It’s time to get things started in New York City as the dark forces of Hell converge and our tire iron-wielding hero Pamela Evans gets the band together to face them in an awesome smackdown in MCMLXXV #3 from Image Comics.

MCMLXXV #3

Writer: Joe Casey
Artist: Ian Macewan
Colorist: Brad Simpson
Letterer: Rus Wooton
Publisher: Image Comics, Inc.
Publication date:  November 14th, 2018

Previously on MCMLXXV:  Trapped in Hell, African-American New York cabbie Pamela Evans fought her way to freedom and back onto the mean streets of New York.  Armed with an enchanted tire iron, she has just seen her lover, Prefect, die under the talons of demonic foes intent on dragging her back to Hell.  Now, on her own home turf, Pamela assembles a mighty force to drive the demons back to Hell…

GOINGS ON IN GOTHAM

This is the best single issue of a comic I’ve read in 2018.  MCMLXXV #3 is simply that good.

New York in the 1970s must’ve been hell.  I’ve written a short story about occult activities set in that place and time, and the photos I used as research depict an urban wasteland seething with resentment, on the edge of total anarchy, with the cops either idle bystanders or complicit in the terror.  Similarly, noted horror writer T.E.D. Klein used the famous New York blackout in 1977 as fuel for his terrifying short story, Children of the Kingdom.  Movies like Serpico and Taxi Driver mined that fertile decade for its violence, corruption, and alienation.

Armed with her tire iron and period-accurate street slang, Pamela Evans has fought her way back to Earth, only to see her lover Prefect, killed by the demons she encountered in Hell.  Now, they have followed her to New York, and gather to storm the city and reduce it to rubble and its inhabitant’s worm food.  Thankfully, Pamela gathers a disparate force of street gangs and other denizens of the night to face off against the horde, with spectacular results.

Writer Joe Casey’s vibrant script draws the reader in from the first page.  Pamela Evans is a fully realised character, in charge of her destiny now she has escaped Hell’s endless wars, and ready to dish out some sweet, sweet revenge.  Tough and street smart, she gathers the street gangs with inspiring words about defending the turf they have fought and bled over time and again.  To read MCMLXXV #3 is to be drawn into a thrilling world traveling at breakneck speed.

ARTISTS IN HELL

And that’s just half the story.  Under artist Ian McEwan’s brush and Brad Simpson’s colors, New York at night is an urban hellscape, gritty, brutal, intimidating and brimming with menace.  The demons don’t look out of place in a world that has gone to the dogs, as corruption and venality have eaten at the heart of the Big Apple.  Each of the gangs has their own unique look, and there are echoes of Robert Crumb in the artwork, which is very pleasing to the eye.

Of special note in the artwork is the fantastic (in both senses of the word) design of the demons.  The way they speak, with exaggerated consonants, and their contorted, misshapen bodies all come together to create unforgettable images.  The lead demon, a giant alligator with a perpetually wide mouth full of teeth, is wonderfully rendered.

BOTTOM LINE:  ESSENTIAL READING

Joe Casey has created a new mythology with this series, of a Hell that isn’t burning but is just as equally full of torment and despair.  His New York City is a mirror image of Hell, with the citizens fleeing a night full of danger, leaving it to the gangs and punks and pimps to organize.  Pamela is the one shining light in the dark, tougher than all the rest, prepared to fight the creatures of the night to save herself and her city.  MCMLXXV #3 is an absolute joy to read, and one everyone should get their hands on.