Be Not Afraid #1: An Angel’s Wrath is a Terrible Thing

Be Not Afraid is everything you love about folk horror draped in Southern Gothic charm. Jude Ellison Doyle’s portrayal of small-town America, under the Evangelical umbrella, takes on a different form with questions and motives that dive into the soul of the reader. What if angels aren’t as benevolent as we thought? What if God’s wrath was always the plan, and we missed it? As the book opens, the town of Enoch comes into focus with a calmness that plants the dread, waiting for the horror to bloom. A calmness that aims to shatter our perception of reality. Lisandro Estherren’s art is a masterclass in creepiness that adds its own voice to the story. Francesco Segala’s colors act as a stained-glass mirror, turning everything into an apocalyptic warning of possibilities to come. Estherren and Segala bring the divine to life!

Jude Ellison Doyle has taken the double-edged sword of southern tradition and completely twisted its reality. We don’t have white picket fences, picturesque towns where all the stores are masterfully manicured. Be Not Afraid exposes the rotted roots of the town. Echoes of demons past, in a setting that is oppressive and haunted by good and evil. At times, it feels like the creative team is trying to show how fear and obedience go hand-in-hand with religion. 

Be Not Afraid tackles religious lore through horror while not concentrating on gore (just to be gory), but through a lens of body horror and mysticism. Channeling society’s need in culture, religion, and the dark heart of America’s theistic fever.