Outcast, Vol. 3: This Little Light by Robert Kirkman, Paul Azaceta (Illustrator), Elizabeth Breitweiser (Colorist)

When we last left Outcast, Kyle's sister had been possessed by what we assume to be demons. It's easy to make this assumption because the Reverend John Anderson has spent his entire life performing exorcisms to remove them from the bodies they steal. The Reverend sees everything from a biblical perspective and is unwilling to consider any other angle which frustrates Kyle.

Over time and by questioning Sydney and the possessed, Kyle has figured out that the entities which are taking over humans in the town are drawn both to him and his daughter, Amber, who has inherited her unique abilities from him. Allison became possessed because the entity was attracted to Amber's light. Kyle is only beginning to piece things together.  Despite all of the years that Anderson has spent supposedly performing exorcisms, he knows next to nothing about the invaders.

Just as in the show, Anderson is quite an arrogant asshole.  Anderson is absolutely resistant to the idea that he isn't doing God's work. When he is presented with evidence, like the fact that Maurice is just as affected by Anderson reading the phonebook, as when Anderson read the biblical passages to the other afflicted, Anderson decides that God must have somehow imbued his voice with the holy spirit.  Anderson even discounts the fact that regular water seems to work just as well as holy water.  At the center of Andersons's angst is the idea that he is isn't important and that he's lost his family for nothing.  Kyle is determined to experiment and then learn from each interaction while Anderson looks for away to explain away the evidence in order to centre himself and his faith. It's telling that Anderson refers to God as an asshole when he begins to come to the realisation that he isn't the centre of everything. Anderson's faith is based on his own desire for power and a feeling of superiority more than anything else.

It's clear now that Sydney is the leader of the beings which are controlling the humans.  Sydney talks about a great merge that is coming and he clearly sees Kyle as a threat because of course, Kyle can excise the beings.  What is it about Sydney that makes him the leader and what is his ultimate goal? The merge implies that everyone in the small town is going to have a creature inside them. We know that the creatures are attracted to Kyle's light but they can still come through without that.  

Outcast, Vol. 2: A Vast And Unending Ruin (Outcast #2) by Robert Kirkman, Paul Azaceta (Illustrator), Elizabeth Breitweiser (colorist)

Kyle's entire life has been plagued by demons.  It has cost him his family and almost his sanity. When he finally meet the reverend, Kyle learns for the first time that he may be able to fight back.  The reverend has been at this work for years, counting on his faith in God to see him true. Even as Kyle and the reverend attempt to come up with a plan of action, the devil clearly has ideas of his own.

If I had only one word to describe this volume it would be SLOW. Oh my goodness, does Kirkman ever know how to drag out a plot.  It begins with Megan, Kyle's sister taking a trip into town to meet Kyle's ex wife Allison. Megan and Allison meet in a coffee shop and after some small talk get to the heart of the matter, despite what Allison has been through, a part of her still misses Kyle.  Allison knows that Megan is the one who keeps giving Kyle cell phones which he uses to call her but she finds these silent calls comforting.  Megan believes that Kyle not only beat her but their child and yet she is comforted that she is being stalked?

Women recovering from being in an abusive relationship have very conflicted feelings.  It makes sense to me that Allison would miss the good times that she shared with Kyle; however, having her find comfort in being stalked is beyond problematic.  This is a man she believes put her in the hospital and nearly killed their child.  It's one thing to reminisce about good times and another to find comfort in what should be understood as predatory stalking.

Allison later finds an upset Kyle hiding in her bushes.  She doesn't call the police, she doesn't scream, and instead, she invites him to wait while she puts their daughter to bed. They talk about the fact that Allison believes that not only did Kyle ruin their marriage but that he gave her no warning that he had this kind of dark side.  For his part, a crying Kyle protests that he is trying to get to the bottom of what happened.  The two then kiss before Allison excuses herself to call Megan to take Kyle away.  It takes Amber (Kyle and Allison's daughter) sneaking onto the porch to see her father for Allison to finally flip out.  Funny how Allison wasn't concerned with Kyle creepily staring at Amber from the bushes but Amber actually seeing her father is enough to set Allison off.  A small tug of war ensues over the child and Amber reveals that it was Allison who attacked and not in fact her father.

