Writer/Artist: Ben Templesmith
Company: IDW Publishing

Though I’ve enjoyed some of what he’s done, I wasn’t really what you’d call a diehard Ben Templesmith fan. Until I read Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse, which really seems like some sort of peak in the artistic sensibilities he’s been developing, and now I find myself anxious to hunt down his art book, Tommyrot, his sci-fi project Singularity 7 and the rest of the 30 Days of Night books. But enough about me… let’s talk about sentient maggots who save the world on a regular basis. It will come as no surprise to anyone reading Wormwood that Templesmith is a collaborator with Warren Ellis, as Wormwood very much has the feel of one of Ellis’ quirky, dark and funny idea bombs of a comic. That said, it also stands out as different from Ellis’ voice, a little bit lighter, a little bit goofier, like crossing H.P. Lovecraft with Tex Avery and Clive Barker. And it looks amazing, with disturbing and colorful visuals that remind one of the best works of Bill Sienkiewicz or other stylized painters.

As I said above, Wormwood reads like an Ellis type concept. It’s got all the requisite bits, including a sarcastic, sexy female badass, a sardonic and detached lead character with an ego bordering on god complex and plenty of random weirdness. Where Ellis’ random weirdness tends to land in the realm of pseudo-scientific or sociological, however, Templesmith has landed right smack dab in the land of supernatural weirdness. Wormwood is what John Constantine would be if he wasn’t so damn mopey all the time, and if he was a sentient maggot inhabiting a corpse, and if his best friend was a robot that he built who was a “shotgun enthusiast.” I guess what I’m saying is that they both smoke, and they’d both steal your girlfriend, given half the chance.

At any rate, the Wormwood trade collects what is essentially the first five issues of the book, starting with a self-contained “taster” that establishes the character, his supporting cast and what he does and then launching into a four-parter wherein he helps a ghostly detective deal with a spate of exploding demon pregnancies. Templesmith’s demonic tentacle monsters are almost as creepy as the horrors Guy Davis has been developing for B.P.R.D., and the fact that Wormwood never seems particularly put off by the apocalypses he’s preventing doesn’t make them any less frightening. Wormwood is more dark humor than horror, but there’s a definite horror glaze on the book, and an effective grossout factor not seen much in comics outside of the ones produced by Junji Ito.

The fact is, though, that stories about evil demons trying to bring about the end of the world are relatively common. What sets Wormwood apart are the trappings. A horny leprechaun getting its face blown off by shotgun in a bar. Demonic strippers who can use their tattoos as weapons. Using your own corpse to track down the bad guys. And the culmination of the whole thing, the way that Wormwood deals with the potential unleashing of Hell on Earth? Well, it might be the funniest, most surprising reversal I’ve read in comics in quite a while. Templesmith has a sharp sense of humor, one that leans as much on the lower comedy of slapstick and shtick as it does on the higher comedy of irony and sarcasm, and pairing that humorous sensibility with visuals that would seem more at home with dark, moody horror has resulted in a gem that is both very freaky and hilariously funny.

Wormwood succeeds on just about every level. Visually, Templesmith’s art style is at its best here, with pitch-perfect color, some truly beautiful hand drawings and clear storytelling that still manages to maintain mood quite effectively. In terms of dialogue, the book provides plenty of quotable lines on just about every page, and just as many memorable moments. My particular favorite is an embarrassed arch demon apologizing for coming off like a dick, but it’s hardly the only one. And because letterers rarely get a lot of credit, it’s worth noting that the use of different font colors on black balloons for different characters does an excellent job of conveying the unusual voices of the unusual cast of characters, and Jason Hanley, Tom B. Long and Robbie Robbins all deserve a fair amount of credit for that little touch. Wormwood is the combination of a lot of little touches into one very strange and very engaging book.