Hexed

I seem to run into some trouble lately when I go to start talking about a story I have read or watched. The common theme comes when I really like a story I can’t think of something to talk about right away. Sure, it’s easy when something gets under your skin with a story. Then you can jump right into why the story bugged you and it fuels the fires.

But for a story I really enjoyed, I mean the kind that just sucked me into the story world and wouldn’t let go, it isn’t easy. I don’t want to spoil the story for others so I hem and haw about talking about the storyline. There are so many good points I could bring up but then that leads to destroying the storyline again. This brings us to the story in question this time around, Hexed. The story was created and written by Michael Alan Nelson with art done by Emma Rios, published by Boom! Studios (2009).

So where do I begin?

The story centers around Lucifer (her full name is Luci Jenifer Inacio Das Neves, “Lucifer” for short). No not that “Lucifer.” This one is a thief, specializing in collecting magical artifacts. She is also a girl, which puts a whole new spin on the hell of a woman scorned or something…

But I digress…

The overall storyline is the thief Lucifer and her trials and tribulations as she plies her trade. And she is marked by a demon. Which is one of the ways that the whole Hexed idea comes into play from. The mark is basically a shorthand for the way she will spend the afterlife and all that. After that we have the whole running into trouble and finding ways through or around it all which you can expect from a supernatural story and all that. But I don’t want to get too deep into any of that, I have no real desire to spoil a story if I can avoid it.

But there are a couple moments within the story that I want to talk about. The first is a moment of traveling through various planes of existence. She needs a doorway to get into a specific location during a job. The doorway happens to be a large dead man (she needed one big enough to allow her to pass into the new realm). I loved the concept, from start to finish.

We have the standard, doing something a bit off kilter in order to ensure that the magical forces align properly and all that. But one of the more interesting aspects we encounter in this scenario is the repercussions of the whole thing. When she pops back out of the dead fat man, she is spotted by a person who works in the morgue. So we have repercussions for some of her actions.

With this little bit of plot short hand we the readers are given something akin to a real living world (within the comic) and we see how the world interacts with the characters. We aren’t always shown this type of moment in most other literature. Instead we are shown mostly what is going on for the main characters with no thoughts to the world at large. Sure with that we can see and experience the characters, but with sharing the interactions with the world we are given a greater sense of life.

I had a similar thought process when the Toby Maguire Spidermans (the entire series of them) came out. Those movies had a level of success that others hadn’t experienced previously. And then the movie Daredevil came out. It would have been thought that it could have ridden the Spiderman coattails and pull in a decent take on that alone. But something was missing. It is amazing how simple the difference actually is between the two. The world created for the Spiderman movies was alive. It contained more than just the characters and this is a huge contributor to how well the movies did overall. Daredevil focused solely on the characters and their interactions. And in the process the movie fell flat because we couldn’t accept the world or the people we saw within it.

Where was I?

Hexed… yep, great story. This is definitely one to check out. Personally, I love it when I can find a new story that doesn’t fall within the same ol same ol for the big houses. Sure I love those stories too but when we have a chance at some new stories and new characters it gives us a chance to explore some new worlds and new ground. This story is no exception.

We are given a world where magic is possible but it is still wit and ingenuity (and probably a decent amount of luck) that play some of the biggest roles in winning the day. All the crazy exists within the story to give a bit of flavor and excitement. And the whole package doesn’t disappoint.

This is one I would search out if I had known about it. But instead for me it was a happy accident that I found it. I am sure glad I did.

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