When the light has forsaken you, that’s when I will appear.
When people say that a story is multifaceted, it tends to mean that there’s more than one compelling storyline; however, The Rise of the Antichrist is multifaceted in a much different way: one storyline contains multiple characters who can bring truth and resolution to each other. Betvin Geant has crafted just such a tale, and this issue is the biggest example yet of the intelligence and underlying message of the series to date. We’re given the biggest glimpse into Michael’s past, as well as Adam’s history becoming confirmed outside of himself for the first time. There are truths and twists throughout the series, and while this issue answers a lot of questions, there’s still no telling where this story will lead which is very exciting.
At its core, this series is driven by the very detailed characters within it, and Geant shows how strong a grasp he has on each of them with how well they’re driven and how much they communicate with us. His bent for psychology is keen, and we get a very telling moment in Michael’s life where his faith is put into question for the first time. When anything that a person expects to be consistent (i.e., I feel good when I pray, so I’m going to pray a lot to feel good a lot.) suddenly evaporates (prayers not “answered”), there’s a period where any return to that reward for the action will be as strong as though there had been no interruption, and that would follow the first issue of the story pretty darn well. We have another meeting of Adam and Michael, and once again faith is pitted against reason and the results are as tragic as would be expected. There’s still room on both sides of the argument, but the lines become clearer in this issue than they have been previously. Between all of this and adding in the details of Adam’s past, it makes me think that we’ll be coming to some kind of major showdown soon.
Kay keeps getting better through the series as he finds the rhythm of the story and gives us more in every character’s appearance. The emotion comes through more clearly on everyone, and Michael looks more and more unbalanced in a way that’s beginning to become disturbing as a character in a lot of ways. The mania heightens the tension well and is a good barometer for where we are now. Kay’s compositions are interesting and engaging, and the visual storytelling is quite well done.
Things are heating up on the whole, making this tale even more engaging. It certainly seems like some big revelations are in the offing, and I’m certain it will be an explosive showdown. It will be very interesting to see how the reality is defined when it happens, as there’s still good evidence both for this being in Michael’s head and not, and when that question resolves it should be quite insightful.
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