Sons of the Devil, Vol. 3

Sons of the Devil #11-14

by Brian Buccellato, Toni Infante (Artist)

This series by New York Times bestselling writer BRIAN BUCCELLATO and artist TONI INFANTE can be described as TRUE DETECTIVE and ORPHAN BLACK gone completely HELTER SKELTER.

SONS OF THE DEVIL is a psychological horror story about TRAVIS, an average guy trying to get by, who discovers that he has familial ties to a deadly cult. Told across three decades, SONS OF THE DEVIL is an exploration of cults, family, and the dark side of human nature.

In this third, final installment, Travis tries to make sense of the last six months as he mourns the loss of his sister. Also, we take a look into David Daly's past as we learn about his upbringing while racing towards a final conflict between David and Travis, with the lives of everyone Travis loves hang in the balance!

Collects issues 11-14.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Thriller, Dark

104 pages, Paperback

Published September 26, 2017

Reviews

[Sam Quixote · Rating 1 out of 5]

Charlie Manson-esque cult leader David wants to sacrifice his many kids to bring Satan to Earth – his son Travis sets out to stop him.

Sons of the Devil started out strongly with its first book before tanking in the second and going out in a series of bored yawns with this third utterly rubbish volume. Brian Buccellato’s woefully barebones story is all about making the reader wait for Travis to meet his dad before delivering the inevitable and predictable conclusion. It’s such an unexciting and tedious read that’s far too stretched-out for what it is. Toni Infante’s art is ugly and scratchy.

There’s nothing else to say about this one! It’s just disappointing that this title got so crappy after such a promising start. I wouldn’t rec this series at all.

[Zedsdead · Rating 4 out of 5]

End of the series, and it feels rushed. The climax is unfortunately anticlimactic. While I quite like the visual style, I think it failed the final confrontation, which looked static and abstract, robbing it of drama and presence.

Great denouement though.

Plot points:
--David Daly's tragic backstory. He's the bastard son of a country preacher, who chained him in a cabin for years because the devil spoke to him from reflective surfaces.
--Pope and Travis track down the remaining siblings and unsuccessfully use them as bait for Daly.
--Henry kidnaps a hugely pregnant Melissa to lure Travis into a showdown.
--Rory goes for reinforcements and after some verbal dick-measuring Travis simply stabs Daly to death.
--After Travis and Melissa's baby is born, the devil appears to Travis and informs him that he is the Chosen One...

[Frédéric · Rating 1 out of 5]

A miserable conclusion to a series that started decently. Every volume went downgrading, this one reaching a new low.

This totally foreseeable pathetic ending is fubar from beginning to end. It goes beyond every conceivable speed limit, loosing any semblance of coherence along the way, along with my interest.

The hectic pacing absurdly rushes up the fate of characters I never rooted for and that I had difficulties to recognize half the time. Yep, that's about the level of Infante's pencils.

As for the end... Raise your hands those who didn't see it coming from miles and miles and miles.
No? Nobody? Eh. It figures.


So, note for Brian Buccellato :
- avoid corny endings seen a zillion times
- create characters with a minimum of charisma or at least an interesting persona. No one cares what happens to an asshole.
- check out "cliché" in a dictionary. Then don't use them so much.
- try to make sense, it keeps the reader's interest.
- Fire Infante and find someone else when all items above are checked.

Then we'll talk.

[Whitney (The Cover Collector) · Rating 2 out of 5]

In this volume we get barely any development, plus a backstory on Daddy Heterochromia. With only four issues, this makes the shortest volume yet, and the most rushed ending. I just don’t understand why writers who have the power to come up with limitless ideas, who get a comic of their own, don’t put in the effort to craft a great story. Instead they check out, ruin the pacing, and let the story waste away. For instance, so much could have been done with the devil character. Instead he’s just an extra that makes you think MC comes from a line of mental illness that will be passed on to his kid.

