Afterlife Volume 1
Written by Stormcrow Hayes
Art and Lettering by Rob Steen
Foreword by Joshua Dysart
Published by TokyoPop
Cover Price: $9.99; Available Now

What happens when you die? Every religion has an answer. Philosophers debate about it. Artists try to capture it. Scientists try to define it. And they’ve all got it wrong. There is no Heaven, there is no Hell. There is no punishment for lack of morals or reward for a decently lived life. There are no virgins, no pearly gates, no fire and brimstone. There is only a void of eternity, where every… single… person who has ever lived goes. In this world, Mother Teresa and Hitler stand side by side pondering, L. Ron Hubbard and David Koresh fist fight to pass the time, and priests from the Catholic, Taoist, Hindu, and Buddhist faiths sit in a circle and point fingers at each other. Forever.

But in this ethereal nothingness, there are some problems, as space is becoming increasingly hard to find, and there are of course the “demons” that attack and drag souls off into the black void. To keep the people safe from these creatures, and to try and keep some order, there are a few selected who become Guardians. Thaddeus is one of these selected, and has been given an organic bodysuit that he uses to fight, defend, and keep the general peace. Thaddeus has lost track of how long he has been in the Afterlife, and tries to keep some sense of sanity with the secret journal that he keeps, and his friendship with the other Guardians. There are many times when Thaddeus has just wanted to quit, and when rumors of The Gate — a supposed portal out of the Afterlife — reaches him, he finally comes to the first real decision he has been able to make since dying.

Creators Stormcrow Hayes and Rob Steen have reached into the deepest and darkest recesses of the minds of the human collective and brought to the surface the awful and horrible truth about what is waiting for us after we breathe our last breath on Earth. What they have to offer us is a mind-numbing nihilistic view point, that given credence by the wrong people, could spell the ruin for everything that has been created since the dawn of man.

What is even more disturbing perhaps, is that even as Hayes and Steen set out to destroy every single religious viewpoint and every single justification to lead a moral and righteous life, they have in their own twisted way given birth to yet another faith-based religion that matter-of-factly offers all the answers. Yes, there is a soul, yes there is an afterlife, and no, nothing you’ve ever done — good or bad — and nothing you’ve ever accomplished matters. And if there is a Creator, it certainly doesn’t care and has left a long, long time ago.

Afterlife is being published by Tokyopop, known as one of the premiere importers and translators of Japanese manga for the English speaking world, while maintaining the original digest-sized format of the Japanese originals. Even though Hayes and Steen are both American, their creation fits in remarkably well with the attitude of their Japanese counterparts. Rob Steen’s black and white artwork in particular falls in line with the manga style, and is filled with deep blacks spreading to infinite, speeds lines during the actions sequences, and bizarre panel layouts that make each page an eye-popping adventure in themselves.

Clocking it an 180 pages, in Afterlife, Hayes and Steen offer quite a lot to take in, and by the final page your entire outlook on life could very well be changed forever. A careful reader will be able to decipher just what has been brought to the page, for this is no mere comic book, but both a warning and lesson that must be learned before it is too late and one finds that the only thing waiting in death is emptiness and nothingness forever, and ever, and ever, and ever…

Available online at RightStuf.