Graphic Novel Review: Damnation Diaries by Peter Rostovsky
Posted on January 11, 2024 at 8:31 am by Gene Ambaum
Damnation Diaries by Peter Rostovsky. Uncivilized, 2023. 9781941250549. 144pp.
Hell is a miserable place. And the details are all in here, though some of the most horrific are not right on the page. (Perpetual castration is only hinted at. Frustrating installation art is shown but, thankfully, not in detail.) Part of the torture is how scheduled everything is, how predictable — it all feels like a job, and reminded me of the office-oriented parts of some of Philip K. Dick’s novels.
PKRx354 has been in hell for almost 300 years. Despite the ongoing tortures, “things just didn’t seem the same anymore.” So he starts seeing Hell’s only therapist, Fred Greenberg, whose clients include staff and damned souls. Insurance may not cover the sessions, but there’s an option to pay by enduring additional tortures. These include trampling and adjuncting at the local art school.
“I was escorted to the chasm where I had to watch reruns of Full House while sitting on a rusty spike. ”
This book made me laugh so many times, and for once I realized I should not try to explain the jokes to my wife. My favorite parts include the ads for services in Hell, like the Hellworld Institute of the Arts (“Because you don’t know how creative you are, but you have all eternity to find out.”), and the story of what happens to PKRx354’s mother.
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