I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own. 

A chance encounter turns into a nightmare for a young British filmmaker when his latest “hookup” turns out to have very powerful connections in the indie horror comic book “Plagued: The Devil Did It” by Shakil Somani. 

The Synopsis 

Lukas “Kas” Green, a successful British filmmaker and billionaire living in Los Angeles, takes the wrong girl home one night – she turns out to literally be the daughter of the Devil. 

The Devil punishes Kas by overrunning his brain with the creativity his film career has been built upon. 

Consequently, anytime Kas even thinks about sex, his mind is overcome with sketches and hallucinations. 

Kas attempts to cure himself of this plague of ideas and distractions, whilst balancing his movie-making career, the overpowering sketch-like stories in his mind and of course, trying to rejoin the population of Bonetown. 

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The Review

In this horror/comedy mashup, the author does a marvelous job of building an original storyline that engages readers on multiple fronts. A combination of Preacher and a sex-fueled comedy, the story is both humorous and character driven. 

While the characters were memorable, the first issue’s storyline was what really stood out to me. The protagonist didn’t come across like many of the classic “sex-obsessed” jerks that come with this genre of comic book. Instead you found a charming, sometimes forward but otherwise humorous protagonist who found himself trying to find a way to balance his creativity with his sexual desires, and in the process discovered the limits of both sides of the coin. 

The Verdict

This was a strong start to what promises to be an engaging and fun indie horror comic book series. While personally in future stories I think the overall narrative could improve with a bit more backstory to the characters and some natural transitions between scenes, overall the comic book worked well and entertained the reader greatly. 

With a mystical realism attached to the imagery thanks to the wonderful illustrations of Mark Superales, this comic book was an awesome first issue that will leave readers wanting more. If you haven’t yet, grab your copy of “Plagued: The Devil Did It” by Shakil Somani today!

Rating: 8/10

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About the Author

I’ve always hated words, as long as I can remember they’ve done nothing but cause heartache. Words like; “Fluffy’s not going to make it. Sorry, not Sorry”, “I don’t love you any more” and “We’re having a girl!”. 

Like most, I endured them for a long time, until about 2 years ago when I decided I to fight back. 

But to liberate oneself from darkness, you must first step deeper into it. So for now I will read and write, trying my best to engage and entertain and once I’ve won the words over, convincing them that I’m their friend, they’ll relax, let their guard down and without even realizing, they’ll give me all the tools I need to eradicate them from society.

My mission is to destroy all words, forever and to make the future look like the distant past, where people would communicate in person through emotional, meaningful touches and primal sounds. Where the distance that ‘civilized’ beings create from each other through books, magazines and devices will evaporate.

Where sex will once again only be the sticky, messy and powerful expression of two to seven people inexorably bound in the same moment. Skype sex, phone sex and text sex will be relegated to the pages of books long-destroyed.

The first words I will erase are; border, wall and president.

I understand my crusade may be polarizing, as even those words you might think of as wholly positive must be culled, because at their core they are the seeds of humanity’s decay. That said, baby, monkey, and cupcake will be among the last to fall.

Thus far, my attempts at gaining the words’ trust have been in the form of; a comic book series – with new issues quarterly and an android game, to be released later this year. 

At present, I’m working on my debut novel and live in a flat/ War on Words H.Q in East London, with my current wife and my 2 dogs; Candy, Sparky and TamTam respectively.

Let me know what words you hate at BrainMilkProductions@Gmail.com and I might put them to the top of the kill list.

Goodreads  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46205035-plagued?from_search=true

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SS5PD2M

Read for free link  https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/plagued/list?title_no=310449