STORY BY

Ryan Ferrier

ART BY

Valentin Ramon

COVER BY

Valentin Ramon

PUBLISHER

IDW

COVER PRICE:

$3.99

RELEASE DATE

Apr 13th, 2016

Synopsis:

The masterminds of D4VE reunite with HOT DAMN, and they’re taking you straight to Hell. Hard living catches up to Teddy, and eternal damnation awaits—but it’s nothing like the good book tells you. Hell is a therapy session you can never leave…

Review:

I think Ryan Ferrier was high when he came up with the concept for Hot Damn. Like he was sitting around stoned with some friends and was like “Dude, what if hell was like a place where people just need to live pretty shitty lives and they like need to come to terms with all the bad shit they’ve done in their life before they can really begin repenting and stuff”. That’s pretty much what the story is like in HOT DAMN, as it reads like a stoner movie starring James Franco as Teddy and Danny McBride as Costello (the main protagonist, Teddy’s Demon Sponsor). There isn’t much of a plot, just one wacky silly moment to the next, mostly things going for the “lulz”, and there are quite a few of those. While I’m not the biggest fan of Valentin Ramon’s sullen gray water color like style, he does throw in a lot of Easter egg background humor, and handles the layouts pretty damn well. His hell really does look a bustling, busy yet completely lifeless city full of sadness and despair, but mixed with tons of disgusting potty humor locations (a bar dedicated to “Butt Stuff”). Essentially what you have is a plot that is full of Garth Ennis style humor about life in HELL and just what a denizen has to experience day to day. It’s not a terrible read, but there are a lot of funnier books out there.

• The Hey!: Fun concept, mixed with some good humor moments from Ryan Ferrier (it feels a lot like his D4VE) just mix in heaven and hell.
• The Eh: There isn’t much past the humor. Sometimes it feels like the story is really just there for these jokes to make an appearance.
• The What?!: The therapy session with the goat head demon is pretty fun.
• Who should read this series?: If you’re a fan of Ferrier then definitely pick this up. If you enjoy stoner movies like Pineapple Express and This is the End, you might end up enjoying Teddy’s life in hell.
• Why should you buy this book?: The art and humor mix well, and it’s definitely a different take on a lot of typical heaven and hell conventions that you find in a lot of stories.

Score: C+