Behemoth Comics 2020
Written by Christian Moran, Corey Kalman & Brockton McKinney
Illustrated by Walt Barna
Lettered by DAM
An archaeologist is recruited to join a covert, military space program where he and his team must face a black magic cult that will stop at nothing to prevent the crew from deciphering the meaning of The Osiris Path.
If there is one positive thing I can say about the disruption Covid-19 has wrought is that the issues are coming out so close together and that makes enjoying this all the more easy for us. I am so happy that I discovered this book because it’s freakin awesome. The story itself is pretty unique and interesting and while it plays with Egyptian Mythology, it’s so unlike Stargate, in a way that is wonderful to see. Also if you aren’t familiar with what the Egyptians believed and who they worshipped this is a great opportunity to learn about it.
I like the way that this is being told. It is great to have a central character who is the focus of the story and in this case we get to learn everything alongside him. This is a great way to read the story because if the main character is as clueless to what’s going on then the reader doesn’t feel lost at all and it connects them, the reader to Hancock in this instance. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development for me is flawlessly done. We know who’s who and we know what they will say and do and yet there is still all the room in the world to continue to flesh them out further. With Hancock however we see and feel his awe and wonder and what makes him tick beautifully. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way we see how well this book is structured. We also see how all of this works together to create such a great ebb & flow for the story.
I like this a whole heck of a lot. There really are some wonderful moments that shake you to the core and those that are well a little less interesting but that’s why there is an ebb & flow to begin with. We need both to fully flesh out the story and take a look at the size and scope of what is happening.
The interiors are absolutely phenomenal! The linework is truly spectacular and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised throughout really makes this look tight, clean and reminiscent of the Silver Age. The attention to detail that we see is breathtaking and with the hieroglyphs and such that we see and the suits and ships, I could go on forever but no it’s all just perfectly done. That we see backgrounds and they are important to see with their feeling enclosed in space, they also provide us with depth perception, a sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the book. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a magnificent eye for storytelling. The colour work too is really great, though considering where they are at I did expect to see more reds, oranges and yellows influencing the shading. Still the way we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is spectacular to see.
Thank goodness there are the little guys out there because of them we get to see this. This is one of the best reads you may have this year and I'm not kidding you. This is one of the top three books I am reading right now, and I review comics just as a reminder. This science fiction story is a classic epic in the making and here’s to a long and fruitful lifespan.