Good Devils Don’t Play Fair With Evil #1
Illustrated by: Nick Dragotta
Written by: David Brothers
Image Comics
2025
Some spoilers, short and quick!
From Nick Dragotta (East of West, Absolute Batman) and David Brothers (Time Waits) comes three tales that hit like a truck. Who will rule the roost in the post-apocalypse? Will the greatest boxer alive actually live up to his self-proclaimed legend? And just who will survive in America?
Extra-length, Perfect Bound issue.
Good Devils: Don’t Play Fair With Evil is a 64-page one-shot that wears its influences proudly while delivering something that feels entirely fresh. The story drops us into the year 20XX, where humanity clings to survival after an environmental catastrophe known as the Calamity. Bella and Oya, former students at the Harmonious Natural Kingdom School of Close Quarters Combat, both saw the end coming. When civilization collapsed, Bella disappeared into the wasteland while Oya seized power over Haven, ruling through fear and martial arts. Years later, Bella returns with the 72 Demons, a ragtag army of doctors, students, and farmers, to end Oya’s reign.
The creative team behind this is David Brothers and Nick Dragotta, and they’re remarkably transparent about their influences. Brothers draws a direct line to George Morikawa’s Hajime no Ippo and Tetsuo Hara’s Fist of the North Star, celebrating how these masters made your eyes dance across the page with perfectly crafted action. Fist of the North Star is probably my favorite anime besides some old 1970s super robot shows, so seeing it cited as inspiration here immediately got my attention. Good Devils channels that same raw energy, not hiding its inspirations but inviting readers to discover them.
What strikes me most is the intentionality. Dragotta created this on paper with real screentone from Shinjuku, and they printed the actual art boards to show every stroke of the pen. It’s the kind of detail that matters to people who love comics as physical artifacts. The final message resonates too. Bella offers Oya a choice between dying alone or living together in peace. By mending our broken hearts, can we restore our broken world? Good Devils doesn’t play fair with evil, but it plays very fair with its audience, offering not just a thrilling story but a roadmap to the influences that shaped it.
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