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Hell To Pay #1-6
Hell To Pay: A Tale Of The Shrouded College
In **HELL TO PAY**, money really is the root of all evil. Married couple Maia and Sebastian Stone have entered into a deal with the mysterious Shrouded College. In exchange for magic abilities, the Stones must locate 666 cursed coins brought up from hell centuries ago, each of which can buy the services of a demon. The coins have been used by awful people to do awful things over the years, and now the Shrouded College wants them for itself. If the Stones fail, they will never be free, and the world will become a living hell. But if they succeed…what price will they pay? **Collects HELL TO PAY #1-6**
- GenresComicsGraphic Novels
167 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 10, 2023
3 people are currently reading
18 people want to read
About the author
Charles Soule
1,522 books1,691 followersCharles Soule is a #1 New York Times-bestselling novelist, comics author, screenwriter, musician, and lapsed attorney. He has written some of the most prominent stories of the last decade for Marvel, DC and Lucasfilm in addition to his own work, such as his comics Curse Words, Letter 44 and Undiscovered Country, and his original novels Light of the Jedi, The Endless Vessel, The Oracle Year and Anyone. He lives in New York.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
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January 31, 2024Money as the root of all evil, literally - every snare of capitalism the result of a particular individual's short-sighted deal with a demon, themselves each named something like Countess Hedge or Lord Six-Percent-Year-Over-Year-Growth. The whole system founded in hellcoins wrung out of human souls just as we grind out Bitcoin by burning the planet. It's an appealing pitch - but playing it out as a magical action movie is the bit where I'm less convinced. Particularly with the overly direct horrors of Sliney and Rosenberg's art (and I'm not even going to get into the repeated use of an uphill diagonal page layout that didn't once work for me), I was put in mind of the midpoint between the similarly themed, more cerebral Black Monday Murders and a hypothetical Mark Millar treatment of the same idea. The Millar comparison then deepens with the fact it's already being developed for streaming before the first trade landed, and the bare-faced bullshit of the afterword, where Soule - who has always been an infuriatingly inconsistent writer - explains how the Shrouded College mythos represents something a little different in comics, not a single series but a succession of miniseries set in the same world. Which has absolutely been done before, often - look at Bone Orchard and Underwinter, and that's just other Image horror umbrellas I can think of off the top of my head.
November 24, 2023
I love the ideas for this one about value, worth, souls, Hell, life, debt, work, and power. This one takes a big look at the system that is money and works to expose it and give solution to overcome it. The way deals are made seemed unique to me and I enjoyed that a lot. There were some cliche moments for an action story in this one, but I don’t think they took too much away from my enjoyment of this book. I did really dig the art in this one. Almost a five-star rating from me, but I just wasn’t the biggest fan of how this ended. I am very much so looking forward to the other books in the Shrouded College series though! Charles Soule is a great writer, so I’m sure the others will be just as good as this one.
March 13, 2024
Charles Soule is one of the most creative and unique writers of this time. I wish I knew how he came up with his ideas!
"Hell to Pay" is the first story in a new series called "The Shrouded College". We learn that this world has magic, but it comes with a price, AND we are introduced to Qurrakh, a gold coin currency imbued with soul energy that is from Hell itself and can be used to use the services of a demon. Married couple Maia and Sebastian have been working for the Shrouded College for sometime, paying off a healing debt, by collecting all the Qurrakh on Earth, 666 pieces, and destroying them. When they find #667, they know there is a problem. The insanity they have to go through.... WOW
Apparently, this series is already being adapted as a TV show for Universal Pictures. I'm genuinely excited!
I absolutely recommend this. If you are intrigued by the idea at all, check it out!
Strong recommend.
"Hell to Pay" is the first story in a new series called "The Shrouded College". We learn that this world has magic, but it comes with a price, AND we are introduced to Qurrakh, a gold coin currency imbued with soul energy that is from Hell itself and can be used to use the services of a demon. Married couple Maia and Sebastian have been working for the Shrouded College for sometime, paying off a healing debt, by collecting all the Qurrakh on Earth, 666 pieces, and destroying them. When they find #667, they know there is a problem. The insanity they have to go through.... WOW
Apparently, this series is already being adapted as a TV show for Universal Pictures. I'm genuinely excited!
