777: THE WRATH is Vigil and Quinn's newest project for Avatar Comics and is stays on track in bombarding the reader with over the top sex and violence. To fully detail what this book is about would take far too long, as Quinn's plot twists are mired in filth and gore. Suffice it to say that it's a tale about an avenger possesed by The Wrath. And he also has a demented guardian angel(sort of...more like an angel of destruction, as one of the characters refers to her) who rewards him with supernatural sex.
And there's plenty of sleazy characters to go around in this one. The drug addicted prostitute who takes the blood of The Wrath and injects it like cheap heroin. The mob bosses who cause our hero(if he can truly be called that) to seek revenge. The winged sidekick who utters foul-mouthed epithets in almost every phrase. And our hero who, not unlike Frank Castle, is an anti-hero that no one is cheering for.
What truly makes this book is Vigil's artwork. Best described as a gore infested sewer on page, this quick reading series(you could blow through issues 1-3 in about 45 minutes) assaults you with every panel...starting with the covers. Like almost every Avatar book on the market today, there are variants. issue #1 shows our hero with smoking gun in hand and winged angel on back. That's the standard edition. The adult variantion shows the pair in a rather revealing embrace. And the virgin cover edition shows The Wrath eliminating some of his enemies. Some pretty strong stuff here.
But it gets worse.
Issue #2 shows a variation on the Wrath/Angel riding duo yet again. And the "sexy nude" variant(there words, not mine) shows the pair in an erotic embrace. By issue #3, Vigil has pulled out the stops. The standard edition shows major death and destruction as some mob bosses are executed. We have heads exploding and body parts flying about in crimson splattaer. AND THIS IS THE STANDARD COVER! The adult variant? It features our hero and his muse copulating.
With this on the front, you know the interior is going to be worse. And it is.
In issue #3, we have body parts being consumed, graphic depictions of ungodly sex, self-mutilation, stabbings, neck twistings, chests being burst open with a fist, nude death from a skyscraper and attempted suicide. Oh yeah: did I mention the four letter words flow freely throughout? Or that one scene depicts the sex act being performed within an open wound. If this was the film industry, this book would be long past NC-17. One has to wonder where this book would be if it weren't for the CBLDF. or, better yet, how much money they will have to spend to defend some poor shop owner who makes the mistake of putting THIS ONE on the shelves.
Personally, I have great respect for Tim Vigil and David Quinn. As foul as it is, I respect Quinn for having a story to tell. And this is a far cry from his work on titles like DR. STRANGE. Tim Vigil is a master of pen and ink. His panel detail is some of the best in comics today. Each line comes together to form a picture which is truly beuatiful in it's horror. Once you get through the gore, you can stand back and admire his craft. It's just a little on the tough side to get through. Dismembered body parts flying at you like a bad 3-D movie tends to cheapen the effect of scary story-telling.
But that's what he does and has for close to two decades. And he does it VERY SLOWLY. If you thought Travis Chrarest had trouble keeping to a deadline, realize that EO was supposed to be an annual event and, in four years, only two issues have ever appeared. And FAUST? Well, I'm not holding my breath for that one to end.
777: THE WRATH is not the best work Quinn and Vigil have done, but it appears to be a tale which, unlike FAUST or EO, will get completed in our lifetime. With one more issue to go, followed by a short piece in THRESHOLD #7 and then a (supposedly) regular series, expect the character to be around for awhile. Hopefully, Mssrs. Quinn and Vigil will rely a bit more on plot and art and less on obscenity and gore to tell their tale in the future.
Either way, if sex and violence is your cup of tea, pick it up. I can say that, even with the body count as high as it is in the EVIL ERNIE line of books from Chaos, this one will beat it in the sleaze race hands down.