WEPA! Now this is how you kick open the church doors, throw holy water in the air, and let horror fans know the demon business is officially open.
The issue centers on Sister Josephine, a nun whose faith is strong, but her situation gets real unstable, real fast. We open in a church setting that feels quiet, heavy, and sacred, but the calm does not last long. Once she gets pulled into a dangerous situation involving a dying man, a desperate priest, and something grotesque lurking beyond the normal rules of this world, the story shifts from religious drama into full-blown demonic horror.
And when this book gets weird? Oh, it gets beautifully, disgustingly weird.
The creative team knows exactly what kind of horror they’re cooking. Jeremy Robinson builds the story with a clean hook: faith meets failure, duty meets danger, and one act of survival may cost Sister Josephine everything she thought defined her. There is a strong emotional spine here. This is not just “nun versus monster.” It is about belief, obedience, guilt, and what happens when the institution you serve decides your usefulness has an expiration date.
That is where the title hits hard. Excommunicated is not just a cool horror word slapped on the cover. By the end of the issue, Sister Josephine is cast out, cut off, and pushed into a new kind of battle. That gives the story a sharp engine moving forward. She is not just fighting demons. She may have to fight the people who were supposed to stand beside her.
Now let’s talk about the visuals, because Tiago Palma goes beast mode here. The art balances religious imagery with body-horror madness in a way that feels cinematic but still very comic-book bold. The church interiors have that heavy, candlelit, old-world pressure, while the creature work pops off the page with nasty energy. The demonic presence is gross, surreal, and alive in a way that makes you want to stare and look away at the same time. That is horror doing its job, baby.
Manuel J. Rodriguez’s colors add a lot of the mood. The warm candlelight, sickly supernatural glow, stormy shadows, and violent bursts of orange and red make the issue feel like faith is literally burning on the page. The colors help sell both the quiet prayerful moments and the “oh no, what in the unholy meatball is THAT?” moments.
Jim Campbell with AndWorld Design keeps the lettering clean and controlled, even when the story goes chaotic. That matters in horror, because if the lettering gets messy in the wrong way, the tension falls apart. Here, the dialogue stays readable, the pacing stays sharp, and the sound effects land when they need to punch the scene in the face.
What works best about Excommunicated is that it does not over-explain itself. It gives you just enough worldbuilding to understand there is a bigger mythology at play, but it keeps the focus on Josephine and the immediate horror in front of her. The issue moves quickly, but it does not feel empty. It gives you the setup, the supernatural threat, the consequence, and then drops a final turn that says, “Congratulations, you survived issue one… now the real trouble starts.”
The only thing some readers may want more of is a deeper look into Sister Josephine’s past right away. We get enough to care about her, but this first issue is more of a violent ignition than a full character excavation. That is not a deal-breaker; it just means issue #2 has a big opportunity to dig into who she is, what she believes, and how far she is willing to go now that she has been pushed outside the walls of the Church.
Overall, Excommunicated is a strong horror debut with a killer concept, striking visuals, and a lead character who has plenty of room to become something special. Vault Comics has a nasty little spiritual horror grenade here, and the pin has officially been pulled.
If you like demonic horror, religious tension, exorcism-flavored chaos, and comics that look like they were drawn with one hand on a rosary and the other holding a flamethrower, this one deserves your attention.
Crusaders Score:
4/5
Publisher: Vault Comics
Writer/Creator: Jeremy Robinson
Artist: Tiago Palma
Colorist: Manuel J. Rodriguez
Letterer: Jim Campbell with AndWorld Design
Editor: Kane Gilmour
On Sale:
5/6/2026
Author Profile
- I'm Al Mega the CEO of Comic Crusaders, CEO of the Undercover Capes Podcast Network, CEO of Geekery Magazine & Owner of Splintered Press (coming soon). I'm a fan of comics, cartoons and old school video games. Make sure to check out our podcasts/vidcasts and more!
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