Review: Penny for Your Soul #2

Danica has a sweet little piece of the after life carved out for herself but when her father, Damien, pays her a visit, all of Heaven and Hell will break loose. Now that Hell has taken notice of Danica’s activities, how long until Heaven decides to intervene as well?

Penny for Your Soul #2
Created and Written by Tom Hutchison
Art by J.B. Neto
Back Story Art by Edson Novais
Colors and Lettering by Oren Kramek
Back Story Colors by Alzir Alves
Published by Big Dog Ink

Previously in Penny for Your Soul: Welcome to the Eternity Hotel where the market value on your soul is a whopping ten thousand bucks! Just sign on the dotted line and all that money is yours to spend on whatever vices you desire. However, once you depart this plane, you’ll be working for Danica, Damien’s daughter. Danica and her best friend, Mary Magdalene, made a friendly little wager in the last issue where the next person to walk through the door would be stuffing dollar bills down her pants by the end of the night or Danica turns the hotel over to Mary. Unluckily for Danica, the next person to walk through the door was a nun. By the end of the evening, to Mary’s dismay, Danica was successful in her goal. Paying her dues, Mary then stripped down and rides the mechanical bull on stage for all to see. Suddenly a giant red horned demon storms through the doors and at his side stands Danica’s father.

AW HELL

Any other person on Earth would crap themselves if suddenly Damien forced his way into your business to have words with you. For Danica, this is nothing more than an irritation of having to deal with a pushy family member. After a forced kiss from her father, Danica transforms to reveal her true demon nature and fries an on looker’s camera. After the public scene, Danica decides to discuss matters further in her office where her father demands the return of the souls she took from him. Refusing to do so, Damien attacks his daughter who grabs hold of a Bible and smacks him with it. Stumbling back, Damien finds himself surrounded by Danica’s angelic security guards who have already dispatched his demon escort. Danica orders her father’s removal from the premises as the angels toss him out the window of the penthouse suite. On the way down, however, Damien opens a hole in the ground and slips straight back to Hell unharmed.

As the security staff escort Damien’s demon to the basement for interrogation, Mary comes in to console Danica’s obviously shaken nerves. Maintenance enters the room to repair the window as Mary begins to get very thorough with her relaxation techniques. Down in Hell, Damien returns to the gates of his kingdom to begin plotting his daughter’s downfall. Meanwhile, back at the hotel, a young girl has just signed her soul away and has decided to take the smart route and spend it all on clothes to last her a lifetime. Little did our genius know that a life time for her would be about five seconds after she walked out of the boutique when she gets hit by a car and dies. As she begins to wake up to her new life of eternal servitude, she over hears an argument between a doctor and disgruntled slave at the hotel. The slave storms out to have a word with Danica in the hotel lobby, who swiftly puts her in her place. Just as the girl is taken away, Danica receives a tap on the should and exclaims “JESUS!” as he stands right behind her.

NOW THAT’S SEXY

One of the problems I tend to have with Independent companies is that when they come out with a new comic, they tend to have compelling stories to get it off the ground but lack the creative know how to maintain that interest into a second issue. Thankfully Big Dog Ink doesn’t seem to have that problem with Penny for Your Soul. The second issue is just as captivating and sexy as the first issue was. That word, “sexy”, is really the best word to describe this comic. Besides the intentionally stunning women and often in your face sexual acts, the comic has a sexiness in the very nature of the tale too. It’s the same kind of sexiness that people equate to the lights, glamour, and carefree times in Vegas. It’s and anything goes comic in that sense. Heck, even their version of Jesus looks like he should go by the name of J. C. Smooth when he walks through the doors.

CHANGING THE PERSPECTIVE

I’m really enjoying the main story but I think my favorite part of the comic lies with telling the tale of individual patrons. This issue featured Monica and her shopping spree as well as a back story with the patron whose camera Danica melted. I don’t think these individual tales could be as successful without the main story to keep us grounded though. This is the second case where they’ve taken a somewhat minor event from the main plot and expanded on it. After the man’s camera was melted, Danica’s assistant presented him with two tickets to recover the damage. Taking the tickets, the man finds a date to accompany him. Later that evening, he returns with her to his room where she transforms into much more than the man can handle. There is just something very nostalgic to a child of the 80’s about a moral to close an issue.

SAM’S A GUY, RIGHT?

My only gripe about this issue is with this Sam character. The way the story is written, it leads me to believe that we’re supposed to know this character already; perhaps from the first issue. After going back over both issues of the comic, I can’t seem to find any reference to a Sam. When we first meet her, she’s complaining about the body she’s in. I wonder if that’s because Sam was originally in a man’s body or if it’s because she was previously in a less than sexy body. With a name like Sam, you really can’t tell the exact nature of her complaint. I don’t think her story needs to be fleshed out in future issues per say, but they gave her enough face time where it would have been nice to know.

FACING ETERNAL JUDGEMENT

The art is still pleasant to look at. The tone feels like it would be right at home with the likes of Top Cow’s Witchblade and The Darkness (I could totally see them making cameo appearances in the crowds). The story telling is still entertaining with a little more than a hint of deviousness to it. I give this issue four out of five stars and am very happy that I’ve added this title to my pull list. Here’s hoping that issue three maintains the same quality of story telling and art that the first two issues have.

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