Like Rann-Thanagar: Holy War, I first subscribed to Reign in Hell thinking that it would have some bearing on Final Crisis. And like the former, I was wrong. Blaze and Satanus want to take over Hell from Neron. Firstly, we still don’t know 1) how he got out of the Tower of Fate, and 2) how he regained his powers. So, the whole miniseries is based on the idea of hope that the two children of Shazam bring to the denizens of hell. To combat this overwhelming force, Neron as Lilith, the Mother of all Monsters, recall all her progeny from Earth. Still curious as to why Kid Devil isn’t coming too, since he had a deal with Neron. Anyway, there’s all these mystical characters, including Zatanna, Ibis, Sargon the Sorceror, the new Dr. Fate, Blue Devil, the Enchantress, and… Lobo? Wait. What? He was last seen in 52, very alive. Why is he dead? How can he be dead? Doesn’t he regenerate from his own blood?
So, there’s some stuff that’s a bit confusing, and a few plot holes. But that’s not the issue. The issue is that this story, plus the back-up, have failed to actually interest me. A war for Hell is an inherently interesting idea. Yet I’m just not sold that this will even matter. Will Blaze and Satanus actually change anything? Will Neron really die? And the whole “turning demons into humans” thing was pretty dang stupid. Nothing is really amazing about this series. Not the art, done by Tom Derenick and Chad Hadlin, not the writing, done by Keith Giffen, and not the characterization. This is just another meh series that will probably change very little in the end.
Plot: 7.5 Art: 8.0 Dialogue: 7.6 Overall: 7.6