Outcast, Vol. 1: A Darkness Surrounds Him (Outcast #1) by Robert Kirkman, Paul Azaceta (Illustrator), Elizabeth Breitweiser (Colorist)

Trigger warning for discussions of child abuse 

All of his life, demons have surrounded Kyle Barnes in one way or another.  With his is life in shambles he is haunted by memories he just cannot seem to shake; Kyle lives alone, wanting nothing more from life than to be a hermit in peace.  The demons however aren't done with Kyle yet and if he has any hope of getting his wife and child back, he needs to find out the extent and limit of his power and why they are so attracted to him.

A Darkness Surrounds Him, is the first graphic novel in the Outcast series from the creator of The Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman.  Just like its predecessor, though Outcast ostensibly is about demons, it's actually about what happens when someone is confronted by the impossible and how they survive. What happens to a child when a loving mother suddenly turns abusive and violent and how does this then effect said child into manhood?  Kyle is so obviously suffering PTSD that his pain simply echos off the page.  It is symbolized in part by the locked door in his home that he cannot bring himself to enter - the room where he finally fought back against his demon possessed violently abusive mother. Kyle lives in filth, there's no food in his home and all he wants is to lay his memories of violence to bed - to stop them continually playing in his mind.

Kyle at least has his foster sister Meagan, who tries valiantly to lift him out of the abyss but even this relationship has been tainted with violence.  As a child, Kyle started sneaking into his Megan's bedroom to sleep on the floor.  Kyle became Megan's only defense against an older foster brother who would sneak into her room and molest her.  By the time Kyle ended up as Megan's foster brother, he was already used to taking a beating and so he took beatings repeatedly to protect Megan. It is why his brother in law staggers to understand why a man like Kyle would be abused of beating his wife and child.

The violence against children doesn't end there.  Kyle runs into a local preacher who knows a little bit about Kyle's past.  When a local child needs an exorcism, the Preacher approaches Kyle in a parking lot in belief that Kyle somehow chased a demon out of his own mother.  Kyle is completely resistant to this but decides to help anyway.  This is when he sees demon activity for the first time and discovers that somehow, his blood scares them away.  Thus begins Kyle's work to cast out demons; he is the Outcast. Kyle begins to visit his comatose mother and for the first time realises that she doesn't hate him and had been possessed. This realisation however leaves him with questions that are in need of answers if he is ever to get his life back.

Make no mistake about this, none of this is easy to read whatsoever.  It seems at every point, someone is being abused. Even a good deed leads to violence.  When Kyle exercised the demon out of the child, he was in a physical fight with said child which entailed, punching and kicking. Think about that for a moment.  A grown man is punching and kicking a child with all of his strength.  It is absolutely unrelenting and serves to show how dark and grim this world is.

The Originals, Season Two, Episode Three: Every Mother's Son

Esther/Cassie is hard at work on a potion of sorts which she uses to make ink.

Hayley stands before a pretty good spread of food when Klaus enters.  Hayley questions if this is Klaus's doing and when he says no, Hayley assumes that it was Elijah's doing, until he enters and denies responsibility. Hayley questions where the food all came from just before they hear a noise under the hood of the platter. Klaus finds an invitation from Cassie/Esther.

Of course, this calls for a flashback, where we see Esther serving food to the children, only to discover that Klaus is missing.  Elijah reports that Klaus is hiding from his father because they have a hunting trip planned for later and he is not a good hunter. Esther tells Klaus a story to comfort him, saying that whenever he hears a starling, Klaus is to remember that she is with him always.

Later that day, Klaus is expresses his anger that not only do they have to deal with their enemies in New Orleans but their family. Hayley volunteers to add to the body count because Esther and her disciples tried to put a knife through their child's heart.  Elijah interjects that Hayley will do no such thing because Esther is a master in the art of possession. Elijah believes they must find out what Esther is up to before she moves into a new body. Klaus points out that Esther's last invitation was an assassination attempt on her children, thus making any of her intentions foul. Elijah excuses himself, adding that they have this afternoon to prepare for the worse.  Klaus follows, snarking that the bloom is off the rose, in reference to Hayley's interactions with Elijah.

Elijah heads to see Marcel where he declares that Gia is not his burden to bear because Marcel turned her. Marcel questions why Elijah showed up and Elijah explains that he is looking for a cooperative witch. Marcel denies knowing where Davina is and adds, given that Davina has Michael on a leash, she most certainly does not fall into the cooperative category. Elijah says that he is looking for another witch and when Marcel questions why Elijah believes he has another witch, Elijah points out that Gia is already wearing a daylight ring.  Marcel concedes and adds that  he knows someone who can help.  Marcel calls Gia over and asks her to take Elijah to meet Lenore. Elijah is not happy about the supernatural date Marcel is setting him up on and Marcel points out that with everything going on, Marcel can use all of the friends he can get.

