By SHAWN MACOMBER
In the harrowing, darkly beautiful new graphic novel THE GIRL, THE PRIEST, AND THE DEVIL, a young girl in Ottoman Greece in desperate circumstances—neglected by her widowed father, tortured and hounded by cruel villagers—learns the hard way that often damnation and salvation can be difficult to differentiate, and the devil prefers to tempt souls not with a pitchfork but a lifeline.
The Dead Sky Publishing title doesn’t hit store shelves until September, but we’ve got an exclusive look at not only the cover but some truly stunning pages below.
“I was always fascinated by Greek folklore,” THE GIRL, THE PRIEST, AND THE DEVIL author Theo Prasidis tells RUE MORGUE. “There’s an exceptionally rich tradition to be found there, and it felt like the right time to write a graphic novel about it. I took a deep dive into the works of Nikolaos Politis, the father of Greek folklore studies, and based my story on actual oral legends of rural 19th century Greece. At the same time, I reversed the patriarchal ethics of traditional Greek Orthodox narratives with a clear-cut feminist approach that makes it poignant and relevant to contemporary readers.”
But to bring the story to illustrative life, Prasidis—who garnered much acclaim for his similarly malevolence-centered 2022 comic Black Mass Rising—knew he would have to find an artist up to the otherworldly challenge.
Enter emerging artist Staša Gačpar, who tells RUE MORGUE she drew upon “the works of Sergio Toppi, Ivan Bilibin, Eiji Yoshikawa, Kaoru Mori and Eric Shanower” as well as “various artists illustrations that depict rural life in the Balkans of the 19th century” for her own jaw-dropping interpretation of folk horror.
“Together with Theo, we agreed that we wanted a very traditional nostalgic look to the art, to help match the story’s vintage elements, yet something that still kept up with its modern perspective,” Gačpar says. “I looked towards early comic styles and newer works combined that captured what we wanted. Subconsciously, I took inspiration from typical ‘80s pulp fiction horror movies and comics, to Eastern European folktale illustrations. I focused on making sure the visual elements included dense nature, expressive faces and movement, grand body gestures and hints of daily life in every detail.”
THE GIRL, THE PRIEST, AND THE DEVIL’s dream team is rounded out by Yasmine Pond on colors and Buddy Beaudoin on letters. For more information, visit Dead Sky Publishing.
