Demon, Volume 2

Demon #2

by Jason Shiga

Volume 1 was an Eisner Award winner and LA Times Book Prize finalist!The OSS is after Jimmy, and they're planning on using his daughter to catch him. But Jimmy will tear the world apart to keep his daughter safe. Literally. This morally bankrupt immortal freak of nature has absolutely no concern for the wellbeing of any human being besides himself and his Sweetpea. It'd be adorable if it weren't so scary. From the brilliant and profane mind of Jason Shiga, known for his high-concept comics work on the web and in print, comes a magnum opus, a four-volume mystery adventure about the shocking chaos (and astronomical body count) one highly rational and utterly sociopathic man can create in the world, given a single simple supernatural power.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Horror, Fantasy, Humor, Fiction, Science Fiction

224 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 7, 2017

About the author

Jason Shiga is an award-winning Asian American cartoonist from Oakland, California. Mr. Shiga's comics are known for their intricate, often "interactive" plots and occasionally random, unexpected violence. A mathematics major from the University of California at Berkeley, Mr. Shiga shares his love of logic and problem solving with his readers through puzzles, mysteries and unconventional narrative techniques.

Jason Shiga's life has been shrouded in mystery and speculation. According to his book jacket, he was a reclusive math genius who had died on the verge of his greatest discovery in June 1967. However, upon winning a 2003 Eisner award for talent deserving of wider recognition, a man claiming to be Jason Shiga appeared in front of an audience alive and well only to tell them that he had been living on an island in the South China Seas for the past 40 years. The man who accepted his award was Chris Brandt (also known as F.C. Brandt), who had disguised himself as Jason Shiga, and accepted the award at the behest of Jason's publisher (Dylan Williams of Sparkplug Comic Books) and Jason himself.

At the age of 12, Shiga was the 7th highest ranked child go player in Oakland.[citation needed]
Jason Shiga makes a cameo appearance in the Derek Kirk Kim comic, "Ungrateful Appreciation" as a Rubik's Cube-solving nerd. Shiga is credited as the "Maze Specialist" for Issue 18 (Winter 2005/2006) of the literary journal McSweeney's Quarterly, which features a solved maze on the front cover and a (slightly different) unsolved maze on the back. The title page of each story in the journal is headed by a maze segment labeled with numbers leading to the first pages of other stories.
Jason Shiga's father, Seiji Shiga, was an animator who worked on the 1964 Rankin-Bass production Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

Reviews

[Sam Quixote · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jimmy can demonically possess anyone he’s near when the current body he’s in dies - he’s essentially immortal! Despite being the most wanted man in America, he decides to use his new powers to get revenge on the drunk driver who killed his wife and daughter. And then he makes a shocking discovery: his little girl is still alive - and in prison?!

Jason Shiga’s Demon might be my favourite comic around at the moment. I loved the first volume and I loved the second too, which ups the ante of the craziness Jimmy gets into - and it’s awesome!

It starts a bit slow with Jimmy experimenting with his powers, trying to figure out what the rules of demon possession are, and, later on in the story, the info dumps on the demon background are a bit tedious to get through. But the rest of the book more than makes up for these plodding moments as to make them negligible complaints.

The prison break scene was absolutely smashing as Jimmy goes up against a Kill Bill-style phalanx of guards. The train rescue was even better and the incredible plane sequence that closes out the book was even better than that - they’re all utterly gripping and exciting set-pieces.

I think the fact that Shiga is a maths graduate is partly why the series is so brilliant as the ingenious plot development really feels like watching someone set up and solve an increasingly complicated maths problem. But he’s also a superbly talented storyteller who knows how to make it read well too.

Demon Volume 2, like Volume 1, shows that this title is one of the most imaginative, original, clever, inspired, and purely fun comics out there. I had a blast reading it and I’d recommend this series to all comics fans. Unless he’s already turned them down, I don’t know why DC/Marvel aren’t fighting to sign this guy up!

