PURGATORI: GOD HUNTER #1

By: Arnold T. Blumberg
Review Date: Friday, March 29, 2002

Actually, I know the answer to that question. I do it to help you, the great comic book community, and all of our loyal Cinescape readers - to save you from reading material that would at best disappoint you and at worst thoroughly outrage your sensibilities as right-thinking human beings. And so of course we come to another Chaos! extravaganza. Pray for me.

Sakkara was a slave in ancient Egypt, but when a vampire named Rath introduced her to the bloodsucking lifestyle, she took the name Purgatori and became a figure to be feared and ogled by Chaos! fanboys. Now, however, we have two Purgatoris on our hands, or rather, two aspects of the being once known as Purgatori. She's been split into her two personas - one a human named Sakkara, and the other a red-skinned vampire demon who still might have to worry about potential litigation from the Vampirella people on a regular basis. While both of these girls struggle against dark forces and try to eke out an existence while plagued by self-doubt, demonic compulsions and other routine matters that often sit heavily on the minds of comic book bad girls, an evil Egyptian god known as Set is gunning for Sakkara's soul. There's a showdown coming, that's for sure, but will anybody really care when it finally arrives? Perhaps a few, but the rest of us will crawl away, rendered insensate by the barrage of blisteringly baleful imagery and curl into a fetal position, hoping against hope that the next issue of AKIKO will somehow cleanse our spirits. If only it were that easy...


As with all such fare, the rest of this issue is filled with the usual T&A, blood-soaked action, and risque subject matter that definitely makes this a non-kid friendly publication. This is mature reading folks, but only in the most basic sense of the term - after all, I wouldn't call much of what goes on in this series "mature." There's lesbianism, dark sexual imagery, extreme violence, winged demons, and very bad dialogue, as well as a plethora of ads to take up the rest of the page count when the story just seems to run out. Any one of those elements could be deemed offensive, but if all that isn't enough, the final page alone should convince you that this comic was produced by soulless minions of the Dark One Himself. Perhaps it will even convince you to leave your homes, set torches and gather pitchforks, and storm the Chaos! citadel with mischief on your mind. We meet at midnight by the clock tower.