After the death of her infamous occult detective of uncle Alfie, Ellie Hawthorne assumes the role of being a magical occult detective for hire. Unbeknownst to her, someone has summoned a devil, revealing that 72 devils of the Ars Goetia are free from Hell and roaming the earth preying upon the living. 
Crossing paths with mobsters, and a police officer from the US, It’s up to Ellie to hunt down and banish all 72 demons back to Hell, by any means necessary.
Si Spurrier is no stranger to writing stories focused on occult detectives, given that he had an acclaimed run writing the John Constantine, Hellblazer series under the Sandman Universe imprint at DC that returned the character to his macabre Vertigo roots. This time around he has his own creator-owned series where he can take things as far he likes in ways that he couldn’t explore under the big two. His characterization of Ellie is full of wit, sarcasm, cynicism, and pettiness that makes her as entertaining and endearing as a certain DC Comics occultist. It’s not to compare, but one could say Ellie is what Gemma of Hellblazer could have been had she been better written during the tail-end of the original Hellblazer run under the Vertigo imprint.
That said, Even though she is similar to Constantine, she is very much uniquely different as she tends to work for mobsters who hire her to do all kinds of jobs for them, let alone carry a claw hammer to do some really nasty work. Unlike Constantine, Ellie is always ready to throw fisticuffs to get the job done, letting her claw hammer do all the work when spells don’t cut it. There’s a hefty amount of intrigue and mystery as Ellie gets caught in the middle of an attack that causes her to cross paths with a police officer from the US, making for a perfect premise of a horror noir tale.
Charlie Adlar’s art and Sofie Dodgson’s coloring perfectly encapsulate the kind of tone that Spurrier aimed for with this series. Paired with Jim Campbell’s fantastic use of lettering, placing it appropriately whenever need be to compliment the art and story. The entire art time does a great job at creating a book that is moody, and cinematic as all good horror noir tends to have, and this is no different. If you’re a fan of Vertigo-era books such as Hellblazer and the like, or Spurrier’s work on Hellblazer, then you will absolutely dig this book. Add it to your pull list for new comic book day.
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