Top Cow Productions/Image Comics 2018
Written by Singgih Nugroho & Ryan Cady
Illustrated by Sami Basri
Coloured by Sunny Gho
Lettered by Jaka Ady
Roisia aggressively tries to confirm her position in the Rex Mundi without knowing that her brother has been keeping a secret about their parents’ past that could change everything. On the other hand, Seraphim begins to question its purpose after realizing what humanity has become.
I am not sure if it’s ironic or not but I do like how the opening speaks to how one can effectively use information or lack thereof to keep the world from knowing the truth. Ya know being vague and not giving out details (sound familiar #45) and keeping something big in the background so conspiracy theorists and the like can pontificate to their hearts content making the real version so much as noise. The whole opening speaks to me in ways I hadn’t anticipated but like it even the metaphor for whomever you choose at the time being (people of colour, homosexuals etc) and replace them with this new version humanity.
I like how the book flows while the transitions may leave a little to be desired it still has this whole vibe that allows us to overlook that. I am kind of impressed with the fact that there are three possibly branching into four different storylines going on that will have to end weaving into one or at have the streams cross here and there. All of them are also essential to the story and how things are going to keep unfolding and that too is something that I appreciate. So the way this is structured and how it’s readable is done well.
So the siblings arc is going to end badly for them. It doesn’t take a genius to see how divided they are and have been their entire lives. She sees him as weak and herself as strong and honestly I think that’s backwards because it doesn’t take strength to kill someone (and thoroughly enjoy it) it takes strength not to kill someone and then listen to what they have to say which can be used to your own advantage later. His mind and his business sense make him strong, her anger keeps her weak so her loyalty is misguided. I do love that this is how I see things and whether or not that’s the case remains to be seen.
I really do like the interiors here and I'm not entirely sure if this is digitally done or not but the overwhelming sense of manga or anime is extremely high to me. Don’t get me wrong it’s no Area 88 and it has a much Western influence and the merging of them is extremely well done. The sibling eyes, their hair and overall faces just leave this huge impact on me. The creativity and imagination in creating all these alien creatures is exquisitely done. The utilisation of page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows off a strong eye for storytelling. The only thing I would like to see more of are backgrounds I think they are underutilised and that’s a shame.
Seraphim is amazing and I love him already and his investigations into Earth and it’s culture is bearing the fruit that will change his life forever. Though he knows that Ghaergos, the spirit of forbidden knowledge (hmm garden of eden much) is free on this pane he goes about things his way. Whether or not this will play into something larger later who knows but Ghaergos is a dangerous individual from what we are led to believe. Still how he has already changed and how he’ll change further is something I look forward to.
There is so much potential here and things are only getting started so the ride is about to get a whole lot bumpier. Creative, relevant and not to mention eerily fascinating this is how a whole new generation of storytellers are emerging.