Oliver is drinking at Rosseau's, when he is approached by Finn/Vincent.  It seems that Oliver is not impressed because he believed he had a meeting set up with Cassie/Esther. Finn/Vincent introduces himself as Vincent and declares that if Oliver speaks to him, he is in fact speaking to Cassie.  Vincent/Finn hands over a daylight ring as proof of his relationship with Cassie.  Oliver questions what happens if he decides that he does not want to answer to number two in the chain of command and Vincent/Finn replies by rubbing his fingers together, causing Oliver to have difficulty breathing.  Vincent/Finn promises to make an example of Oliver to his pack if he does not listen. Vincent/Finn suggests that they start again and a relieved Oliver nods.  Vincent/Finn informs Oliver that the ring comes at a price and adds that Oliver will begin paying for it today.  Oliver gets on the phone, as Vincent/Finn leaves the bar.

Hayley reports on her phone call with Oliver and questions why it is that Esther hates Klaus so much. Hayley adds that Esther had six kids, which means she must have a maternal gene. That's a big assumption in a world without birth control. Klaus corrects Hayley by saying 7 kids and adds that at one point, Esther loved them very much. Klaus brings up his sibling who died before he was born and his brother Henrique, who was killed by the werewolves in another village, causing Esther to turn them into immortals. This lead to the revelation that Klaus's biological father belonged to pack who murdered his brother, causing Michael to murder Klaus's biological father. Hey, haven't we been through this a few times already? Klaus adds that Esther lost her lover as well as her child and Hayley sees this as an explanation for why Esther is, "crazy." Hayley of course empathises because she was forced to give away her child and cannot imagine how she would feel if her baby had really died.

Klaus reveals that his siblings believed that she didn't hate her children but hated herself for what her children had become. Klaus however simply wants her mother dead and Hayley snarks that every good story needs a wicked witch.

Gia tries to make small talk with Elijah but he is having none of it.  Elijah then stares Gia down, informing her that she should do her best not to waste his time.  They make their way to Lenore's shop. Lenore tells Elijah to ask another witch and snarks that Elijah has crossed the river to bother her.  Elijah then suggests that he can remove some red tape to get her tax incentives on her small business in exchange for the ability to find out the identity of a witch who jumps bodies. Lenore asks for an item spelled by Cassie and a python.  Elijah leaves promising to get the spelled item, adding that Gia will use mind compulsion to get the python.  A stunned Gia asks how to do mind compulsion but Elijah is already out the door. After Gia leaves, Finn/Vincent enters the shop.

Klaus has gone to see Marcel, to ask about a necklace he gave Marcel, on a leather strap with a bird on the end. Marcel shows it to Klaus and questions the request, given everything that is going on.

Time for another flashback and this time it's to Esther giving Klaus the very same necklace, promising to come to his side, if he holds the pendant and thinks of her. Klaus asks if the other children have also received one and Esther explains that though she loves all of her children, Klaus is the most special to her. Esther makes Klaus promise to always wear it.  Later that evening, Esther and Klaus are dancing and she promises to teach him to win the heart of the prettiest girl in the village.  Suddenly, Esther notices that Klaus's necklace is missing and goes into a panic, when (young) Finn makes an appearance and pulls it out of his pocket. Esther tells Klaus that he owes a great debt to his brother.

In present day, Marcel questions why Klaus would want a necklace that Esther gave him but Klaus warns Marcel off, saying that Marcel wants no part in the latest Original family squabble. Klaus takes the necklace and leaves.

Finn/Vincent meets with Cassie/Esther to say that Kol is still looking for Davina.  Esther/Cassie snarks about Kol missing dinner but adds that it is better that his identity remains a mystery. Cassie/Esther then brings up Lenore and Vincent/Finn offers to open up Lenore to new possibilities. Cassie/Esther declines the offer and instead gives the task to Oliver, stating that Vincent/Finns powers of persuasion will be needed for dinner. Cassie/Esther questions if they have gotten an R.S.V.P and Finn/Vincent tells Cassie/Esther that both Elijah and Klaus have been on the move all day.

Vincent/Finn makes his way over to where Lenore has been tied up, to find Oliver staring at her.  Vincent/Finn orders Oliver to persuade Lenore to tell them what Elijah wanted. Vincent/Finn shows Oliver his torture instruments and then turns over an hourglass, ordering Oliver not to waste time.