Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Two issues down and ‘Exorcism Island’ by Jordan Thomas continues to be packed with notorious demons, death, creepy flashbacks, and wicked twists. Seriously, despite the familiar horror tropes this comic-book series uses, it’s turning out to be super fun read.
Issue #1 of ‘Exorcism Island’ ended with an unholy cliffhanger which showed the dead priest coming back to life, possessed by something sinister, spelling doom for those onboard the little aircraft carrying his body. Although the last page shifted the scene to Vatican city, where a priest struggles to sleep, while two sinister beings hover above him!
These little subplots about the priests who are no longer on the ‘Exorcism Island’ aren’t followed up immediately in the opening panels of the second issue. But Jordan Thomas doesn’t disappoint and shows readers what went down in the aircraft, without pushing the suspense for another chapter.
The primary focus of this issue is life on Exorcism Island, with Father Amato, the new arrival, familiarizing himself with his colleagues, all of whom seem exhausted from battling possessed souls. All the priests gather for a meal and swap tales, although this time, only Amato gets to tell what got him posted to such a hellish place.
It remains to be seen how Father Amato adjusts to his dangerous new posting. But in some character development, his denial of satanic beings has already ended.
We do get a few glimpses of what the other priests went through, which might mean that the following chapters might contain more details. But the action isn’t limited to the island alone, there’s also demonic activity afoot at the Vatican. And a new sort of evil is unleashed in the climactic pages of this issue, leaving readers with a blood-soaked cliffhanger.
Jordan Thomas continues to use the same color palette for different settings, so the scenes on the island are blazing orange. The Vatican timeline on the other hand is colored in purple shades, just like in the previous issue. Some readers may not enjoy the bold limited color style, but I think it’s very engaging and the expressive artwork is icing on the cake.
While I was reading the book and the tense interactions between the character, I kept thinking how this would make an excellent atmospheric live-action horror adaptation. Sure, we don’t know if the follow-up issues are going to be as exciting, but in just two issues, the comic-book series has already delivered an entertaining amount of supernatural activities and violence.
The problem with Exorcism Island so far is the fact that it’s a comic book series that gets over in under 30 pages!
Rating: 5 on 5. Exorcism Island is on Kindle Unlimited.
Also Read: ‘The Summer Hikaru Died’ Review: 2025’s Best Horror Anime (Audio Version Below)