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jason Shiga is one demented fella. Jimmy Yee is now public enemy number 1 and the government is coming for him. The problem is every time Jimmy dies he takes over the body of the person nearest to him. Shiga comes up with truly inventive scenarios Yee must work his way through. Somehow, Shiga has managed to take a total sociopath and have you rooting for him. The art is barely above stick figures, but its simplistic nature works well with the chaotic, coo-coo bananas story. Looking forward to reading volume 3 after that ending.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Demon is about Jimmy Yee, who tries to kill himself--many times--only to discover he is actually a demon. Now on the basis of that first sentence you maybe will already have made a decision about whether you would ever read this series. While gory and offensive on some levels, I personally thought the first volume was great--inventive and clever and funny. Crazy!

And volume 2 is even crazier. And even better. Shiga draws in sort of a manga fashion, very simple, on the surface, but the telling is very carefully done, sophisticated. He very carefully works through what Shiga can and cannot do as a demon. He has Jimmy thunk through how it is he even became a demon. Once he realizes he is alive, Jimmy decides to break into prison to revenge the drunk driver that killed his family and drove him to despair. In the process he is recruited by the OSS, hoping he can be used as a secret weapon. And along the way he finds that there are other demons on the planet. . .

Sound too crazy for you? Okay, I get it, but I like it, so there. The Jason Shiga that I had read before this wouldn't have helped me predict this ambitious, remarkable project. And I found it often very cleverly funny.

[Stewart Tame · Rating 4 out of 5]

While volume one may have seemed over the top, this volume redefines where the top is!

One may deplore Jimmy's morals, but it must be admitted that he's quite resourceful. There was one moment, when Jimmy visits someone in prison, that made me grin because it was such a cool story development. Even when you think he's completely beaten, he manages to find a way out. I'm constantly in awe of how thoroughly Shiga seems to have thought through Jimmy's abilities and how best to use them. This book ends on a complete "What the Hell ...?" moment that left me eager to get my hands on Volume 3. I can't wait to see how this all ends!

[Zedsdead · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cat-and-mouse game accelerates in volume 2. Jimmy Yee and the organization recruiting him (by relentlessly hunting him) wage war on one another with a staggering amount of resourcefulness, cunning, and disregard for innocent bystanders.

Ye gods this is fun. Shiga has created a system with a rigorous set of rules and he explores it thoroughly, like a great big monstrous wacky puzzle. If there's a way to exploit--or combat--the antihero's body-jumping giftcurse, the author finds it and makes it dance.

Great final panel with a nice small twist. A strong finish.


Note: I'm afraid I might be overselling the series a bit. I love the way the art is used but its simplicity might be a turnoff for some. The heavy focus on the logistics of Jimmy's ability is sweet sweet candy to me but might not be for everyone. And the violence is EXTREME and nonchalant. For me, it's a hard 5 stars.


Plot points:
--Jimmy casually spends human lives to test the parameters of his body-jumping ability: He can't possess animals; it’s the proximity of the head, not the body, that determines who gets possessed; the transfer is virtually instantaneous; etc.

--When Jimmy sneaks into prison to murder the man who killed his wife and daughter, he discovers his jubilant daughter in the guy’s body. TWIST.

--The OSS uses his daughter to bait Jimmy into a remarkably clever trap on a train, only to have it blow up in their faces.

--The OSS finally captures Jimmy using a drugged dwarf in a suitcase. A drugged….dwarf…in a suitcase. I love this book.

--An OSS scientist explains the origin of the demons (the OSS itself) and the body-jumping mechanism (a metaphysical construct that houses memory and is attached to the pineal gland superimposes itself over that of the victim.)

--The agency recruits Jimmy to assassinate a demon terrorist; Jimmy uses the opportunity to escape in crazy-insane-dramatic fashion and wipe out the entirety of the OSS.

