Hot Damn: Preacher Meets Office Space in This Dark Comedic Gem from Ryan Ferrier & Valentin Ramon [Review]

by | Sep 28, 2016

From IDW Publishing and the D4VE creative team of writer Ryan Ferrier and artist Valentin Ramon, comes the hilarious five issue mini-series Hot Damn will hit stores in a collected volume on November 23, 2016.

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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…


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My favorite series of the year so far – Hot Damn, will be collected in a graphic novel and hitting comic shops November 23, 2016. Buy it. If you missed out on the five issues this year, do yourself a favor and order what is hands down the funniest and most original mini-series of 2016 thus far. Ryan Ferrier and Valentin Ramon have crafted a comic that feels a lot like Preacher to me, that is if Preacher had been co-written with Mike Judge and Kevin Smith. There is totally this wise-ass, Office Space Meets Preacher vibe throughout our five chapters which show us hysterical versions of both Heaven and loads of Hell as our main man Teddy struggles with establishing himself in the dark underworld when every day is loaded with therapy sessions run by a goat-headed demon.

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If you’ve read D4VE (two volumes are out there folks, with a third series coming soon!!), then you know the kind of tone and vibe that Ferrier and Ramon are going for. Clever dialog, brilliant artwork, surprisingly sharp plot twists and turns all set to a backdrop of ludicrous but accurate representations of Heaven and Hell. God has a three-way in this series and Satan reminds me of Gary Cole (which is incredible). There’s also a very moving plot in which Teddy feels he needs to get back to Earth in order to help his Ex move on with her life and I loved the way this story wrapped up in the end. It’s not your typical conclusion but it’s so fitting and smart. I won’t ruin the final lines of dialog in Hot Damn, but they’re some of my favourite ones in years.

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From pot-smoking angels to the amazing punishments that Hell dishes out to those who break the rules (for example: walking barefoot through a field of LEGO pieces with shampoo in your eyes), Hot Damn is loaded with some of the funniest segments in all of comics. It’s truly a dark and disturbing comedic gem and in my opinion the best work of Ferrier and Ramon’s careers so far. Before the epic battle between Hell and Heaven (minor spoiler – there’s an insane fight near the end), the dialog of the evil hordes as they rise to the surface include the following: “Yass. Yasssss. Awww Yisss. YUSSS!” That shit makes me laugh my ass off every time just thinking about it.

TOP 5 COMICS TO BUY – 06/29/16: HOT DAMN, FEAR & LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS & SWEETNESS

The characters are so likeable, even when they’re probably not supposed to be. Even the villain – is there a villain in Hot Damn? Cassius is an Angel who abandons Heaven and finds himself on Earth with extraordinary powers, but his move causes Heaven to breech contract and subsequently their truce with Hell. This leads to an epic confrontation between both sides with Teddy stuck in the middle trying to redeem himself for being a drug crazed asshole when he was alive. Hot Damn would make for an incredible feature length film actually, it would be like they did Little Nicky, but without any of the stupid shit. So I guess – not at all like Little Nicky then.

“Y’Feel that, Theodore? Rattles your balls doesn’t it? No drug, no truck stop blowie’s gonna give you a rush like this. That’s power. That’s damn divinity, son.” – Lucifer

Rating: [star rating=”5″]