CHERRY BLACKBIRD #2 – Review

In CHERRY BLACKBIRD #2, available from Scout Comics on September 15th, 2021, Cherry receives help from a goat-headed familiar and friends to capture a Hessian warlock who holds the intel to Cherry’s next sin capture.

The Details

• Written By: Joseph Schmalke
• Art By: Joseph Schmalke
• Colors By: Joseph Schmalke
• Letters By: Joel Rodriguez
• Cover Art By: Joseph Schmalke
• Cover Price: $3.99
• Release Date: September 15, 2021

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Was It Good?

Well, okay. When the solicit said this was a hard grindhouse exploitation comic, it wasn’t kidding. If you like weird, satanic quest stories AND blood splattering in all directions on nearly every page, this one is right up your alley.

This is our first exposure to this title, so we’re coming in cold, and the reading experience slightly suffers from the lack of setup. Few of the players are called enough by name to get them to stick in readers’ memory, and the movement from one scene to the next is loosely connected.

All down points, but they almost don’t feel like they matter because they don’t appreciably affect the purpose of this book. In essence, the comic isn’t here to tell a richly nuanced story or instigate a thought-provoking message in the minds of its readers. This comic is here to do one thing– watch Cherry and her cohorts kick the crap out of and kill bad people.

On that front, this comic is perfect.

To be fair, there is a story in this comic. The protagonist makes a deal with Satan to track down “escapees” from Hell, and she’s given mystical power to bring them back… by any means necessary. It’s a fairly standard setup, but the comic is elevated by gratuitous violence and amusingly quippy dialog. Gore and black humor are perfect partners, and this comic has both in abundance.

The art isn’t bad but it could be better. As mentioned previously, the scene transitions are very loose, despite the presence of a caption box to explain the time jump, and the linework is indie-level rough. On the positive side, the fight scenes and (overly long) torture scene are first-rate for an exploitation comic.

I say this rarely – check your brain at the door, sit back, and enjoy. This is a fun grindhouse/exploitation comic that’s not meant to be anything deeper than pure popcorn entertainment.

What’s It About?

[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]

Cherry Blackbird made a deal with Satan to track down and return seven wicked souls to Hell in exchange for releasing her from her soul contract. We catch up with Cherry as she’s just finding the first wicked soul, Mavo. The fight is mano a mano, and Cherry gives as good as she gets. Ultimately, Mavo falls apart when he gets run over by a passing vehicle, and the first soul is returned.

The car is driven by Black Hen, a goat-headed familiar sent by Hell to aid Cherry in her search, and his assistant, Red, who happens to be a huge Cherry Blacksmith fan. They pick Cherry up and prep her to find the next lead – a Hessian warlock/Klan leader who knows the whereabouts of the next wicked soul, Miss Cocaine the vampire.

Cherry and Red break up the small Klan rally in brutal, deadly fashion and capture the Hessian. We conclude the issue with a very lengthy torture scene to extract the Hessian’s information, the realization that sending souls back affects Cherry’s appearance, and a plan that involves getting the band back together.

Final Thoughts

CHERRY BLACKBIRD #2 is grindhouse exploitation in its purest form with plenty of gore, quippy black humor, and bad people losing their heads (and every other body part) on nearly every page. While the art is rough around the edges and the central plot is largely an excuse to commit mayhem, this comic succeeds in giving gore fans a good time.

Score: 7.5/10