Mad Cave Studios 2018
Written by Mark London
Illustrated by Mauricio Villarreal
Lettered by Andrew S. Zea
Previously in Knights of the Golden Sun:
In Azrael's lair, we discovered Azrael and Sandalphon's true intentions as well as their ultimate trump card. Then Lucifer confronted Azrael and was surprised to see that she was openly defying the laws of nature and the word of God with her latest abomination. Meanwhile, at the House of David, Michael was gifted a powerful relic thought to have been lost to humanity…
I love this series. At first I wasn’t so sure that I was gonna even like it, I mean God, Angels, demons and humanity felt more like some Christian Sunday School topic to me. However with each issue that comes out Mark is weaving a story that is kind of universal in it’s message. There is a very lovely sentiment about family, obligation and the things that bind us and most of all how we react to all that in the face of adversity. The themes that run through this could have been told by just about any civilisation that had a stronghold at one time or another. People being oppressed, arrogance in feeling superior and the desire to rid the world of the kind they don’t like. Sounds more familiar to you than you expected doesn’t it?
I love the way Mark structures these books as the overall ebb & flow he creates as he weaves in and out of all the lives he needs to cover. Transitions feel easy and natural, which when writing isn’t as easy as he makes it appear, and the pacing of the story is amazingly well done. Also the characterisation here is stellar, I mean the Angels when created were in the image of God, so male, and the first human he supposedly made was Adam so that all the Angels in theory were male and it wasn’t until the current push for diversity gave them gender and race. Regardless all the Angels speak to each other the way same way, and you can hear the same tone in your head because let’s face we all voice the characters in our heads, yet the inflections and slight personality differences are still able to shine through. If you haven’t already you need to find these or the trade because believe me you will be impressed with Mark’s writing skill, talent and ability.
Mauricio is becoming more and more adept at using the computer to generate his artwork. Early on I saw, and mentioned some issues I was seeing and whether he listened or heard what I saw isn’t what I’m currently seeing. The views here are extraordinary and the detail that he puts into this, including the backgrounds (god bless) give this that kind of feel you don’t get elsewhere. I mean the stone pattern that makes up the floor it feels worn, used and ancient and it’s beautiful to see and be able to feel that. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show off a very strong eye for storytelling. Also the colour work is extravagantly magnificent and the pop certain aspects give off are drool worthy.
Now next issue is supposed to be the finale in this arc. I say “in this arc” because I feel like everything has been about the gathering of forces, both for good and for evil (all of which depends on your point of view). Both sides gathering those to aid them and defeat the other it is a building stage to me and I hope and pray that’s what it is. Simply because I don’t want this to really end. Even if it is there are more ways to destroy humanity and hurt the Father in the process it’s just a matter of dreaming them up, or using what is and twisting it just right.
Mad Cave has burst onto the scene with not nearly enough fanfare and here I am telling you this is what the future of comics holds and you need to be here and watch it grow!