Other nitpicks:

Henry is the weakest character I’ve ever read. His motives don’t make ANY sense. I understand he was messed up from a cult but the way he switched sides didn’t make sense, just like it made no sense decades later.

The art was so awful in the last few issues.

When a group attacks one person, they do not come at the person one at a time. That’s Hollywood bullshit.

[47Time · Rating 2 out of 5]

All the meticulous build-up is wasted on the rushed ending. I still think the whole devil thing is in the characters' heads, but the fact that it's the whole explanation for current events is underwhelming to say the least. In retrospect, all the murders that seemed to lead to something grandiose were forgotten in favor of a nice, healthy deus ex machina. I dare say the flashbacks of David's past are better.

Half-brothers Travis and Rory are making their father's intentions public. They need any help they can get to find their other siblings before David kills them. Only a few are left and David is searching for them. A couple of them are being followed by Travis and Rory who hope they can catch David when he goes for them. Ultimately, the sacrifice must involve Travis, the Chosen One.

David had a rough childhood, though he had both mother and father in his life. His pastor father kept him chained, believing him to be possessed, while his mother was powerless to prevent it. David killed his father, burned his church and never looked back, embracing the mission from the devil to resurrect it and bring destruction to the world.

In the present Travis's girlfriend Melissa is kidnapped by Henry so her baby can replace Travis in the sacrifice or draw him out. Travis goes with Henry to David's ritual place like David predicted. After a long dialogue that is meant to highlight David's power over Travis and over the men Rory brings to fight David, Travis gets angry and kills his father with his own sacrificial knife. And that's it really. Travis's child is born and he starts seeing the devil in the mirror as well. So it's either that the devil is real or that psychosis runs in the family.

[Siina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This third part of the Sons of the Devil series was a letdown, sadly so. Especially compared to the other two. Not only is the beginning kind of scattered and hard to follow, but the ending was the final blow. Sons of the Devil is an interesting series as in it a reverend has a cult in order to have children that he will sacrifice to the devil to make the devil come back to the world to condemn it. Travis fights back with his siblings that he didn't know about before and the grand final is surely over before it was even started. If killing their dad was so easy, then how did it take so much time and effort? Huh? The whole gathering of the siblings was too easy too and the whole thing was so axed that I was almost mad. I did like the mirror scene at the end, though. It was cliched, but worked. I wanted an epic battle with schemes and whatnot and now I got a wet fart at my face, sheesh.

The art works well and is so crude and suffocating that wow. It's slightly too smudgy though, since it's hard to follow the story at times, but otherwise I cannot really complain. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but for me the whole package was great in a sense. I love the way the color red and blood are used in the comic and the shading is awesome. They create this odd and unappealing feeling to the comic that is quite unique and works so well. I just wish this part was as good as the others, I just wish. Still, a good series.

[William M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story here ends with volume three and, although an overall satisfying read, I expected a bit more, both in story depth as well as content. For whatever reason, this final volume is both shorter and more expensive than previous volumes. At only 15 comic issues, this could have easily been collected as one thicker volume, especially since the story is connected so completely. You would never just read one of the volumes without reading the others. These are not stand-alone stories like some titles. It is one big story. That said, the rather simple tale author Brian Buccellato tells could have been done in a 10 or 12 issues, as the narrative felt a bit repetitive and drawn out at times. The ending also felt rushed and slightly anti-climatic. Still a good read, but the premise and story synopsis ended up better than the end product.

[Paul Allard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series reaches its conclusion with some excitement

Travis finally confronts David and there’s a good deal of action and death. There’s not many likeable characters and the ending is not particularly surprising. I’d like to have seen a bit more originality but the artwork is good and the plot is sufficiently engaging to want to know the end result.

[Bubba · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wanted a a different outcome. A happy life born out struggle, that is what I was hoping for. All three volumes are crafted amazingly with characters you come to love, Travis and Milessia, and Pope. The artistic work creates an emotional mood like music for a film.

[Rumi Bossche · Rating 3 out of 5]

Last trade of the series. ending was very rushed, shame because it had some potential.