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My reread of Speak of the Devil by @[email protected] concludes today! Spoilers incoming.
Chapter 3: Take the Fall
On the cover page, the magnificent Eidolon City from the first two chapter cover pages now looks a lot more run down and desolate. As Sunday awakes in a hospital bed, Samantha Miles, enters and proclaims herself Sunday's "new best friend." She's one of the seven heads of state, and her face is on money. Exactly the kind of powerful person that Sunday hates. Ah, she's a full basilisk, and uses that as an excuse to condescend to Sunday. Samantha explains that she suspects Alden Raines of angling for her job, and she wants Sunday to take down Alden. Also, Sunday's client is dead, and Samantha gives the most obviously fake expression of sadness as she hints that he was killed by the police, who might work for her, or might be working for Rains. Back at the diner, Sunday warns Kiera to stay inside, and now she finally has to go talk to her mom. Evil mom hates when Sunday mentions "corrupt cops," and Sunday snaps back that all cops are corrupt.
Now, in the process of refusing to give her mom information, Sunday realizes something: the cops chasing her in the first two chapters were not really after Sunday. Oh and another mention of Sunday's dad, just a "make sure he's safe too."
Sunday goes back to Jack's Lantern, but the guards have explicit instructions not to let her in. Sunday warns Isla that the cops were after Isla, not Sunday. Yay, Isla and Sunday make up! Sunday says it's Raines' goons who are after Curtis. They'll come for Isla to get information about Curtis, even though Isla doesn't actually know where Curtis is. And the Isla Sunday shippers are disappointed again. Sunday captures the goons and questions them with threats. Sunday deduces the location of a warehouse that is relevant. Uh oh, it's definitely serious that Sunday is calling Samantha for reinforcements.
Sunday enters the warehouse, and...Curtis appears! Curtis was the one who tried to run her over, because he was scared she came to his house. Now all the truth comes out, with Curtis confirming Sunday's suspiciouns. Aaron killed Ron, and Curtis possessed Ron's body and flew into Aaron's office balcony, and killed Aaron, as shown in the beginning. But it didn't help, because the city is corrupt to the core, and with one bad person dead, other bad people fill the void. Raines is here in person with his goons. Raines shoots his own goon to "motivate" the others, but that means Curtis can possess the dead goon. Now Sunday delivers an incredible monologue to Curtis: "Don't let this city rot you too." Curtis escapes and bam: the reinforcements are here, lead by Mina. Sunday finally puts Mina in her place, before her final confrontation with Samantha. End of story! This chapter was a really satisfying conclusion to the Curtis mystery, and it's great rereading and seeing all the foreshadowing I missed the first time.
Now there's bonus art of character designs. And that's the end of the series.
Four years after it ended, Speak of the Devil is a joy to reread, with some heavy emotions from the most relatable parts of Sunday's life. When it first ended, I didn't think it was the end: I thought this was just the end of the first volume, and that there would be several more volumes ultimately leading to Sunday destroying the whole city. Instead, the saga ends here. Not everything is tied up with a neat bow, but it doesn't have to be. We got to see Sunday deal with her family trauma and go through a hero arc. The only downside to the story being as short as it is is that we never got to see Sunday's friends fleshed out as much as the supporting cast in a longer series.
Onwards to Nix of Nothing.
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My reread of Speak of the Devil by @[email protected] continues! Spoilers a'hoy.
Chapter 2: Watch Your Step
We start with a silhouette scene of someone falling off a building and a whole bunch of other people looking intimidating. This chapter is in grayscale, a deviation from the color used in the first chapter and in SNS. I love Sunday's banter. Oh right, one of her friends is a pro wrestler, "Doc Addams," whose wrestling mask looks a bit like Kite. Sunday did not call her mom after the events of the previous chapter. It occured to me yesterday that we are perfectly balanced as far as protagonist's moms in M Lee Lunsford comics: Fiona has one bad mom, Sunday has one bad mom, and Nix has two good moms. Sunday is focused on the case, Kiera is focused on shipping Sunday with Isla. Also the cat looks ready to knock everything off the counter.
The shadows show exhaustion in Sunday's eyes as she departs: I love the details in the art. Sunday runs from a car: what is that car's deal? Isla and Sunday talk about music and oh, yeah, Sunday's trauma from her mom. Sunday's mom is suspicious of Sid and Miari. We're in Eidolon, the City of Ghosts. Both of these girls have friends who disappeared. Uh oh, the thug from the previous night is here! Mrs. Madigan to the rescue! Sunday's snark when asked about her driving is perfect. And yikes, I bet it's her mom who called her that. It's incredible how relatable Sunday is to me. Chase scene! Oh, Isla is not used to this kind of action. Sunday throws Isla's sound speaker out the back of the trunk to slow down the pursuers, drive over a jump, and oh yeah, the Sunda Isla shippers win. Kiera would be squealing if she could read the comic now. Next morning, "Don't forget the girl is incorporeal." Invisible Isla can still play music to let Sunday know she's here. Uh oh, Isla was lying to Sunday: she did know Curtis as well as his brother Ron: the dead guy. I love how even invisible, we can get a sense of Isla's body language from how she grabs and smashes the tablet. Now we get an unhappy separation between Isla and Sunday. It seems like Isla had a good reason for not immediately confiding in Sunday yesterday, but Sunday is under too much stress to understand.
