What I Bought 2/28/2026 - Part 3

OK, I didn't end up sleeping the entire weekend, as I unfortunately had a few things I had to get done. Like laundry. Booo. Now we come to the last of the stuff from the first two months. At least until I find the books I missed on this sweep, whenever that ends up happening.

Touched by a Demon #1, by Kristen Gudsnuk - Maybe lighting a car on fire to illuminate your storefront was a bad idea.

Bifrons followed Lucifer in his rebellion, but however many years later, is finding life in Hell pretty unsatisfying. He's stuck attending Anti-Christmas parties (every June 24th!), and Mammon won't give his ideas a fair shake. At least he has Pazuzu, who believes in him and likes working for him.

So he decided to earn his way back into Heaven by starting a life coaching agency to help humans' souls. For their first case, Wendy, a girl whose parents only had her to act as an an organ farm for the first child, who is constantly ill. Wendy tried being a high achiever to earn their love, but it didn't work, and she's about to lose her liver. Bifrons and Zuzu's response is heartfelt, but their advice was not well thought out, especially as she took them up on it.

So far, I'm not sure whether to laugh or be horrified. I think it's meant to be darkly comic, and it certainly is, but Wendy's story was so sad, I ended up feeling a little gleeful about the ending. The demons turning out to be kinder than the humans, but their version of help may cause more problems than it solves. I'm curious if the plan Bifrons' pitched to Mammon, about combining the souls their torments shatter into one, purely evil being, is going to factor in. Or was that just something Gudsnuk used to show Bifrons is more of a lateral thinker than most of the hierarchy in Hell? The sort of fallen angel who thinks of a life coaching agency as a way back to Heaven?

Gudsnuk's art is mostly like I remember from Henchgirl. Pretty simple, but distinct character designs. The linework is a bit smoother, steadier maybe. There are some panels with a gentler, more gradual shading, though Gudsnuk saves that for the more somber panels. The one panel of Wendy's sister, asleep in her bed, or the panels of Wendy reflecting on the misery of her life. It makes for a strange contrast to the panels of Bifrons and Zuzu hi-fiving about how they're totally going to pull this scheme off.