Review: The Curse of Brimstone Annual

In this thrilling new annual, Brimstone and Annie are called to help prevent a cult from bringing their god to life via a sacrificial ritually none other than John Constantine! Then, explore the origins of Wandering Jack. Plus, witness some of the supernatural deals the Salesman has made throughout the ages. (When you bargain with the devil, prepare to be burned, people!)

It was a little over a year ago, DC Comics announced the arrival of the New Age of Heroes featuring eight different titles, and by far my favorite is The Curse of Brimstone which is why it is bewildering that it will be coming to an end after only 12 issues, according to the DC solicitations for March:

“It“s the epic finale! As Brimstone struggles to fight the Dark Multiverse beings who managed to come through from their “home office”“ to our world, the chance to lift the curse of Brimstone is offered! But with Annie“s life in the grip of the Salesman, Brimstone is forced to choose between his only family left and the sanity left in him.”

So in the meantime while Brimstone readers are left to guess the future of our favorite “Deal with the Devil” storyline, Justin Jordan and company has provided us with “The Curse of Brimstone Annual” to fill in some context gaps, with three stories;
In ‘ The Way of All Flesh”, Brimstone, Constantine, and Swamp Thing team up to stop a cult from bringing their god to life via a human sacrificial ritual. In ‘After the Flood’, we finally get the background info on the mysterious Enoch and his brother Elijah.(According to the Bible, Enoch and Elijah are the only two people God took to heaven without them dying. Some speculate that they were taken in preparation for a role in the end times, possibly as the two witnesses)

In ‘Jack’s Big Adventure’ we finally get to explore the origins of Wandering Jack.Â Why is it that you can never trust the only survivor of a massacre? That question kept running through my mind after Joe and Annie find a solitary survivor Jack in the middle of a ‘Children of the Corn’ scene. We also get to witness the intricacies of some of the supernatural deals the Salesman has made lately.

Mike Perkinst makes each panel of the story really expressive and captures the emotion of each scene incredibly well. With the more exaggerated and creepy yet humorous tone of “’Jack’s Big Adventure’ ”“, the backup art by Denys Cowan was aÂ great choice to complement the script.Â The page layouts are symmetrical and often have a visual element or two keeping the story fresh.

Well done to Justin Jordan and company for turning in another excellent issue of “The Curse of Brimstone”“ and I hope this isn’t the beginning of the Swan Song for Brimstone.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Art by: Mike Perkins
Backup Art by: Donald Hudson, Denys Cowan
Cover by: Philip Tan
Written by: Justin Jordan