Image Comics 2015
Created & Written by Jason Aaron
Illustrated by r.m. Guera
Coloured by Giulia Brusco
Lettered & Designed by Jared K. Fletcher
Where did the world go wrong? Every culture has a reference in their history to a great flood that cleansed the Earth but only Jason is daring to take us to the world before that happened. Showing us the sheer depravity of man at that time that led God to such an act. This is definitely not for the feint of heart as the language is vulgar and the acts are surprisingly shown and alluded to in the deepest darkest of ways. If you think about it the Bible itself is full of violence so by using it as a guideline to showcase a story like this one has the potential to show the cycle of man and how it needs to change before the Earth does it for us.
I have to say i’m actually really impressed, loving and captivated by what Guera and Brusco are doing on the interiors. I love that modern science is playing a huge role in what we are seeing here as we’ve got what we know as the entire “human” spectrum on display. For some reason it just seems so incredibly natural that with what we’ve learned to see this and I applaud the decision to do it. It really paints the world as a more complete picture than I could’ve dreamt possible.
It’s interesting to me to see a man chopping down a tree with an iron axe while the people he faces have no idea what kind of rock he wields. I guess there is some consternation about when and how different tools were first created and if the world was destroyed by a giant flood then it’s reasonable that the skill and technology was both found and lost. Aside from the amount of foul language and violence Jason manages to really make you think about the world at this time and the possibilities and ramifications mind boggling.
So between this man and his sons and our main character we see there is no love lost for Ravagers or their kind. Is one Noah who is building his ark? We don’t know yet but there are clues here if you know how to spot them. Again Jason has this unique knack or ability to tell a story with so many layers and aspects to it that it far exceeds your expectations and becomes so much larger than you’d think it would have originally.
That our immortal boy comes across a woman who has lost her son and beseeches him to help her save him but he doesn’t want to. The events that lead him to change his mind are wonderfully portrayed. There’s this whole thing happening here that takes something familiar and makes that much more intense and real in ways that impress. I’m astonished by what’s happening here and that after only two issues we’re seeing such a story unfold here. With both Jason and Guera doing what they do best we are getting the most realistic and violent look at events that are literally legendary.
Beyond expectation this series could very well usher in a new age of storytelling based on supposed true events.