[Max · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read the first volume today as well, and this is every bit as gross, sharp, and funny. I’m not sure five stars is quite right... but it’s not wrong either, and Shiga’s dedication to punchline setup and to the elegant twist is beyond admirable.

[Maggie Gordon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't expect to like the Demon series. It's high on violence and low on plot, but oddly readable. This second volume took the story in a direction I didn't expect, so props to Shiga for the surprise. I will be curious to see where things go from here. The art work is quite jagged and the characters don't always have a lot of differentiation to them, but the style works for this series. There's just enough humour in this to make it work, and there's more world building that helps make sense of things.

[Stay Fetters · Rating 2 out of 5]

And this is where the series ends for me.

I was so shocked at how amazing the first one turned out. It was something I’ve never witnessed before and all I know was that I needed the second volume.

After reading it, I wish that I didn’t. It was slow moving and just plain dreadful. The only thing I liked about it was that it had some hilarious dialogue. This was too disappointing.

Not today, Satan! Not today!

[Soteralzobooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.1

[Drew Canole · Rating 4 out of 5]

We get a lot more backstory and, honestly, a pretty satisfying explanation for Jimmy's super power. Plus Jimmy has some strong motivation as his daughter is in the picture.

[Gladimore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this graphic novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I gave this a 3.5.
This was a great follow up for this series. Action packed and full of fun surprises!

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series continues to amuse and shock with its amoral violence and audacious plot twists. Fun!

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I continue my quibbles from my volume 1 review. You can skip this. If you enjoyed the series, you enjoyed the series. If, like me, you eventually felt annoyed by the series, then you might enjoy my attempted criticisms.

p.7: By god, he's right! There's literally no way the hunt for Jimmy could outlive the current OSS staff. After all, face-to-face verbal communication (aka, conversation) is the one and only way for humans to share information. Drat! Foiled again!

p.3 etc: What the fuck is with Agent Tibbs's eyeblack? Is it simply to make him easily identifiable?

pp.9-11: These pages really ought to follow the current pp.12-13.

p.17: I hereby formally question the examples of what states/conditions persist thru possession, not to mention the assertion of Cartesian duality. It's his world, though, so he can make the rules of flasticals whatever he wants them to be.

p.20: Wouldn't it make more sense if demons saw their original body as being decapitated but all subsequent dead hosts' own heads? There's no longer a flastical attached, but there is still a physical 3D head. Maybe dead former-container-bodies should just look like a normal dead body. Fans say, "But then he wouldn’t be able to draw that super cool image of a body without a head!" I say, "Yeah, bummer."

p.26: Was Jimmy not at Marsh's trial? If so, why didn't he see Daughter's head on Marsh then? Even if he wasn't there (eg, he was recovering from the crash in the hospital), why didn't Daughter-as-Marsh ever say anything that reveals she's no longer Marsh, eg, "My name is Yee, not Marsh" or "My mommy is Donna"? She's only 8 years old; she would've said something.

p.29: It's a good thing that people on Demonworld (aka, Shiga-earth) all have the same handwriting so that everybody's signature is in the same juvenile cursive and therefore unidentifiable and indistinguishable.

p.33: Inner monologue for the first time=Jimmy talks to himself a LOT and it's almost always expository—maybe Shiga should write for X-Men!

p.36: Only demon flasticals can "see" demon flasticals? (see p.26 quibble)

p.40: Hunter uses the PA to communicate with his agents instead of something (anything) less obvious to Jimmy+Daughter.

p.42: Why does the prison guard have a real gun (at all) and why does he not have a tranquilizer or stun gun? Don't they want to avoid accidentally killing Jimmy's current body?

p.43: Hunter uses a flip phone to give orders (a) to Steele, Hanson+Murphy simultaneously and (b) to Tibbs. (cf. p.40 quibble!)

