
Valiant Entertainment 2017
Written by Matt Kindt
Pencilled by Trevor Hairsine
Inked by Ryan Winn
Lettered by David Baron
To the ends of eternity! In a realm beyond the limits of human perception, a group of impossibly powerful beings have laid claim to a human child… Now, to save their son, Abram Adams – the god-like being known as Divinity – and his comrade turned lover, Myshka, must finally reconcile their humanity with the unreal abilities conferred upon them…and journey into the source of their power… Where they will bear witness to the truth of their purpose…and their role in the cosmic reckoning that is to come…
I’m a little surprised by this issue. I will say the fight in the Unknown continues as we open this issue and it unfolds in ways that I wasn’t quite expecting. The narration and illustration of the fight tells you pretty everything you need to know and I loved it! Still Abram did his best not to take part in the fight even when he was attacked. Myshka however is a woman of emotion and violence who relishes in the fight, my opinion no one else’s.
While the natives of the Unknown need their child to fulfil it’s destiny his parents has have other ideas. Yet when Abram is taken by surprise and out of the fight suddenly the book takes a decidedly different turn of events. Here we get the ever evolving or ongoing backstory of Abram growing up. There is a lot going on there too, I mean an orphaned black baby in Russia being taken in by a white couple who did it out of duty and not out of love explains some. The rules they imposed upon him and yet in way rewarded him with as well shaped who he’d become so while it was his life and he knew no better it wasn’t entirely terrible.
This look into the past however ties into the present and how Abram behaves, not that but how he sees and interprets things. Matt as a storyteller is amazing to me that he can show us that much of the past and have it mean something that relates so cerebrally and have be understood by different people in different ways but coming to the near-same conclusion is extremely well done and hard to do. So the way the book is structured, the ebb & flow of how dialogue and action are used to dispense information is great to see.
Trevor lays down some really nice linework that the team finishes off extremely well. I like the way we see pages laid out and the use of angles and perspective in the panels. The attention to detail in everything we see, including the backgrounds here, show a beautiful eye for storytelling. The creativity and imagination that we see in all the characters around the issue whether they be imaginations of or are the denizens of the Unknown.
Part of me is still surprised that by taking the child they didn’t expect his parents to come looking for him. Are the Unknown incapable of reproducing? Did they come into being full grown? The new Observer would have to come from powerful parents though I have no idea how the last one was chosen and how long he served. Regardless I still find it somewhat incredulous that they hadn’t anticipated this development. Or if they had and all that’s happening is by design well I find that a hard pill to swallow as well.
The characterisation here really is some darn good golly miss molly stuff. I see opposites attract in our star-crossed lovers. Even if they seem cold and distant those who have the child and the other’s who live in the Unknown all have very distinct personalities. While at times it’s hard to tell who’s right and who’s wrong that’s pretty every day of real life.
Bold, daring and full character this is why Valiant is more popular today than its ever before!