Knowing Ron's name helps Sunday put the pieces together. Aaron Winters is the guy who fell from the balcony, and he was in the car with Ron and Curtis. Kieri wants to ship, and we get tiny hints of the backstory with Lexi, but Sunday wants to focus on the job. Sunday gets in a disguise as a journalist and goes to interview Aaron's former employer, Alden Rains. Rains gets angry telling Sunday that he doesn't get angry, and he denies the possibility that Aaron was murdered. More banter with Sunday's friends: "It wasn't a murder job when I started."
Sunday goes back to see Isla and the thugs are here. Flashback to Lexi! Since the whole comic is grayscale, Lunsford uses a sudden change in art style to represent the flashback. Lexi thought Sunday couldn't leave her because Sunday had "nowhere else to go," so Lexi thought she could cheat on Sunday without consequence. Also first mention of Sunday's dad. Maybe also the last one? I don't remember hearing anything else about him. Back to the present, the thugs have seemingly defeated Sunday, and capture her. Oh, the flashback was a nightmare. And the thugs seemingly don't know who she is, but they want to know about the Becketts. Sunday has put all the pieces together, except for Curtis' location. Now some new mysterious folks enter: chapter end.
We got a lot more answers, but there are still some mysteries remaining for the finale. The pacing feels excellent to read all at once. Given the current issues in my own life, Sunday's trouble with Lexi and her parents hits me extra hard: maybe harder than it did the first time I went through the series. I recall when this chapter first started releasing I was a little bit thrown off by the transition from color to grayscale, but rereading the grayscale art just feels so natural that I can't imagine it any other way. All around, this was an excellent chapter, and I am excited to reread the third part.
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Hey, it's another one of these things where I reread a comic that I read years ago and write my stream-of-consciousness thoughts!
*Speak of the Devil: Wake the Dead* by @[email protected] is an urban fantasy detective mystery webcomic that ran from 2018-2021. I read it as it originally released, but I have not reread it since then. Today, I start my full reread, and I will be writing my thoughts as I go. As always, this reread will contain SPOILERS!
Lunsford's previous comic, Supernormal Step (2008-2018) is one of my all-time favorites. I really love Fiona and the rest of the cast. When Speak of the Devil started, my expectations were sky high, but I also had no idea what to expect in terms of characters.
Chapter 1: Have a Nice Trip
We start with a cover page for the whole series, showing our protagonist, Sunday Blackburne, a humanoid with a black tail and devilish horns. She's half-basilisk and half-devil. The cover for the ebook (which is what I'm reading) is based on the first page of the online comic, but it's been enhanced.
We start the story proper in media res, with a cloaked figure pushing someone out a high window onto a busy street. Sunday is talking to a fey-like creature about someone she's about to fight. I don't remember if this guy shows up later of if he's just here to help establish Sunday. She's interrupted by a phone call from Kiera, who reminds Sunday that she has a blind date! Kiera reminds Sunday that Sunday broke up with her ex over a year ago. I don't remember anything about Sunday's ex, including whether or not we ever see her. Kiera uses the power of a cute cat! I love the sign on the outside of Kiera's place.
On the bus, Sunday hears something to distract her from her date: two people talking about Jack's Lantern, as mentioned on the chapter cover. Ah, irony. And a billboard ad specifically aimed at whisps. Now we meet Mina. They hit it off talking about their mixed ancestries, and then bam: Mina asks about Lena, Sunday's mom, and the temperature in the room drops a lot. Lena is a cop, Sunday is a private detective. They don't get along.
And now our client Salvador interrupts, insisting Sunday help find a "dear dear friend." I don't recall every detail of the plot of this comic, but I remember being very suspicious of Salvador my first time through. We're looking for a whisp named Curtis Becket, oh, and he's not really Salvador's friend: he's an employee under-the-table. Sunday lives in an abandoned diner. And she's just as suspicious of Salvador as I am.
So the invitation to Jack's Lantern is a puzzle telling you the current location. Sid and Dex help, and they have a book on the history of whisp communities. Sweet friendships. Now Sunday arrives at Jack's Lanturn. As the only non-whisp present, she quickly attracts the owner's attention. Curtis was friends with band guitarist Isla Quinn. Dang, that girl looks a fair bit like Fiona if she was a whisp. I love the exchange of dialogue between these too:Isla: You're not a cop, are you?
Sunday gets Curtis' address, but his home (if it's even his real address) is abandoned. A green person has been dead here for awhile: they look like the cloaked figure from the opening scene. Same species or actually the same person? I like Sunday's inner monologue: uh oh, she has to call mom. Now two thugs enter looking for someone: are they looking for Curtis? Sunday goes badass fighting them...end of chapter!
Sunday: I try my best not to be-
So, overall thoughts for the first chapter. First, the plot moves really fast: much faster than SNS or Nix of Nothing. I love all the little details of worldbuilding about wisp culture, and the generally cosmopolitan nature of the setting. It's also clear from the little details that the author had planned out exactly where the plot was going.
But my biggest observation is a repeat of what I said about Supernormal Step: The author is really good at getting me to like their characters. I love Sunday right off the bat and I want to read more about her. Now, I am going to pull up what I said in my Supernormal Step reread and see how that comparesMy general thoughts on the first two chapter are that right from the beginning, Lunsford was really good at creating characters that I want to read about. Fiona, Van, Jim, Kite, and the Hendersons are all characters I immediately want to know more about.
That's from my SNS reread, June 2020, about the first two chapters. Five years and one comic later, my opinion remains the same.
Come back tomorrow for Chapter 2: Watch Your Step.
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