p.48-49: The First Rule of Hollywood Marksmanship Inconsistencies: Good guy=good shot; Bad guy=bad shot. Also, the tranquilizer's effectiveness is much slower on Jimmy vs everybody else = very convenient.

pp.49-66: Bleeding from arms is conveniently limited except on pp.62-63 when it drains fast enough & completely enough that it exits thru the wound.

p.53: Hunter claims Jimmy would become unconscious if he possessed the tranquilized agent but Jimmy's experiments show that such things are "mental states" that transfer with him—if unconsciousness transfers (à la Daughter into prisoner on p.50) then why wouldn't Jimmy's alertness transfer with him into the agent? (cf, p.50 quibble)

p.54 and 45: Hollywood Physics 101: Projectiles conveniently cease to exist when they hit bulletproof glass.

p.63: Perfect Marksmanship Award with Special Commendation for Anatomical Knowledge.

p.66: Denny (is a fucking moron who has) trained his whole life for this.

p.66: Perfect Marksmanship Award with Special Commendation for First-Timer One-Eyed Dead Reckoning.

p.69: The only way of communicating with the SWAT guys is via PA. Obviously. I mean that's just standard operating procedure. But they had no orders to tranq everyone in the visiting room?

p.70: PA + 1 telephone = the only way to communicate. Also the mic in the control room works only on a single speaker. Specifically in one half of the visiting room.

p.71: What the fuck is with the dialog? Jimmy says that shit while surrounded by SWAT & other OSS people?!

p.73: Jimmy's speech bubble says, "I'm generally a peaceful guy." Jimmy's actions everywhere else say, "I do not consider the lives of others." Totally peaceful, man.

p.83: The steering wheel is superfluous—he never needed to prep his body pre-possession to hold a gun or similar so why the need for a steering wheel? It seems clever but it's pointless. *sigh* Just like life, i guess.

p.112-113: One of the saddest things about Jimmy's narcissism and other pathologies is that he can't understand the horror he puts Daughter thru just to regain possession of her.

p.132: Jimmy the Genius didn't think of the black box?

p.135: Why shoot yourself when shooting Hunter is more direct? This might be the dumbest think in all 4 volumes of quibbles. And why not look in the suitcase? or shoot the suitcase? or tell Daughter to get in the outfield and shoot the suitcase?

p.144: I know you like to show off your knowledge of physics, but why would the accelerometer bracelets need to have a display? Oh, right, there's only one kind of accelerometer bracelet ... invented by Jason Shiga for this comic ... specifically for this purpose.

p.149+151: Leave it to a narcissist to propagate the worst "explanation" of the multiverse theory: making it sound as if demons are privileged to be the cause (the only cause) for parallel universes. Later in the series, this inordinately flimsy "understanding" leads to one of my other biggest complaints (ie, the making of duplicates).

p.155: The chronology of Gellman being demonized and his bloody rampage at the OSS lab is way too vague. It comes across as being the same day, but that would make the family "tree" on p.159 patently absurd based on Dr. Herbert's exposition pages.

p.157: Hunter says, "We've already been successful at making demon rats, and human trials are just a few weeks off." Then p.162 (voice over? by Hunter?) says, "We've already made our demon rats, and human trials are less than a week off." And on p.170 Hunter says, "But human trials are still weeks away."

p.161: "Within one week, this sultan [Gellman] will launch an attack on US soil." p.171: Hunter says it's 50/50 that Gellman will "[mount] an attack on us before the month is over."

p.162: Why the goofy specificity of "a utopia on earth ... by late September"? (emphasis mine)

p.171: "Unlike you [Jimmy], Gellman doesn't just kill for self-preservation or scientific discovery. He'll kill a girl just so he can ride her pony." Aha, that's a bad person. Why can't i seem to remember that killing people for scientific discovery is generally accepted as tolerable. My memory is quite bad, in fact. Could someone please let me know whether it's OK to kill a boy so you can ride his bicycle? Or to kill a woman so you can fly her helicopter? There are so many types of homicide and mitigating factors that i never know which ones i can do without feeling ashamed.

