This was Cullen Bunn’s debut, so don’t expect much (although the dialogues are witty, more often than not). It’s got a nice starting idea - during the prohibition era, two warring families are closing to a truce, but just when all the dark clouds seem to scatter, their negotiator is suddenly gone. An investigator is brought to find the missing dude. Except that the two crime families are headed by… demons, they’re not trading in alcohol but human souls, the missing negotiator is a demon, too (and, most importantly, his ledger of souls is gone as well) and the investigator is a walking dead. What follows, though, is a typical noir story (complete with a cursed femme fatale) that doesn’t live up to the original premise, but it’s fun enough and tense enough to follow up to the end in a single sitting, and to have me interested in the second volume. Just an OK book, then, (remember, two stars = OK) but one that led to the massively better The Sixth Gun.

Disclaimer: I received this book from Net Galley in exchange for a fair review. This didn't influence my opinion in any way.

read 07/28/2018. I thought this was an average read for me. I really enjoy Cullen Bunn's writing but I found the concept of mafia demons to be boring and not impressive at all.

The crime boss is a demon. He’s red and has horns, which makes him stand out from other gangsters. He even stands out from other demon gangsters. Demon gangs are busy trading in souls while regular gangsters are selling bootleg whisky and doing whatever gangsters did back in the day.

The boss demon raises a human gangster from the dead to go searching for another demon who disappeared. The demon who vanished was finalizing the merger of two crime families and his disappearance jeopardizes the deal.

The human who has been restored to life is named Eddie. He has the misfortune to be killed quite often. More than most of us, anyway. Sometimes he prefers being dead. Particularly when humans or demons are pounding their fists into his face. But you have to be careful if you kill Eddie, because if you touch his body after he dies, he’ll absorb your life and you’ll absorb his death. Or something like that.

Eddie does his share of killing, although he only kills people who are trying to (or did) kill him. So Eddie isn’t a bad guy, really. He just has the misfortune to be working for a gangster demon. And face it, we’ve all had jobs like that.

He also has the misfortune to fall for the wrong girl. Well, we’ve all done that too.

Eventually we have an all-out demon war, and the art does a pretty good job of bringing it to life. Or to death. On the whole, I like the art, and if the noir story is familiar (this isn’t the only gangster demon concept in the history of graphic storytelling), it is nevertheless fun. Because what’s not fun about demons? And a certain amount of thought went into the demons and the mystery of Eddie’s deaths, which surprised and pleased me.

This was an iffy one for me. I’m not overly fond of mobster stories but I do like paranormal stories. Mobsters with demon overlords sounded interesting. I was hoping for something along the lines of Hellblazer but this wasn’t quite that. I do appreciate netgalley for making it available to me. I was a bit iffy on the art for this. It’s a bit angular and not really a style I like. However, it fits the crime noir feel of the graphic novel.

Eddie is interesting. He’s been more or less brought back from the dead by the mob because they need him to help forge a truce with a rival gang. Eddie himself is interesting but I’m not sure I liked many of the other characters (which is more to do with my personal tastes and maybe shouldn’t have been reading a story about mobsters) than a failing on Bunn’s part in creating interesting characters. You do feel a little sorry for Eddie because of his unique condition.

There are a lot of unanswered questions in this and if I hadn’t downloaded both volumes of this I might not have gone on for more. I also had the devil of the time with the ereader software for this (and for several other titles I did get from Netgalley which has really slowed me down but I suspect it might either be user error or my computer, just saying).

A vividly imagined
version of the gangster era.
Instead of your average Mob Boss
all the families were headed up by demons.
Actual Demons from Hell.
Aside from the Demons
the spells and curses
this a standard gangster noir story.
It is the superb storytelling of Bunn
and the art of Hurt which captured
that long past era so wonderfully.
The story starts with the usual
beat up low level gangster being killed.
But he doesn't stay that way.
Once our hero is dead if any one touches him
he steals their life and returns.
Making the ultimate flunkie for the Demons who
run the town.
the same Demons who are facing a gang war if
our sort of immortal hero
can't fix things
pronto.
Wonderfully atmospheric
in both tone and style
this is an amazing book.

Can you really go wrong crossing noiWhat if the mobs during Prohibition were actually controlled by demons? Well then, we'd have The Dammed. Eddie is a cursed man working for Big Al. The demon brokering a peace between two rival gangs has gone missing and there will be war is Eddie can't find him. Can you really go wrong crossing noir with the supernatural?r with the supernatural?

I enjoyed this book a lot. It was beautifully written an wonderfully drawn. The story was fantastic and deep and keep me entertained. I would love to read more by this author.

'The Damned, Vol. 1: Three Days Dead' by Cullen Bunn with art by Brian Hurtt is kind of a weird alternate world where prohibition era gangsters are ruled by
demonic overlords.

One crime family is run by Big Al, a red and horned demon. In order to find a missing bookkeeper, he brings a guy named Eddie back from the dead. Eddie can't die, but that doesn't mean he can't be killed. Every time he is, he spends some time in a weird shadowy world where things make even less sense than in his world. He finds the bookkeeper, along with a missing ledger. Unfortunately, that discovery could lead to a gang war, and when you're dealing with demons, that may not be something you want to stick around for.

I'm familiar with this creative team from the series The Sixth Gun. I wasn't familiar with this earlier book, but I'm happy to have gotten the chance to read this reprint. The story feels fairly standard underneath all the weird demonic trappings, but I liked it. The art works really well for this story and I loved it.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Oni Press, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

Interesting storyline, definitely worth looking at for your graphic novel collection.

I loved almost everything about this graphic novel. The humor, the characters, the grit, the art. Fantastic! This is a new favorite of mine and I will continue to read these as they come out.

Disclaimer: I received a free ecopy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love the concept behind this book. It is set in an alternate reality where demons exist and are actively involved in the world. The story is placed during Prohibition, so there are lots of gangsters too. And then there is Eddie, the protagonist, who just won't stay dead. It has a bit of that off the cuff vibe that can come with hard-boiled detective/noir stories. That's a perfect fit for Eddie.
The art is pretty good too. Particularly the depictions of the demons. There is a lot of variety to make them seem distinct.

However, things didn't pick up for me until near the end of this volume. I feel like I kept asking myself "so what?" about characters and events as they came up. Most of it is addressed eventually, but it left me sort of blasé about the whole thing. There wasn't enough information to get me invested in the character early. I might feel differently about it if I went back and reread it though.

"The Damned" is a clever twist on a crime gang-war story - some of the bosses are demons, and the protagonist is a man cursed never to die. I enjoyed the story quite a bit, even if I rarely read occult-style stories (I'm more of a crime fiction guy), and the artwork is very clean and easy to read.

Interesting story and eye-catching illustrations that draw you in! An instant favourite with Outcast and Lucifer lovers!

I cannot wait to read the next volume! This story sucked me in immediately and I've been on the edge of my seat waiting for the next installment. It is an exceedingly clever take on a crime underworld. The characters are vibrant while not being predictable. The tension is visible in the illustrations, which is impressive. Anyone who enjoys a good crime story with some serious supernatural elements with fall head over heels for "The Damned."

A prohibition era gangster tale with a demonic twist, this was an enjoyable read with some striking artwork. The character of Eddie was a great POV perspective and the imagery of hell was disturbing without being graphic.