I absolutely recommend this. If you are intrigued by the idea at all, check it out!
Strong recommend.
December 2, 2023
Yawn, yawn, yawn.
The first issue was great and I was really excited for this story. The mystery didn't end up paying off and the social commentary was contrived. The villain actually has "good motives" and just a bad way of getting there. Yawn. He is stopped by (spoiler) the devil? Because capitalism was designed by those who dwell in hell. BIG yawn. Boring. Tomato, tomato, tomato. Put it all online for free so I don't have to waste my money then.
The two main characters were fine but typical for contemporary character creation in comics. MAYBE the shrouded college is cool but we were given no hints or breadcrumbs about the organization or the leadership besides the character design and I don't really care to find out. Also, there is no development for the main characters, no change for them or their place in life, they don't learn anything or prove anything. We don't go anywhere or get anything. They end up right back where they started and are spared because the devil is "interested" in their unborn kid. Literally, whatever.
The art looks like it was drawn by the guy who does the art for the "Episode" app. The page design for the panels is boring. Also, there was a whole subplot with (spoiler) Alexander the Great and it doesn't pay off and I wasn't made to care about what it foreshadows.
If it weren't for a good first issue, this would probably be a one-star. Instead it's a 1.5. and I don't even like doing half stars.
The first issue was great and I was really excited for this story. The mystery didn't end up paying off and the social commentary was contrived. The villain actually has "good motives" and just a bad way of getting there. Yawn. He is stopped by (spoiler) the devil? Because capitalism was designed by those who dwell in hell. BIG yawn. Boring. Tomato, tomato, tomato. Put it all online for free so I don't have to waste my money then.
The two main characters were fine but typical for contemporary character creation in comics. MAYBE the shrouded college is cool but we were given no hints or breadcrumbs about the organization or the leadership besides the character design and I don't really care to find out. Also, there is no development for the main characters, no change for them or their place in life, they don't learn anything or prove anything. We don't go anywhere or get anything. They end up right back where they started and are spared because the devil is "interested" in their unborn kid. Literally, whatever.
The art looks like it was drawn by the guy who does the art for the "Episode" app. The page design for the panels is boring. Also, there was a whole subplot with (spoiler) Alexander the Great and it doesn't pay off and I wasn't made to care about what it foreshadows.
If it weren't for a good first issue, this would probably be a one-star. Instead it's a 1.5. and I don't even like doing half stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 13, 2024
Feels a bit like Charles Soule's Undiscovered Country in that we're promised a huge, multi-volume narrative that'll feature all different types of storytelling, but this initial heisty story is aggressively fine. A young couple have sold their souls to the magical Shrouded College so they can be healed from a terrible accident. To get their souls back, they need to collect all of the devil's coins that are loose in the world. Pay with one of these coins to summon a demon - who then performs some terrible act for you that is part of why the world is in such a bad state (mostly, the demons just encourage capitalism).
The couple have collected all but one coin when they discover that some rogue mage has been minting new coins. Which means they have to take him out before they can complete their quest. The plot is pretty straightforward like that, even with gross-looking demons showing up here and there. The main characters are not interesting, which definitely hurts the world-building that Soule is attempting here.
The next issue hinted at in the backmatter seems spookier and weirder - Hell to Pay could have used more of that.
The couple have collected all but one coin when they discover that some rogue mage has been minting new coins. Which means they have to take him out before they can complete their quest. The plot is pretty straightforward like that, even with gross-looking demons showing up here and there. The main characters are not interesting, which definitely hurts the world-building that Soule is attempting here.
The next issue hinted at in the backmatter seems spookier and weirder - Hell to Pay could have used more of that.
