Bless your heart.

Betvin Geant and Kay have put together an intriguing and singular kind of tale in Prince of Peace (formerly titled The Rise of the Antichrist).  It’s one that has far-reaching implications about faith, and what it means to all of the various people who engage with it.  When a young man gains powers beyond the pale of mortals, his love of scripture from an early age becomes manifest in his actions.  He concludes that, as he has abilities greater than those of men and the only person with similar abilities is the Son of God, he must obviously be sent by God to heal the world.  Whether that supposition has any merit is never quite answered throughout, though we see obvious parallels to the testaments in other characters and events in the world.  That’s the part of this work that I’ve always enjoyed, that the cat was always in the box; though he met with an angel/devil, only he saw them, so perhaps it could be delusion guiding a disturbed youth, but there was an outside shot that was legitimate. 

This issue seems to imply an answer to that mystery, and with the change in title, it seems there’s a big shift coming as they bring their first major arc to a close.

I’ve very much enjoyed the dichotomy of the story. I’m not sure how I feel about things sliding more in the one direction over the other, but that may just be moments of pause that I had in this one.  The biggest is a moment where one of the female characters says, “I don’t understand,” and her suitor replies, “You don’t need to.”  Now, it’s not fair for me to boil the whole issue down to a single exchange in dialogue, but I felt a bit cheated by it.  It smacks a little of misogyny, but more to the point it undercuts what to this point had been a very strong character with impressive scientific credentials to something less interesting.  Geant then adds a twist to her that relegates her to a plotline, and I just felt like a large piece of the narrative fell apart for me.  It does set up a significant reveal, and I’m hoping that the course corrects in the next issue, but it felt like an odd misstep only because everything has been clicking at such a high level for so long.  It’s been the only dip in a fantastic and arresting story.  It’s got to be difficult to give the prime woman more to do in a work that’s based in the sausage party that is the scripture (Almost like the original Trilogy, there’s
Leia and that’s about it.  Only the big nerds know Mon Mothma.), but so far they had done such a good job of it.

Kay continues to refine his art style issue by issue. The crowd scenes this time are pretty remarkable, and he uses planar techniques that really emphasize the narrative beautifully.  There’s always a good sinuous nature to information being given to the audience, whether text or image is offering us the clues to the tale, but I’m impressed with how much more he was given to expose this time.  Part of that comes from this possibly being the end of an arc, with an almost end credits-type feel in the denouement, but the big reveal I was talking about comes solely through Kay’s work.  It’s a good relationship in this team, and it’s one that showcases itself well.

There’s still a lot to be explained in this world, and it’s one that has engaged me every time.  I still believe that this piece of work will engender good conversation about the nature of ourselves and our relationships with deities and each other.  It’s fearless storytelling with a loaded subject that serves its audience in a sincere way. 

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