EXILE: Demon Hunter's "Open Secret" of an Indie Comic

Cryptic, post-apocalyptic, and based

The first issue of EXILE, written by Demon Hunter’s Ryan Clark, debuted in 2022. You may have seen a little advertisement for it. From where I’m standing, the internet has been pretty quiet about it, despite Demon Hunter having sold close to one million albums and received Grammy nods.

Set in a post-apocalyptic future, the story follows a sixteen-year-old girl named Hunter through a wasteland of communo-fascist techno tyranny. All she has are the mysterious trail markings of an off-grid resistance group called Lotus — and a family heirloom, a torch that burns without being consumed or extinguished. Hunter must deliver this heirloom to a mysterious entity named Ghost before everything she believes in is erased by the enemies who raided her home and took her parents.

Rather than perpetuate anti-humanist themes that so often perpetuate this genre and the media in general, the story subtly takes the media to task, especially social media. A derelict skeleton still hunches over a desktop computer. Even after the collapse, background characters can be seen endlessly scrolling through vicious social media comments; the world apparently "ended" while everyone was doing armchair activism to save it; and, like today, good music is hard to come by. While you might think this is Clark winking at the audience and whispering, "Buy Demon Hunter's latest album!" he does not take that opportunity. Instead, many various revered bands are quietly promoted in the background.

What’s Good

While a thinking reader can easily infer the author’s values from the content, Clark’s writing is surprisingly, artfully subtle. No third-person narrative informs us who the Ministry of Awareness and Sensitivity (M.A.S.) are supposed to be — we should be able to figure it out. We aren’t sure exactly what year it is, either in the present or the flashbacks, but we get the idea. Personally, I'm firmly against putting an explicit date on a story set in the future. It rapidly begins to feel like that Flight of the Conchords parody: "The distant future! The year 2000!" This extremely common pitfall is dodged by Clark with ease. It may not have even crossed his mind.

Brent McKee's art is insanely detailed. I'm not just talking about the cross-hatching and texture lines lovingly drawn onto everything. One page alone fills Hunter’s bedroom with Easter eggs: posters for Danzig, Metallica, Killing Joke, and Alice in Chains. Demon Hunter lyrics pinned up by the bed. A decal under the skateboard. The environmental storytelling conveys a lot about the family's values as well as those of the creators. Hunter is apparently an artist and a guitarist. She is reading Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. In other scenes, it's clear that her dad cherishes books by William Faulkner, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and J.R.R. Tolkien.

While $7.00 would be a lot to pay for one issue off a rack in a comic book store, Exile Iss. #1 is longer than the standard 22 pages. Also unlike an issue from the comic book store, it isn't packed with government-funded PSA's or advertisements for Gogurt. Every page is what you paid for. There are no ads except for a charming final page of fake ads from the Exile universe, reminiscent of the old back-issues, which contribute an awful lot of world-building.

What's not So Good

Now and then (and this is gratifying to me, as a wannabe artist), McKee’s anatomy can be wonky. Characters are not always to scale or just didn't come out right. This is only a few panels out of many, however.

Clark’s characters aren't particularly profound yet. We haven't had much time to get to know them, mind you. Thus far, I just don't know much about Hunter's personality traits, moral failings, aspirations or fears — other than those common to a fellow exile, of course.

Another con is that the issue isn’t glossy, so it might not hold up so well if you plan on thumbing through it with your greasy hot dog digits multiple times.

While it is fortunate that Issue #1 is so long, it's been about two years, and the next three installments still are still in pre-order limbo.* I went ahead and pre-ordered them. I would encourage you to buy as well, if I thought you were cool.

*Edit: According to band representative Ryan J. Downey below, Issues #2 and #3 are out! Mine have not yet arrived because I pre-ordered them with #4, which is a little behind but soon to be complete.

You Can Trust Ryan Clark

I was in my teens when I first saw a Demon Hunter video. It was “Infected,” and I had not yet grown to appreciate metalcore or most metal at all; my delicate sensibilities were somewhat offended by the dark themes of the video and the aggressive death growls. Nevertheless, I found the melody… shall we say… infectious? (Please don’t hurt me.)

Over the years, Batman Beyond helped me acquire a taste for metal. Demon Hunter released hits like “Not Ready to Die,” “Heartstrings Come Undone,” and one of my all-time favorites, “Undying.” I wrote a college paper on one of their albums. I once asked my Facebook friends which Demon Hunter song they wanted to play at their funeral, and most of them had serious answers.

While this certainly wasn’t a goth band and didn’t help my goth cred, Demon Hunter had become one of my all-time favorite bands. I bought my Demon Hunter T-shirt in 2010 and wore it every week for years. I still have it, and I will be very sad when I have to say goodbye. Yes. I am something of a fan.

That being said, I don’t automatically seal clap for “Thing I Like.” I was a big Panhead as a teeny bopper and I still didn’t find Skillet’s graphic novels terribly interesting. Despite loving Within Temptation, I didn’t bother to even read The Unforgiven. (And judging by the price on Amazon, I probably never will!) I like a lot of bands, and I like a lot of comics, but I won’t necessarily praise something just because it’s endorsed by a musician I like.

That's the thing about musicians. Typically, I don't want their opinions on anything. I want music. People who invest insane amounts of time and other resources into being great musicians (or actors, etc) often don’t have many resources left over for other things. They’re the last people we should be looking to with philosophical, religious, or political questions.

Ryan Clark is different. I know very little about him as a person (and I like it that way), but he puts real thought into mediums that are often all feeling. Most consistent of all is pure lyrical defiance in refusing to compromise personal integrity. Demon Hunter and the associated side projects are for those with the positive sort of rebellious spirit — rebelling against evil, even unto death, and never giving up the hope that does not disappoint.