High concept (demon pigs!), silly (demon pigs!), scary (demon pigs!), and incredibly well scripted, this graphic novel is one of the best action comics I've read in a long time. This is only 120 pages, but the amount of depth to the characters, the twists to the backstory, and the economy and sharpness of the dialog are great. There are a few cliché twists and a bit of hokiness, but you get DEMON PIGS! With that and good writing, what more do you need?

If Joe Lansdale and Grady Hendrix has taught me anything about fiction, it’s that many out-there premises can work as a story as long as it pays attention to the fundamentals. By fundamentals, I mean plot and specifically character development. And even if those are lacking, within the horror genre, a reader can forgive a story if there are copious amounts of gore and/or surreal weirdness. Not to say that the graphic novel Swine by Tyrone Finch and Alain Mauricet is trying to heap buckets of blood into their work to disguise its shortcomings. Rather, the pair tell an insanely weird horror comedy tale that saws at the heartstrings.

Simply explaining this premise makes me feel like I’m a director explaining this to a room full of skeptical Hollywood execs. Ellis has just been released on parole for the murder of his wife, and Zoe, the victim’s sister, doesn’t feel justice has been served. In following Ellis, ready to get vengeance on behalf of her sister, she makes a crazy and horrifying discovery: her sister Becky was killed by pigs. Not just any pigs, these swine that Ellis is hunting are members of Legion, the demonic horde that Jesus had cast into pigs.Zoe joins Ellis on his quest and, along with a possessed talking pig that has broken away from Legion, they seek to slaughter the rest of Legion.

A tale like this could easily end up fodder for a Syfy Movie of the Week, but Finch’s story strikes the proper tone between comedy and horror. The pigs are set up as formidable, especially since each issue shows these immortal swine helping guide humanity into its most infamous disasters. Simon, the talking pig that serves as a divining rod for locating these pigs, offers comedy relief when needed and a dose of reality, as much as a talking pig can provide, when the situation is dramatic. Mauricet’s realistic comic illustrations are allowed to go wild as he depicts some pig animal hybrids that channel Wells’s The Island of Dr. Moreau. Writer Finch and artist Mauricet have pooled their efforts beautifully to create a bizarre tale that has horror, humor, and heart. You might laugh, you might gasp, but this story will definitely keep you interested.

Trigger Warning: Blood, Death

Ep 1 of my reading slump series.

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I honestly don't know what to say abou this graphic novel. Did I like it? I don't know as well. It's just that whule reading this graphic novel, I definitely had a schocked pikachu face.

It was honestly chaotic and hillarious. I was most of the times just want the chaos to end.

In Mark, Chapter 5, of the Bible, Jesus casts the demons from a madman into a herd of swine. The swine go mad and throw themselves off a cliff, presumably drowning. However, in Swine by Tyrone Finch, that’s not the end of the story. The swine live and wreak havoc on the world. Two thousand years later, Ellis Rafferty has spent seven years in prison after being wrongly convicted for the murder of his wife, Becky. Now released, he seeks to avenge her death. Joining forces with Becky’s sister, Zoey, they hit the road to take on the swine demons. Ellis and Zoey travel the country to put a stop to the pigs’ murderous rampage, leaving carnage in their wake.
The premise of Swine is nothing new to horror. The idea of casting out demons and putting them into another body is a horror staple and is the driving plot behind such horror classics as The Exorcist, which even mentions the same tale. However, Finch takes the story and makes the pigs themselves the antagonist in a clever interpretation of the tale. The demon swine have been responsible for many of history’s great disasters—The Titanic, The Hindenburg, Chernobyl—and are now running rampant through the United States. Add to that plot a healthy dose of humor (the herd of piglet assassins in Chapter Three was particularly amusing) as well as some great scenes of blood and slaughter thanks to illustrator Mauricet, and readers have a really successful graphic novel on their hands.
Some might find the plot too far-fetched or silly; to be sure, Finch is working as much withing the horror comedy genre as he is the religious horror and body horror genres. However, with a bit of suspended disbelief, readers will be able to delve deep into this world where demon swine have plagued mankind for centuries and are finally meeting their match. There are enough twists and turns in the plot to keep people guessing, and while there are some graphic scenes of blood and guts, it’s pretty understated, so squeamish readers will not be too put off. Overall, Swine is a really fun and successful horror graphic novel with a unique and clever premise, and horror readers will enjoy this tale.

Excellent art and an interesting concept can't make up for poor writing and a scattershot approach to characterization in Swine. Ellis has been released from prison after serving his sentence for murdering his wife Becky, and his sister-in-law Zoey wants revenge. When she discovers that Becky was actually killed by literal demon pigs, she teams up with Ellis to destroy them. There is some gory fun in these pages, but it gets drowned out by attempts to tie the story more closely into Christian mythology and characters who speak and act entirely in clichés. Too much of the story is "wow, these pigs are demons, lol" which just isn't enough to sustain reader interest.

I received an eARC of this title through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this graphic novel, but I honestly could not get passed the main plot. It really sounded far fetch like the movie Black Sheep. Basically, Legion was sent into pigs and drowned based on the bible story in Mark 5. However, this graphic novel takes a look to see what would have happened if some of those pigs survived. The answer is they still roam the Earth and cause all kinds of chaos such as the Titanic sinking and the Hindenburg, all to take steps to taking over the world.

While I get that this is based off of a bible story and maybe it was meant to have a little bit of satire to this bible story, I just could not stop laughing at how ridiculous the whole plot was. I think if I understood the backstory of what this graphic novel is based off of, I may have liked it more. I just could not stop reading this book like a horrible pulp fiction novel.

One minute at the start of this book, the heroine is demanding her male counterpart not get his parole and instead stay in prison for murdering her sister, his wife at the time. The next minute they're an ungainly odd couple, sweeping the States to get rid of the demon hell-pigs that want to take over the world. Yes, really – it's something biblical. Speaking of which, the puff quotes that abound in this volume make it out to be the second coming, and of course the reality is a bit of a step back from the heightened peaks of praise it's got. It is drolly entertaining – especially in flashbacks to pigs being naughty in history – but the story bogs down into body-swap cliches, and keeping track of who is who and what species is a bit too much like hard work. The original pitch was for ten episodes, and we get six here – who knows if demand will justify further instalments? A rasher reader than I would declare whether this will bring home the bacon or not. I didn't really get much more than disposable fun from this – three and a half stars, and no porkies.