Before I review the graphic novel I want to say a few things about reviewing indie comics and how I got this. Indie comics have little expectations for the reader, and depending on how good it may be, it could exceed all expectations and leaves the reader with a good impression. It's not like characters from well-known properties who you expect to be in character all the time, and then get a bad impression when they are be out of character. Bad Kids Go To Hell has the advantage of being mostly original and exceeding expectations.
Now how I got this was a story of its own. I was walking around the convention center of the San Diego Comic-Con dressed as Cogpool (or Deadpool if he was in Gears of War) when a hot booth babe, known only as Th3 Rogue, pitched it to me. As charming as she was, I then listened to the creators and decided, what the Hell? It'll be a good read. They then autographed my copy and Th3 Rogue kissed and blew on it. I also asked Th3 Rogue out on a date, but she refused. So I cut off her arm with my lancer.
I told her I would give her arm back if she gone out with me, but she decided to donate herself to science and got a robotic arm, technically making her a cyborg. So on to BKGTH.
BKGTH already reminds me of the Breakfast Club, with a bunch of angsty teenagers coming into the library for detention on a Saturday. There are differences, like the teens go to a prep school, they're wearing their uniforms, and there's a supernatural force haunting the library. The teens are locked in the library and they must stay alive and not let the supernatural force kill them. What drives this graphic novel are the characters, whose names I forget because my memory is shotty and I don't have the graphic novel with me, so this is a review from memory.
I'll just name the characters by description. The black jock with a broken leg. The mysterious new student. The nerdy brunette. The bitchy blond. The hot goth chick. The smart Arab guy. And the a-hole teacher keeping them there. By the way, is it really necessary for students getting Saturday detention to show up in their uniforms? It's bad enough they're in detention, now they got to wear their uniforms. Don't they have other clothes, or do they have multiple sets of the same uniform? I'm looking at you Goth girl.
The main plot concerns with the students waiting through detention in the library, while the supernatural force is haunting them. Aside from detention, there are also flashbacks as to how each student received detention. These are kind of important, because they do concern some of the twists that result from the story.
I'm not really an art critic, so I'll just say that the art passes. Everything is in proportion and there are no complaints. Sometimes, I feel as if the text get shorter than it needs to be that my face touches the paper. It's like some of the characters are being played by Ray Palmer. That's a small gripe that I can get over, but small text is always unnecessary, unless the character's have shrinking powers.
Throughout the story, characters meet tragic ends (I won't say which ones), they freak out, develop, and many twists come about. It's the kind of stuff M. Night Shyamalan used to do before he got lazy.
The verdict: BKGTH is an entertaining read for those who have a hankering for some indie books. I definitely recommend it, and not because a booth babe altered my senses. You can get BKGTH from their booth at the given convention or buy it from their online store. I wouldn't know if you can buy it in the book store, since I heard the first print was sold out.
Official site: http://www.badkidsgotohell.com/
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/badkidsgotohell