p.176: I understand the memorized code is an exaggeration joke but, for me, it's merely tiresome.

p.182: An in-flight magazine with a sufficiently detailed street map of the city of departure? Sign me up for a lifetime subscription!

p.183: Do people killed by cyanide die quietly? Do their corpses merely look slightly ill and asleep?

p.187: "Weeeeeee" = sociopath.

p.197: Jimmy not only can fly an F16, he also knows how to use its weapons. Oh, wait, i forgot that he can mentally cube 2-digit numbers. These are obviously completely analogous skillsets.

pp.200-201: Again callously subjecting Daughter to horrors (cf. 112-113). Good thing she inherited his sociopathies as well as his demonic flastical. Maybe you can't have one without the other?

pp.207-209: Pretty sure they killed everybody. Except the one survivor now possessed by Daughter. Who is miraculously unharmed. And conveniently also a 10-year-old girl. Later we can believe that Hunter also survived either via possession or just luck. Mr Shiga, as a nihilist, does it tickle you to imagine readers straining to believe everything your invented world requires of us?

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed the puzzly and over-the-top nature of the first book which was a bit of a locked-room mystery story. Meanwhile, this one's almost pure action movie with a demon-twist. It really ups the ante in the crazy action department while really exploring all the outlandish possibilities of its premise. I like how both Jimmy and the authorities are both constantly thinking (or trying to) 100 moves ahead of their opponent, correctly predicting ridiculous assumptions on each others' behalfs. I also love how Jimmy conducts a series of murderous trial & error experiments to test the limits of his abilities. There's an intense logic game quality to the narrative with jarring, but fascinating time leaps between panels and pages. It all makes sense, but you sometimes have to flit back and forth between pages before there's a great AHA! moment. Can't wait for the next one.

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started out on a pretty high note with a good reveal followed by some pretty entertaining plans and plots and a lot of people dying comically, but the sudden swerve towards the end gave me whiplash. Up until that point the main character had been teetering on the balance between darkly funny and just plain too unsympathetic to bother with, and by the end he's crossed to the latter end. Didn't have nearly enough reason to go for it, it wasn't too funny, and it took us entirely away from plot developments I was actually looking forward to.

Don't know if I'll keep up.

[Nikki in Niagara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark humour at its finest. What a funny, macabre ride this series is. Jimmy continues to experiment killing himself to see what (and if) the limitations are. The government is after him and this whole volume includes that chase up to the end. Jimmy finds out why he is a Demon and finds another family member who is one also. Very interested to see where the plot goes in the next volume as this one takes us 90 years into the future!

[Nikiverse · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an outlandish comic. The main character always has a trick up his sleeve. I'm a fan.

[Laurel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wildly imaginative, always surprising, yet takes incredible care in flushing out the story, the world. This book and series is such fun. I am slightly taken aback by how much I am enjoying such a violent, subversive story. Not for the faint of heart, but oh it's so good!

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 4.25 of 5

**WARNING -- POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD!**

I shouldn't like this graphic novel. The very idea of it just seems wrong somehow, and even the art is barely a step above stick figures, but I DO like this book. I reviewed Vol.1 not too long back (read that review here). What I wrote about the style of the art and why it works, still holds true here.

To catch you up on the basic story...

Jimmy kills himself. Then wakes up. Then kills himself again. Then wakes up again. Jimmy (and the reader) finally discover that when Jimmy kills himself, his 'soul' or 'essence' or whatever you want to call it, transfers into the nearest human. Everyone else sees the original person that Jimmy is inhabiting, while Jimmy only sees himself. At the end of Vol 1, someone from a government agency is on to Jimmy and appears to have an understanding of what is happening.

In Vol 2, the story picks up with the government agent concocting a plan to catch Jimmy. The plan goes awry several times, but finally Jimmy is captured and the government wants to use Jimmy's powers. It is most likely that he is a product of a government experiment gone wrong.

