The Devil’s Rose: An Illustrated Novel by Brom

The Devil’s Rose: An Illustrated Novel by Brom was my pick for my Halloween read. I wanted something dark and disturbing and I almost got it. The graphic novel is about former Texas Ranger slash soulhunter, Cole McGee, tracking down a group of souls that have escaped from Hell. Cole and his Hell Beast track the group of fugitive souls to a biker camp where they have wrecked havoc. The fugitive souls are led by Rath, a powerful demon who Cole is assigned to bring back to the Underworld.

Cole undertakes this task for one reason and one reason only: to find his Rose. Cole first met the half-breed Navajo girl at the Saint Francis Monastery in Texas. Rose was a servant girl who Cole mistook as a prostitute.  Cole rectifies the blunder and the two start a romantic relationship. Their romance was doomed from the start. Navajo Indians are treated as hostile Indians and are outcasts of society. Being a product of that society, Cole shuns Rose’s attentions in public for fear of ridicule. Cole’s cruelty would eventually lead to his damnation to Hell and begging forgiveness from the only woman he had ever loved. Upon completion of this treacherous task, the Devil promises Cole a chance at redemption, another chance to see Rose again. To escape from Hell, Cole will do anything to see Rose again. So he tracks down Rath and his gang with skill and determination.

I thought Cole an interesting character. He’s a soulhunter tracking down his own, doing the devil’s work as you will for the past 150 years. He is reviled and despised for it, too. Cole is also a proud Texas Ranger and knows how to handle a six shooter. He wastes no time in hunting down the fugitive souls who  have escaped from hell. Cole thinks that they are all murderous thieves who don’t deserve pity or absolution. He feels that their fate is out of his hands.  However, it’s a little more complicated than one might believe. One of the fugitive souls, Billy, seeks out his priest in order to get absolution when he escapes from Hell. He killed a man in his youth and didn’t know any better.  Another one killed her husband for beating her and well you get the picture — it’s not so black and white.  The author then meanders on about Christianity and religion briefly. The war between Heaven and Hell, so on and so forth.

The story is fun in a don’t look beneath the surface kind of way. I wish it had more depth to it but then Brom’s special talent lies not with his writing but in his artwork. The artwork in here is awesome. The attention to detail, color and expression - just absolutely lovely to gaze upon. Almost every other page is illustrated. There weren’t very many flaws that jumped out at me save for a couple of loopholes in the plot. Otherwise, The Devil’s Rose was a pretty good Halloween read. I enjoyed it for what it was worth. My grade, B+.

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