Acid Nun by artist Corinne Halbert is a beautiful and hallucinogenic journey toward self-healing through a dazzling landscape of Satanic splatter horror. Annie is a sexually and chemically experimental human character, styled in a nun's habit, who connects momentarily with Eleanor, a fanged entity from the spiritual plane. When a bad acid trip, however, traps Annie in an alternate dimension, Eleanor races against time to find and rescue her from certain destruction, with the help of Bahomet, Eleanor's "demon brother... oldest lover." What follows is their psychedelic and erotic quest for sanctity, consulting with powers of divination and scouring the bowels of hell in order to release Annie's inner child from bonds of her past and return Annie to agency over her own body and soul.
First issued as a series of comics, this volume charts the story's full, spectacular odyssey in pulsating neon colors, complete with Halbert's confessional notes about the catharsis she found in the creative process. Although the grotesqueries are highly stylized and explicit, the overall tone of the book is liberating and disarmingly self-aware. There is plenty of humor as well, with the shapeshifting narrator spirit speaking in folksy vernacular ("C'mon over! Step rite up! Let's take a lil' trip of ours own, strate inta' Annie's mind"), which borders on camp without undermining the heavier themes at play.
Nonetheless, the captivating centerpiece of Acid Nun is Halbert's hypnotic artwork, which draws on cult horror motifs. The dazzling, full-page paintings could easily stand on their own. --Dave Wheeler, associate editor, Shelf Awareness