While Jimmy isn't keen on helping the government, they have one ace in the hole ... Jimmy's daughter (who is also the product of a Demon possession).

This story moves along very quickly and I did feel that the attempts to capture Jimmy seemed to be a little repetitive (perhaps we could have done without one particular comic issue). But ultimately I really liked the new information that we get about Jimmy and the story just gets more and more intriguing. This is definitely a book that I want to keep following and if you enjoy graphic novels, don't judge it based on a quick thumbing through at the bookstore...buy it and read it. I think you'll find it worth while.

Looking for a good book? Demon, Volume 2 by Jason Shiga is a strange, dark, but very original graphic novel that should be enjoyed by fans of the graphic novel and horror genres.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

[Elaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jimmy Yee is back and so is the OSS.

Not much has changed. Jimmy still can't die. He's still possessed by a demon. He's still being hunted by Agent Hunter and he still has a plan of vengeance to wreak.

** Spoilers ahead **

In Demon: Volume 2: Jimmy intends to carry out his original plan of taking down the lowlife drunk driver who killed his wife and daughter, Sweetpea. Multiple head shots later, Jimmy is visiting the prison where the lowlife is serving his sentence in the guise of the man's uncle, when he gets the second shock of his life: his daughter is alive.

Sweetpea has inherited her father's genetic ability to jump from body to body. Oh joy.

And Agent Hunter has locked down the prison. What is Jimmy going to do?

Exactly what he does best. A lot of Tarantino-style head shots and gunplay and jumping from body to body in a grotesque version of musical chairs.

We finally get answers to the most important question: how can Jimmy do what he does?

In short, it has something to do with a gland in your body and a special individual's talent to hop from one body to the next. There's a mad scientist involved (natch!) who has gone AWOL after destroying his research and the laboratory he had created to make potential super soldiers for the government.

The irony is that Jimmy is the most boring, unassuming man alive. But his ability is a genetic talent and that's a rarity.

Jimmy is coerced into bringing this mad scientist down but being the misanthrope that he is, he double crosses Hunter and the OSS, saves his daughter and the both of them flee and go under hiding. For a century.

Jimmy is still unlikable, more than a sad sack. He's just a vessel, a person with no hobbies or interests. He's good in math and has always wanted to be an actuary (that should be a giveaway as to why Jimmy is such a hater) and uses these talents to outwit Hunter and the government.

I can't blame Jimmy for not trusting the government because, seriously, who would?

I dislike Jimmy but I do want to see what happens. Maybe he becomes nice. Likable. Maybe not. I'm betting not.

[OpenBookSociety.com · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://openbooksociety.com/article/de...

The Demon: Volume 2
Book 2 of The Demon Quartet
By Jason Shiga
ISBN 978-1-62672-453-2
Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Scott

Synopsis:

The OSS is after Jimmy, and they’re planning on using his daughter to catch him. But Jimmy will tear the world apart to keep his daughter safe. Literally. This morally bankrupt immortal freak of nature has absolutely no concern for the wellbeing of any human being besides himself and his Sweetpea. It’d be adorable if it weren’t so scary.

From the brilliant and profane mind of Jason Shiga, known for his high-concept comics work on the web and in print, comes a magnum opus: a four-volume mystery adventure about the shocking chaos (and astronomical body count) one highly rational and utterly sociopathic man can create in the world, given a single simple supernatural power.

Review:

“Well that clears up the first volume,” is NOT what you want to be saying come Volume 2. In this highly idiosyncratic, hyper-violent, conspiracy laden graphic novel (much like its predecessor) sequel, we find ourselves saying just that and then from out of nowhere, some of the nitty-gritties start to show, and this time the stakes are higher. As with the previous graphic novel, this is NOT for children – it caters to discerning teens/adults who know what they’re getting themselves into, perhaps If they read Vol. 1. Regardless, despite the over-the-top violence and almost casual intent on racking up a body count, there is the making of a brilliant story, depending on how Volumes 3 and 4 turn out. This time around, there are definite secrets revealed and tangible nuggets of information that the first volume had trouble in pacing out.

