Oliver Davis reviews Prophet #41…
Only four more issues to go until Prophet’s end. Brandon Graham, the comic’s writer, has promised a six issue miniseries to fully conclude the story, but still, bad times. Prophet is one of the most consistently absorbing comics out right now.
Issue 41 sees the War in Space take things up a notch, with a fight between two world-size beings, Badrock and Troll, and the arrival of the Earth Empire’s fleet. What, exactly, they’re fighting over – and who is on whose side – is still rather confusing. But it’s a nice kind. Like if you were a curious child. On acid.
The comic’s first half is a bit sketchy, jumping between characters’ perspectives during this galactic battle. Graham often chooses abstract narration rather than dialogue to explain these scenes, and the results are quite bewildering. Although again it’s hard to complain when it all sounds so nice. One particular moment describes a spaceship clinging to Badrock as DUST ATOP TITANS, THEY ARE PULLED ALONG. It’s like taking a warm bath in words.
But it’s the comic’s second half that truly absorbs you – like those moments watching a film when you forget you exist. It follows John Ka (one of the many John clones) and Greenknife (a pleasure brother) as they travel through THE SHATTERED STONE HEART OF THE RED PAIN, INTERWOVEN WITH THE DEAD FLESH OF THE GOD IT BIRTHED. No, I don’t know what that is either.
They shoot through a labyrinth of tubes, reminiscing about ‘warm’ memories to take their minds off the danger. It’s a very human moment amongst all the interstellar peril. These scenes are drawn like a maze, pulling you in ever closer, as though it’s a puzzle on the back of a Pizza Hut kids’ menu.
Prophet may take a few read-throughs to even slightly understand what’s going on, but boy is it worth it.
Oliver Davis is one of Flickering Myth’s co-editors. You can follow him on Twitter @OliDavis.
Originally published December 7, 2013. Updated November 28, 2022.
