This review contains some spoilers for Exorcism at 1600 Penn #1, on sale in October from IDW Publishing.
One of the most compelling things about science fiction and horror for almost the entire existence of such genres is the way they are able to comment on modern life through supernatural means. This, of course, is one of the stupid things when you see people complaining, for example, The History of Star Trekbecoming too “awakened”, when the original The History of Star Trek the series CONSTANTLY used the setting of the series to discuss current issues about social justice (heck, episodes like “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield,” about brothers with black and white skin where their black and white halves of their bodies are on opposite sides because each is devoted to hating the other, were actually criticized for being TOO over the top in their political message for 1969),
In Exorcism at 1600 Penn #1, on sale in October from IDW Publishing, by writer Hannah Rose May, artist Vanesa Del Ray, colorist Jordie Bellaire, and letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, is about a demon haunting the White House and taking a special interest in the President’s teenage daughter. But the REAL danger explored here is what social media can do to people with anxiety, because while demonic creatures don’t exist in real life, that doesn’t mean we can all be “possessed” by demons of our own making, like the hidden horrors of social media.
As the first big issue begins (and again, it's not just big, it's BIG big. You get a LOT of story in this issue), Kelly Doyle has just been inaugurated as President of the United States, and her two teenage children, Kevin and Mara, have to adjust to the fact that their mother is now the leader of the free world, and the teenagers are now celebrities at their new Catholic school outside Washington, D.C., where Kevin easily adjusts to his newfound popularity, but Mara has a harder time adjusting.
Mara starts doomscrolling on her phone, following all the negative comments people are making about her mother, and, well, this is the United States of America in 2024, so you KNOW the internet is FULL of people talking shit about the new president if Mara wants to search for that kind of opinion (there's a good bit early on where it's clear there's a lot of GOOD news about President Doyle on social media, Mara's just drawn to the bad). It's the kind of thing she really SHOULDN'T be doing, but can't help it. May plays on the TERM “doomscrolling” cleverly, as it's really just exposing herself to something horrible on purpose. Mara has anxiety, and doomscrolling exacerbates her anxiety, and apparently puts herself at risk of being possessed by a demon.
Mays' hit comic book series, Rogues Gallery, was about the star of a genre TV show who buys the rare comic book her TV character debuted in, and a group of “fans” decide to steal the comic book from her because she doesn't “deserve” it and has to fight back with the various skills she's learned from doing the show. That series was an interesting thriller in its own right, but it was also steeped in how awful social media can be when it comes to “fan” interactions with famous people, and May brings those themes to this work as well, as Mara's demonic possession is directly tied to how dark social media can be.
How does the artwork contribute to the feeling of exorcism at 1600 Penn?
Vanesa Del Ray and Jordie Bellaire have already worked together in this wonderful series, Red Landsand their work on this theme is impeccable. Del Ray has always been a master of the macabre, and that is certainly the case here, especially in some of the demon's appearances in the White House, where he catches you off guard in the background of a panel, and his presence permeates the page. Bellaire's colors perfectly accentuate the menacing nature of Del Ray's art, as that same sense of “evil is simply all around us” can be summed up well by having the colors tone down the foreground of the panels.
I found Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou's work in this issue particularly noteworthy, as his use of different fonts often actively controls how we read certain pages. People tend to forget the power comics sometimes have to dictate HOW they are read. It's something no other medium has really mastered, but through panel layouts and font changes, a comic can MAKE you read a certain way (I guess if you skip all the dialogue so they can't force you to read it a certain way, but you know what I mean, they force you to read it a certain way if you actually read all the dialogue and captions).
This is a beautifully drawn comic, containing a message that resonates strongly with our modern society, especially now that the United States is in the midst of a presidential election race, as ideas about the dangers of negative partisan politics are already at the forefront of our public consciousness; therefore, a comic that shows how this sort of thing can lead to real demonic terrors is very compelling to experience.
Exorcism at 1600 Penn Issue #1 is scheduled for release on October 16th.
Source: IDW Publishing