The writing in The Demon: Volume 2 is more sharp-witted, and varied, now that actual human players have entered firmly entrenched on the chessboard. There is no room for expository here, all the energy and emotion and angst from Vol. 1, spills out in open dialogue. Even when the characters are ‘thinking,’ they are doing it out loud – a very surreal effect, I overlooked in the first volume. Some of the dialogue is downright hilarious given the rather gruesome nature of the novel. Humor plays an important role in this volume and helps add levity in the face of sheer atrocity (dark humor at its finest), and there is the occasional profane slur to keep it ‘real.’ The dialogue couldn’t rest on its own without the art, however.

The art is just as minimalist in The Demon: Volume 2 as it was in Vol. 1, and just as quirky as the series itself. It is, once again, Shiga’s strong propelling panelation and sequence of events that catapults this story forwards. Humor carries over from the writing into the art, and gives that quirkiness an almost comforting feel. Ben Yee still looks like himself, as the case permits, and it is very possible to ‘read’ the story from the images alone. Even the (quite) bizarre and grotesque scenes are done simply because they add fun to the story. This is not to say the art is non grotesque in places, but that it does it in the ‘dead chicken with X’s for eyes’ style, and one execution isn’t much different from another. The body count, for the most part, is kept relatively in the background and the seemingly simplistic art drives a much harder punch than the story itself – it IS the story itself.

This type of synergy between art and word is a rare occurrence these days and it’s people like Jason Shiga in The Demon series that remind us of the power of the graphic novel in conveying a story. The art and words complement each other so well and produces a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. It’s this synergy that makes you laugh out loud when you should be utterly revulsed. It was apparently “penciled with a Bic Ballpoint {pen]” and the levity of the writer/artist lends further credence to his work. Incidentally, for those who haven’t read Vol. 1, the anti-hero Ben Yee is a staple of another Shiga production.

All things being equal, I felt that this was a satisfying read. The Demon: Volume 2 brings high octane adventure, conspiracy theory, graphic violence and more to the table (no sex though). The apprehensions I had with the first volume have been overcome and surpassed my expectations. This graphic novel rocks, and I’d highly recommend it to buffs of thrillers, conspiracy theorists, independent comics fans and anyone looking for a fast, exciting ride with mayhem. Oh and while you’re treating yourself to The Demon: Volume 2, pick up Volume 1 just… well… because.

*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review*

[Rick Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jimmy Ye has discovered that he cannot die, with each attempt at dying leading him to possess the body of the person nearest to him. The previous volume indicated there was a clandestine group hunting for him, and this volume includes revelations as to why along with what exactly Jimmy's powers are and how he came to have them. Jason Shiga's playful artwork accentuates the absurd premise well, with tons of sequences played for humor just as much as it is for the horror. One such sequence that stood out here was Jimmy experimenting with his own powers to discover exactly how the possession works, leading to some bizarre yet hilarious looking crime scenes.

Though this volume ends up being exposition-heavy, the sheer creative magnitude of Shiga's story outweighs any potential clunkiness. A somehow stronger volume with a greater resolution in the back half, the reader is really left begging the question - where the hell can the story possibly go from here?

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm sort of on the fence with this one. I enjoyed it, don't get me wrong. But the concept of a demon that can jump from body to body by killing himself (in various ways, usually with a gun) shouldn't be as enjoyable as Shiga makes it. But here we are. I think the cartoon-y, less realistic art work helps. (It's the explosions-are-more-fun-if-Bugs-Bunny-does-them theory of violence.)

