In Review: Only Death Can Save Us

By John Freeman on April 17, 2021

Review by John Freeman

Only Death Can Save Us is a US Bronze Age comics inspired, cosmic, fantasy romp of a story, created and drawn by Russ Leach, scripted by Dragon Award-winner Rik Hoskin and edited by Tim Quinn.

Bringing together action and pathos, the ancient elemental known as ‘Death’ leaps from his ethereal retirement to help a young soul protect her loved ones, her world… and even existence itself!

Despite its ominous title, Only Death Can Save Us is all-ages with no gore or sex, and the team, in my view, successfully achieved their aim, to deliver, through crowdfunding, a classic superhero-styled adventure that’s not only great fun, but hopefully will lead to more stories, because it deserves too.

Russ Leach, who instigated this “love letter to the way comics used to be”, and by that, read American comics used to be, has clearly worked hard to capture the feel of Bronze Age comics storytelling in Only Death Can Save Us. His art on this book is top notch, as you’d expect from a creator whose credits range from Ben 10 Magazine and Doctor Who Adventures, to drawing licensed Marvel characters for Marvel/Hachettes’s Draw The Marvel Way.

Only Death Can Save Us Sample art by Russ Leach

Making a bored Death the hero of the story is a fun idea, and I’m guessing it’s Rik Hoskin who has built up the character’s back story, haunted by the possibility of a return of demons who might again threaten Earth – and, of course, do!

Along the way, Death – a super strong, scythe-wielding demigod of action, rather than the all-knowing, more ethereal version of Terry Pritchett’s Discworld novels, picks up a sometimes reluctant but determined sidekick, research scientist Christine “Chrissy” Kaminski. Chrissy not only has to come to terms with her own death, but, deciding to return to Earth to help Death avert disaster, risks any chance of a comfortable afterlife.

Only Death Can Save Us is, in my view, an enjoyable graphic novel that will definitely appeal to fans of, say, The Incredible Hulk stories of the 1980s or, perhaps, The Eternals. It’s fun, it’s crammed within action and fist fights, and there’s a creepy spider-villain thrown in for good measure. We even get an ending that only leaves you hanging for another story, but resolves the first arc rather succinctly with, no spoilers here, some “interesting “ character development.

I’m glad to hear it’s been well received by backers. It deserved to be.

You can buy the book on the Only Death Can Save Us campaign page.

John Freeman

• Check out the Only Death Can Save Us Micro Site for background information on the strip and characters, work in progress videos and more

• Check out the original crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo – and buy the book, too

• You can also catch Russ online at www.russleach.com – and on the usual online haunts Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.