Maia Stone is looking to settle her account, and a score with the man holding her husband hostage. But will the price of victory be too much for either of them or their unborn child? Writer Charles Soule brings the first session of the Shrouded College to a conclusion in Hell to Pay #6. By this issue’s end everyone the Stone’s are left asking one important question. Was it worth it?
Hell To Pay #6 (of 6)
Writer: Charles Soule
Artist: Will Sliney
Colourist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: Chris Crank
If there is one theme that carries over this entire arc it would be spare no expense. After the last issue, Maia is playing with borrowed money, and futures. All while spending the stolen Qurrakh to amass an army of demons for hire. Her ends justify the means approach is eerily encroaching upon the attitude of others we have seen throughout the series. One would expect someone so invested in securing the stolen Hellcoins would understand the cost of using even one. Chalk that one up to the adage you can pay for school but you can’t buy class.
While Maia wants to make the one(s) who hurt her husband pay, The Poor Man has a more philanthropic goal in mind. Despite the manner he acquired this wealth, Aamir Bhutto is actually acting in the best interest of all humanity. Readers can now weigh and measure his method of acquiring his ill gotten gains against his petition to the Devil to forgive us of our debts. Though he is missing the green, this hooded figure’s honorable ambition makes him almost like Robin of Locksley. Looking to release us all from the rat race; ending our enslavement to this economy.
The Poor Man is willing to win at any cost. It quickly becomes evident he will need to spend all of his wages of sin to buy his way down the Corrupted Ladder, much to his dismay. But he shouldn’t be such a penny pincher since, to paraphrase the Baroness of Balloon Payments, he can’t take it with him when he goes. Or where he’s going.
You have to give the Devil his due; the artists of this comic Rachelle Rosenberg and Will Sliney do just that with their interpretation. Paying homage to entities and lore such as Kali, the Crystal Skull and even Chtulhu, this dark lord is a reminder that every civilization has bought into this system.
Hell to Pay #6 serves as the finale to the Shrouded College Book 1. Though the Stone’s were hoping to settle their account and some scores, Maia has accrued additional debts during this ordeal. She must have read somewhere that if you want to be rich, you just have to serve more people.
Score: 8.9