The Comics Go to Hell: A Visual History of the Devil in Comics by Fredrik Strömberg

The Devil is one of the most potent and longest-lived icons in the history of human civilization. It is therefore not a big surprise that images of the Prince of Darkness are so abundant in comics – a medium that by its nature builds upon the communicative powers of icons. In this book, author Fredrik Strömberg examines how cartoonists through the ages have used the myths about the Devil, in a wide variety of ways. Comics featured in this book include, among others: the infamous Jack T. Chick tracts, Hellblazer, Love & Rockets, The Checkered Demon, Donald Duck, Mephisto, Dilbert, The New Adventures of Jesus, Stray Toasters, The Demon, Futurama, Preacher, Hot Stuff – The Little Devil, Castle Waiting, Sandman, The Book of Leviathan, Swamp Thing, Dragon Ball, Spawn, Silver Surfer, Picture Stories from the Bible, Uncanny X-Men, Tintin, Sshhhh!, and Lady Death. Like Strömberg’s previous book from Fantagraphics, Black Images in the Comics, this book is designed for maximum browsability, with each spread featuring a short (but informative!) essay on a comic next to a representative panel of the work at hand.