The Big Burn #1, the latest comic that debuts next month from DSTLRY, is a captivating issue that combines elements of romance, heist, & horror genres in one. The story follows two sticky finger lovers, Owen & Carlie, who sell their souls to the devil to get out of a run-in with the law but quickly realize just how high of a price they paid.

Writer Joe Henderson also introduces a unique take on Hell, depicting it as a casino where the devil always wins & he stores his collection of souls in a massive vault. The second half of the book sees Owen rounding up others w/o souls to enact a plan to steal them back. It all made me think we’re getting a version of Ocean’s Eleven in Hell! In addition to Ocean’s Eleven, I also couldn’t stop thinking of the Simpsons episode when Bart sells his soul to Milhouse 😂. It made things a bit more humorous for me than the creative team was likely hoping for, but I couldn’t help it.

Lee Garbett’s art is engaging w/ a sense of realistic character designs that make them feel grounded & human. I loved his designs in the opening pages where he highlights bits of information like hidden security cameras. It was really effective and helped to set the tone of the book. His casino in Hell also looked really awesome! The colors by Lee Loughridge and letters by Simon Bowland do an excellent job of further bringing the panels to life.

The first of two minor nitpicks I had was Owen getting more development than Carlie, which I hope changes as I don’t want to see the main female character get the shaft. Her character takes a turn at one point in the issue and we’re left wondering how her role in the story may unfold. The second nitpick was a few minor editing issues. Not the end of the world, but there were at least two times I noticed something that could have been fixed and they took me out of the story for a moment. These should be corrected in the final version (I read an ARC provided by the publisher), so this shouldn’t be an issue for the majority of readers.

But overall, The Big Burn #1 has the makings of another thrilling & suspenseful story from DSTLRY. I’d highly recommend it!

Rating: 8.5/10