1 Review

Writer: Ian Boothby
Artist: Gisèle Lagacé
Colorist: Pete Pantazis
Letterer: Taylor Esposito
Publisher: Image Comics

Right while we are in the middle of the spooky season, Image Comics releases the debut issue of Exorsisters, a series about two awesome women who investigate occult happenings. This plot is one that will always appeal to me so from the start, I was very on board. It checks off all the boxes of what I like in comedic occult comic books: badass protagonists, humor, bizarre creatures of all sorts, and minimal drama. Exorsisters delivers, making this one of my favorite releases from the last several months.

I love when I start reading a comic book and it is obvious that the writers and artists are creative and are pouring all of their imagination into the story. This first issue is one of those comic books thanks to Ian Boothby’s hilarious and dark interpretation of what hell is and Gisèle Lagacé’s extraordinary illustrations displaying her interpretation.

From the very start, the issue throws you into a wedding being crashed by a demon and his demon-frogs. If that first page isn’t enough to suck you in, I don’t know what will. But that beginning isn’t where that kind of action stops. The entire issue has some bizarre characters and strange settings that perfectly design a story about the occult.

The part of the story that makes it flow so well is that the two sisters, Cate and Kate, are investigating a case and solve it by the end of the issue. I love this kind of storytelling because despite the structure remaining the same, the story remains fresh and fun. I don’t always need an in-depth and dramatic plot that has me follow five different characters. There are series that do that exact thing and do it well and there are times that I want that in a comic book and there are times that I don’t. Sometimes I want entertaining, exciting, creative, and weird comic book series and Exorsisters is that series for me.

Boothby has written a great story that will surely continue to be amusing. But what I like even more than that are his main characters, Cate and Kate. These two are hard not to love from the very beginning. Cate is beautiful, very cool, and serious which gives her a strong, calm disposition. Kate is also beautiful and also very cool, but is pretty wild and hilarious. She takes the loud and silly role of the duo that we see often but despite it being a stereotypical position, it works because Boothby makes her stand out.

Like I mentioned above, it is entertaining to see an artist’s creativity come forth in their art immediately and Gisèle Lagacé’s does that. The story is pleasant and quirky and Lagacé’s artwork is the missing puzzle piece that completes this amazing story. Her illustrations are wonderfully weird in the perfect way that fits Boothby’s writing.

Exorsisters is a series that will have me looking forward to the next issue every month so that I can enjoy Cate and Kate’s bizarre adventures and humor again. The writing and artwork are simply beautiful, hilarious, and strange even if it’s formula isn’t necessarily new. Everything else about the series is imaginative and entertaining and it’s spooky subject matter make it especially fitting for it’s October release.