American Jesus #2
Image Comics 2019
Written by Mark Millar
Illustrated by Peter Gross
Coloured by Jeanne McGee
Lettered by Cory Petit
Hidden from danger, the Messiah was born and raised behind the walls of a compound -- surrounded and worshipped by followers of the church. As she gets older, and with no sign of the 'powers' she was promised, the reluctant teen prophet rejects her parents, God, and the teachings of the church. She breaks free, not knowing the soldiers of the Antichrist are hot on her heels.
Last issue we saw the kids run away after discovering that Luciana was pregnant, by immaculate conception. I love how Mark's mind works as he isn't one to shy away from things that others would be fearful of. Case in point the Antichrist brigade, or whom we see as the New Messiah as both are almost stereotypical and not in the best of lights. Still for me it has a ring of authenticity to it that's hard to deny and if you think about it stereotypes have been created for a reason, usually because they based upon facts. So that by already going against the grain and having the New Messiah, for here on out known as Catalina, born in the United States I am loving how we see how far Mark is willing to go to stretch preconceived notions.
Mark is a master storyteller of that there is no doubt. Love him or hate him there is absolutely no denying that he understands how to craft a story. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold and how the reader learns information is laid down with delightful expertise. Now that it's eighteen years later, yes skipping the growing up process makes a lot more sense to me, and Catalina is of legal age to leave of her own free will all hell, literally, is going to break loose. The character development here couldn't be any more spot on. Catalina has expressed how she feels about this place and her supposed role in all this which makes her infinitely more interesting already. The others we see fit into a wide range of emotional ranges, emotional for the reader and ranging from like them to absolute distrust of them and these are the ones we've met. We haven't met the old, male, white privilege Texans who use the bible as a shield for hatred and bigotry yet. The pacing is phenomenal and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns as it helps create the ebb & flow of the book is simply marvellous.
Peter's work on the interiors here simply stunning. The linework is mindbogglingly good and the techniques we see in how they are utilised pull upon a nice array of knowledge for how to illustrate and create art. That Starry Night homage on the first page to the firing range and bank of monitors and how we see the rain falling from the sky this showcases true talent, skill and ability in visual storytelling. I love seeing the attention to detail here and for the most part the way backgrounds are being utilised is as effective as it gets. We see depth perception, scale, the overall sense of size and scope to the book as well as just enhancing what we see and these are all things that backgrounds are essential for. The colour work is beautiful here as well. Seeing how the various hues and tones within any given colour are utilised to create shading, highlights and shadow work and the leaves in the trees of the shades of dirt showcase this magnificently.
We all know I am a huge Millar fan at this point and that's because I appreciate how his mind works and what is able to do with words. That he is also willing to take risks that will make some outraged and is nonplussed by it helps me respect his fearlessness even more. This is what storytelling is for, to challenge what we know, engage our minds and take us places we never would have imagined on our own.
Image Comics 2019
Written by Mark Millar
Illustrated by Peter Gross
Coloured by Jeanne McGee
Lettered by Cory Petit
Hidden from danger, the Messiah was born and raised behind the walls of a compound -- surrounded and worshipped by followers of the church. As she gets older, and with no sign of the 'powers' she was promised, the reluctant teen prophet rejects her parents, God, and the teachings of the church. She breaks free, not knowing the soldiers of the Antichrist are hot on her heels.
Last issue we saw the kids run away after discovering that Luciana was pregnant, by immaculate conception. I love how Mark's mind works as he isn't one to shy away from things that others would be fearful of. Case in point the Antichrist brigade, or whom we see as the New Messiah as both are almost stereotypical and not in the best of lights. Still for me it has a ring of authenticity to it that's hard to deny and if you think about it stereotypes have been created for a reason, usually because they based upon facts. So that by already going against the grain and having the New Messiah, for here on out known as Catalina, born in the United States I am loving how we see how far Mark is willing to go to stretch preconceived notions.
Mark is a master storyteller of that there is no doubt. Love him or hate him there is absolutely no denying that he understands how to craft a story. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold and how the reader learns information is laid down with delightful expertise. Now that it's eighteen years later, yes skipping the growing up process makes a lot more sense to me, and Catalina is of legal age to leave of her own free will all hell, literally, is going to break loose. The character development here couldn't be any more spot on. Catalina has expressed how she feels about this place and her supposed role in all this which makes her infinitely more interesting already. The others we see fit into a wide range of emotional ranges, emotional for the reader and ranging from like them to absolute distrust of them and these are the ones we've met. We haven't met the old, male, white privilege Texans who use the bible as a shield for hatred and bigotry yet. The pacing is phenomenal and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns as it helps create the ebb & flow of the book is simply marvellous.
Peter's work on the interiors here simply stunning. The linework is mindbogglingly good and the techniques we see in how they are utilised pull upon a nice array of knowledge for how to illustrate and create art. That Starry Night homage on the first page to the firing range and bank of monitors and how we see the rain falling from the sky this showcases true talent, skill and ability in visual storytelling. I love seeing the attention to detail here and for the most part the way backgrounds are being utilised is as effective as it gets. We see depth perception, scale, the overall sense of size and scope to the book as well as just enhancing what we see and these are all things that backgrounds are essential for. The colour work is beautiful here as well. Seeing how the various hues and tones within any given colour are utilised to create shading, highlights and shadow work and the leaves in the trees of the shades of dirt showcase this magnificently.
We all know I am a huge Millar fan at this point and that's because I appreciate how his mind works and what is able to do with words. That he is also willing to take risks that will make some outraged and is nonplussed by it helps me respect his fearlessness even more. This is what storytelling is for, to challenge what we know, engage our minds and take us places we never would have imagined on our own.
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