August 8, 2023
(Read individual comics)
Interesting pitch, execution doesn’t wind up working for me. Hard to put a finger on it though.
Interesting pitch, execution doesn’t wind up working for me. Hard to put a finger on it though.
July 31, 2023
Well this was a nice, and fun, little romp that arguably also fits into the urban fantasy category. Soule has said that there will be multiple series which will fall under The Shrouded College, but I wonder if those will include Maia and Sebastian.
Because I like Maia and Sebastian as a couple, even if they come off as thieves at the beginning. As we get a brief glimpse into their back story the reader can see why they took The Shrouded College's offer of receiving magic in exchange for what I'll politely call indentured servitude.
Because the deal was to retrieve 666 coins which allowed humans to buy the services of a demon. Once all the coins are out of circulation their debt to The Shrouded College is paid, and just when they think they are out....
They get pulled back in. The College is saying the terms of the deal is all of the coins and someone is now making new coins on Earth instead of smuggling them out of Hell. So Maia and Sebastian have to re-work the deal and find out who is making new coins, and get all of the new ones out of circulation because a clock is ticking.
Maia is pregnant, and they don't want to be working for the college, tracking down magic users and demons while the pregnancy's advancing.
The pacing matches the ticking clock they're facing. Fun, not a lot of depth of character, but then again this is a novella, and I do not expect a lot of character work in the pages allotted.
I want to see more of this world.
Because I like Maia and Sebastian as a couple, even if they come off as thieves at the beginning. As we get a brief glimpse into their back story the reader can see why they took The Shrouded College's offer of receiving magic in exchange for what I'll politely call indentured servitude.
Because the deal was to retrieve 666 coins which allowed humans to buy the services of a demon. Once all the coins are out of circulation their debt to The Shrouded College is paid, and just when they think they are out....
They get pulled back in. The College is saying the terms of the deal is all of the coins and someone is now making new coins on Earth instead of smuggling them out of Hell. So Maia and Sebastian have to re-work the deal and find out who is making new coins, and get all of the new ones out of circulation because a clock is ticking.
Maia is pregnant, and they don't want to be working for the college, tracking down magic users and demons while the pregnancy's advancing.
The pacing matches the ticking clock they're facing. Fun, not a lot of depth of character, but then again this is a novella, and I do not expect a lot of character work in the pages allotted.
I want to see more of this world.
October 15, 2023
Capitalism is literally the devil in this first of six mini-series by Charles Soule under the Shrouded College banner. A husband and wife find themselves enslaved to said College, and must recover all the currency of Hell out in the world in order to win their freedom - but someone else is collecting these infernal coins, and their reason is a lot more nefarious.
A clever premise with some fun little twists from Soule, great artwork from Sliney (who I feel like I haven't seen for ages after his extended Spider-Man 2099 run), and a tease of a much larger universe has me ready for whatever's on the horizon.
A clever premise with some fun little twists from Soule, great artwork from Sliney (who I feel like I haven't seen for ages after his extended Spider-Man 2099 run), and a tease of a much larger universe has me ready for whatever's on the horizon.
October 27, 2023
3.5
The art and ideas are a lot of fun. I’m in for this comic book world building adventure that is the Shrouded College. I also like most of the writing though the main characters of this volume and especially their dialogue are kind of awful.
The art and ideas are a lot of fun. I’m in for this comic book world building adventure that is the Shrouded College. I also like most of the writing though the main characters of this volume and especially their dialogue are kind of awful.
November 17, 2023
The art is a bit stiff (and reliant on 3d imaging programs without really turning it into something else) and the story has some very "by the numbers" parts but the overall plot was interesting enough to win me over.
March 8, 2024
Solid book, story and art. Highly enjoyed and recommended.
August 19, 2024
I am enjoying the book as a whole, both the story telling and the art. Good start.
September 11, 2024
History and mythology and fable all blended together in a horrifying and entertaining series, and the authors promise six more collections.
May they write quickly, and just as well.
May they write quickly, and just as well.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews