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Ava’s Demon
Story and art by Michelle Czajkowski
An ongoing webcomic at:
https://www.avasdemon.com/
Ava Ire is a nice kid … who happens to be possessed by a power-mad demon. In fact, all the people she knows best are, in fact, possessed by demons.
Such is the premise of Ava's Demon, a striking and dramatic science-fantasy webcomic created by Michelle Czajkowski. It was initially brought it to the world in 2012 while Czajkowski was employed at Dreamworks, which she eventually left to devote herself full time to the project.
At the opening of the tale we meet Ava as a student, in a school that serves as a re-education center for children uprooted from their home planet. Though a generally shy and unassuming young girl, from time to time she gives vent to strange outbursts, even insulting the school’s principal and provoking her one-time friend (and now sworn enemy), classmate Maggie Lacivi. But these episodes of misbehavior are not of her own doing, as they are actually caused by one Wrathia Bellarmina: the demon who has taken up residence in her mind.
Ava's troubles suddenly take a dramatic new turn, when her planet is attacked by dreaded “Scavengers”, who commence destroying everything in their path. Fortunately, she and Maggie are rescued by Odin Arrow, a not-quite-genuine “student” who evacuates them in his spacecraft. Maggie, however, accuses Odin of being a stalker, and in a fit of rage destroys the ship’s controls using strange plant-powers. As the stricken ship hurtles to its doom on an unfamiliar planet, Maggie coldly consigns her fellow passengers to their fate, confident that she will somehow survive.
When the ship crashes, Ava suffers ghastly injuries. While she is dying, however, she encounters her demon, Wrathia, who offers to make a “pact” with her, one that will give Ava a second chance at life, in return for which she must help the demon regain her lost throne. For it turns out that Wrathia was once a queen, who, along with husband Pedri Nanezgani, ruled over a galactic empire – but was defeated overnight by a mysterious newcomer of even greater power, called Titan. Since she seems to have little choice, Ava accepts the pact.
Odin, Maggie, and Ava – all injured, but amazingly, still alive – are discovered at the crash site by Gil Malverde, a medical student. He renders such aid as he can, in spite of the misgivings of the entity who accompanies him: Nevy Nervine, who appears to be his own demon. As it happens, Gil is a loyal “follower” of Titan, having been rescued by its army after his planet was attacked by Scavengers. Preparing to leave on a spacecraft for Titan’s headquarters, he decides to take his crash patients with him, as they have all made “miraculous” recoveries.
During the journey across space, Gil expounds on his belief in the
goodness of Titan, insisting that loyal service will gain him entry
into “Paradise”, and eternal bliss. Ava, however, seems dubious, and
Odin is openly skeptical. Meanwhile, Maggie has fallen into a
deep sleep, wherein she seeks out Tuls Tenebrose, her demon and source
of her plant-powers. From him she obtains a magic flower, which
can induce an individual to become her beloved – she has become deeply
infatuated with Gil.
When the ship makes planetfall, Gil goes off to enlist in Titan’s army, accompanied by Maggie. Ava and Odin, on the other hand, are sent to a refugee center, but they slip away, ending up in an arena for a mass meeting of Titan’s followers. The event is overseen by Strategos Six, Titan’s second in command, and is to feature the demonstration of a “Gate to Paradise” machine on one lucky winner in the crowd – which, of course, turns out to be Ava. She has to be forced into the machine, but an assistant of Strategos Six is trapped along with her, and it is the assistant who is actually processed by the mechanism, in a hideous manner. Terrified, Ava drinks a glowing potion, provided by Wrathia, in a bid to save herself.
The potion transforms Ava into a fiery monstrosity of staggering power and vengeful purpose. Consumed with a mad elation, she defeats Strategos Six, incinerates the watching crowd of followers, and brings the arena and its surroundings down in a mass of wreckage and rubble. Gil and Maggie witness the holocaust, but manage to flee the scene, and board an automated cargo ship that is due to leave soon. Odin makes his escape as well, during which glimpses are caught of his own demon – none other than Pedri, Wrathia’s husband. Coming across Ava, who has returned to human form and fallen insensible, Odin carries her off, and manages to deposit both her and himself on the same vessel as Gil and Maggie, much to the dismay of the latter two.
After the automated ship takes off into space, it receives a transmission from Titan’s headquarters, announcing that all aboard the vessel have been classified as criminal fugitives. Gil is horrified, for it means he has been cut off from prayers to Titan, and all his hopes of Paradise destroyed. Meanwhile, Ava recovers consciousness, and reveals to the others that not only is she is possessed by Wrathia, but has seen that Maggie and Gil are possessed by their own demons.
Afterwards, during a long talk with Ava, Odin explains that he is on a mission to bring back to his planet a human “vessel” possessed by a demon, and that Titan is, in fact, the controlling power behind the dreaded Scavengers. He agrees to help Ava with her quest to bring down Titan, while she in turn is willing to return with him to his planet as a “vessel” … as their ship proceeds on its voyage through space … and the comic continues.
While Ava’s Demon features fascinating relationships between the characters and their demons, as well as episodes of spectacular action, it also deals with matters that appear to have some relevance to our own world, in particular the malevolent presence of Titan, a vast corporation that bears certain similarities to various giants of business we might be more familiar with. Then there is Gil Malverde, at once a sympathetic and troubling character, who seems to want to do good, but is completely ignorant of the true nature of the system he serves – perhaps like many among us. An ardent follower of Titan, he has devoted his life to its service, and believes it to be his salvation – literally – when, in fact, it manipulates and exploits him at every turn.
Opposition to Titan does exist, but it seems to lie chiefly with Wrathia Bellarmina, who unfortunately constitutes a malevolent force in her own right (albeit one that is less organized). Thus the characters of the tale are continually threatened by the propect of being crushed in the struggle between two monstrous powers. Their fate is uncertain, and how events will develop is by no means evident, but this much is clear: that Ava’s Demon is an extraordinary story – in fact, no less than a highly ambitious graphic novel, presented in the form of a webcomic.
♦ ♦ ♦
It should be mentioned that print editions and all sorts of associated merchandise are available for Ava’s Demon through the comic’s shop, at:
Review by R. Walter Dutton
June 2019