Angels of Hell: Poetic Tales of the Apocalypse by Christopher ~cliff~ Reichard
Self-Published via Kickstarter
191 pages; $21.99 hardcover
Reviewed by Joshua Gage
Chris ~cliff~ Reichard is the writer and creator of the Angels of Hell comic book and poetry series. Their dark writing style has been influenced by various horror, Gothic and religious media that has only been darkened further from the worldly experience of being a combat veteran and a social activist. They successfully ran a Kickstarter campaign to get the comic series started. Chris is a simply, complicated person that lives and breathes in his Midwest American roots, the Greater St. Louis area of Missouri. Their newest collection is Angels of Hell: Poetic Tales of the Apocalypse.
Angels of Hell: Poetic Tales of the Apocalypse is a short epic poem written in quatrains. Reichard’s narrative is set in the same world and context of his previous comics, in which Armageddon has begun and the four horsemen of the apocalypse ride forth, only to change their minds and work to protect mankind from the forces of heaven and hell. While this was originally a comic book, Reichard in his introduction writes that he always wanted to write this as an epic poem, and during 2021, he challenged himself to write a poem a day and share them online. This book is not only the epic poem itself, but also collected poems and experiments meant to build the world and the experience for the readers.
Epic poetry is difficult to wrestle with. Most poetry readers are used to short lyric or narrative poems, often no more than a page or two, so the idea of reading a poem that’s almost fifty pages in length can be daunting. Reichard, however, seems up to the task, and the rhythm and narrative of his epic work well. The rest of the book, also, is an honest and humble attempt by Reichard to expose all the poetry that aided in world building or were serialized online as part of his 2021 project. As with any daily poetry writing assignment, many of these poems work well, and many could be polished to strong poems. There are a few clunkers (feel free to skip page 118 and its “haiku”) but in general, the poems are decent and serve to add side stories and details to the world already established in the primary epic.
Overall, this is a solid epic poem and a diverse collection of accompanying poems and experiments. The primary epic is solid, and many of the accompanying poems are successful, as well. While there are a few misses, weaker poems, and questionable inclusions, the exploration of an invented world, world-building, and the author’s process are all interesting reads as well. Fans of horror and poetry, as well as fans of the process of writing and watching a creative mind work, will enjoy this book.
