Valiant Entertainment 2017
Written by Matt Kindt
Illustrated by Cafu with Roberto De La Torre
Coloured by Andrew Dalhouse
Lettered by Dave Sharpe
Welcome to the Deadside, one of many nether realms and outer dimensions,. Its diverse inhabitants includes souls of the departed, visitors from other realms, and even the living. Among the living is Tama -- Geomancer and protector of the Earth, keeper of the Book of the Geomancer. Upon transcribing an ancient text from a demon deep within the Deadside, Tama learned of an age-old prophecy coming to light that would spell the destruction of life on Earth. In order to stop this threat, Tama returns to the land of the living to enlist Ninjak, Punk Mambo, and the Magpie. However, when they venture back to the Deadside, they find that the potential apocalypse has already begun, led by a mysterious figure -- Babel.
Honestly i’m not really sure what Rapture is when combined with the Tower of Babel, being a nice Jewish boy i’m not too up to date on the Christianity thing. I do know that separately they are not good things at all so together it must be so much worse. Though i’m not really all the much into the worse part because of what Matt’s doing with the now part. Okay so Tama is in all this and it’s nice to finally see a Geomancer being proactive and being all they can be for a change, and yes it’s got Shadowman who needs to get his priorities straight again. However for me it’s really Ninjak and Black Mambo, and why Mambo cause now I can just sing Mambo #5.
Throw into that mix Rex the Razer and his back story and well suddenly this is just the kind of stuff that makes the bible interesting. Forget if it’s factual or not because for me it’s more about who you are, who you can be and who you are meant to be. So the colourful characters that we see come to life well they literally are the stuff legends are made from. The way that Matt uses the old, new and the yet to be well it makes for thrilling reading.
Gosh Valiant has not only been slaying it in the writing department but the artwork across the board has been off the charts. Cafu, De La Torre and Dalhouse bring their A game here. The linework is amazingly clean, strong and the attention to detail makes most else pale in comparison. The muted colours of the Deadside versus Punk’s pink familiar well yeah that alongside everything else makes this strong and powerful work. Plus the use of page layouts utilising angles, perspective and backgrounds are simply splendid.
While we get some action this issue I like the way Matt uses the story itself and the characters characterisation to get us into the issue and keep us interested. I am a huge fan and supporter of books that you actually have to read to follow what’s going on and let’s face it Matt’s among the premiere writer’s in the industry today that does it to this degree. While we can hazard a guess as to what’s at stake here the reality of it is so much more extreme, see worse. That these five heroes are brought together to end the threat that starts in the Deadside and will bleed over into our reality have a truly thankless job. Though it’s one we will never stop wanting to see.