That being said, it's a weird and unique concept that does tell an interesting story. And while the main character is a demon who's killed a LOT of people, you kind of end up rooting for him (hence my ambivalence). It becomes a question of what you would do in the same situation.

Philosophizing aside, this is an interesting premise and it is fun to read. I'm interested to see where Volume 3 goes with the story.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Far better than volume 1. After the first graphic novel, I considered abandoning the series because it seemed like a one-trick pony. I wondered why there were so many volumes if that was the case, so I pressed on.
It's as if the first book was all setup to get the story rolling. It's necessary in order to understand the premise, but not really enjoyable past the first few body switches.
Now, in volume 2, Demon is using his curse to fight government agents and to rescue someone he didn't know was even alive in book one. He's a math nerd who uses numbers to plot his "jumps." I don't want to get too specific because it's a cool gimmick.
So, plow through book one but don't give up. Book 2 is worth reading slowly.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

While Jimmy is certainly not a nice or even remotely sympathetic character this whole concept is just too weird and wild to not follow avidly. In this volume we follow Jimmy as he tests his demon skills and we find out that Jimmy is not the only person with this ability and also not the first. A government agency still also badly wants him on their side - even though the body count of innocents that Jimmy has amassed is staggering and only likely to grow.

The simplicity in this mad world, in both how the powers work and how it is drawn and presented, continue to work wonderfully in spite of the horror of Jimmy's abilities (and again, the consequences of that and his singleminded goals).

[Blue · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a classic story arc, the first volume was all about discovery, and the second volume started to explain some stuff (however crazy and improbable) while moving the plot forward. All that Jimmy really wants is to reunite with his daughter and outlive the OSS so they can just be left alone to do whatever they want. (Apparently, Jimmy always wanted to a an astronaut. Too bad the skills of the person he possesses does not rub off on the demon!) He seems to have succeeded by the end of Volume 2 (with a few good plot twists), but we all now that there should be grandpa to reckon with (apparently not in the next 90 years or so...) A hilarious and bizarre read continues...

[The_Mad_Swede · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first volume of Jason Shiga's brilliant series Demon set up the parameters for a comics narrative that mixed crime fiction and fantasy with a liberal dose of black, absurdist humour; the second volume twists things up a notch and exchanges the crime fiction element for a more thriller-esque one, as protagonist Jimmy Yee learns more about his state as a Demon, able to possess a new body when the one he occupies dies.

After the tight (yet wild) opening, this instalment nicely expands both the story-world and the plot, while introducing more characters. Half the enjoyment is that Shiga's twists and turns with the narrative almost always surprises, while at the same time making a perfect kind of sense.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story is so weird. I think I like it, but it's also super gross and gratuitous - and drawn as cartoony as possible. The two opposing things don't super work out for me for some reason. The cartooniness of the art lightens some of the gore at least - making it kinda silly. The volumes are super fast reads and interesting, too. The story is very unique and creative. I'm interested to see where it ends up. It kind of reminds me of Preacher and Death Note - not sure why. Maybe the content or similar themes?

[Ethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another quick and twisted read. I thought I had a bead on where the series arc was going but Shiga delightfully pulls the rug out from under us in the final pages, leaving us with a real kicker of an ending. This one's a little exposition heavy, especially at the start, but it's a necessary evil to put some limitations on this world to make the action that much more satisfying.

If nothing else, this series is on track to have the greatest dedications of all time. This one:

"To my wife, Alina, who's still mad at me for dedicating the first volume to her"

[Sue Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hahahahahahha! Jason Shiga is completely demented...... and I like it!

Not your average run-of-the-mill comic weirdo that feels guilty of their supernatural powers and awesome freakiness - no, this demon is a master of integration....possibly putting your life in peril ... (not that anyone would notice) as it slays one body to become another. Not that it makes it easy to slip from the grasp of the OSS who are determined to trap said demon and use it for their own to take down another rogue demon. It makes for quite an adventure with an impressive body count!

Damn I love this series!!!!