Prophet #23 – Review

By: Brandon Graham & Simon Roy (story), Roy (art), Richard Ballermann (colors), Ed Brisson (letters)

The Story: John Prophet continues his mission across the future-Earth wasteland with an assassin in hot pursuit.

Review: This was another great issue, but confounding to review.  It is very hard to put into words what makes this such an enjoyable reading experience… which is odd, because I review a LOT of comics.  It’s really one of those cases where the best thing I can say is, “Try it. You’ll like it.”

But, since this IS a comic review site, I should probably make an attempt to put my love into words (even knowing it won’t do the work justice):

1. Worldbuilding – Beyond the fact that John Prophet has awoken in on some future-Earth that is a wasteland and is dominated by aliens and evolved insects, we really don’t know much.  Everything we see in the story is through the eyes of Prophet and he is only letting us tag along.  There is never a point in the comic where we cut away from Prophet to see what the insects are up to or anything else that would give the reader additional insight.  It is a simple, but powerful narrative technique.  Sometimes this pacing where mysteries aren’t revealed can be frustrating, but because Graham isn’t bouncing all over the place with the action, you’re content to let things unfold at their own pace.

2. Stoicism – Nothing deters Prophet.  He just keeps plugging away at his “mission”.  Only, his mission isn’t ever that clear.  Again, the reader isn’t really his companion on the journey; Prophet is just letting us follow him.  As he goes forward, things happen and we learn stuff, but Prophet isn’t going to do a lot of inner monologue to explain events.  At one point in this issue, he loses an arm, but there isn’t any melodrama where he screams and there aren’t panels of him spurting blood.  He is undeterred because he still has a mission.  Just this little thing is such a relief compared to some superhero comics where loss of arm can generate an entire spin-off miniseries.

3. Simple text. – I mentioned above how the narrative is simple and linear and the text matches that.  In some ways, it reminds me of proof-reading my kid’s essays from school.  On one hand, you chuckle because the sentences are short and simple.  But, there is a lot of power in short/simple sentence structure (certainly more power than in long, complex sentences with lots of commas).  Graham just keeps it moving with these blunt sentences: Bang, bang, bang…

WCBR’s Top Picks

Dean’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: The Unwritten #35 – What a great week for comics!  My method for picking a “winner” is to take the stack of comics and separate them into “possible contenders” and “nope”.  This week, the “possible contender” stack was much larger than “nope”.  My runner-up is Saga #1, but I gave the nod to The Unwritten #35 because it is more difficult to provide satisfying answers after ~2.5 years of storytelling than it is to have a gangbusters #1 issue.  I give points for degree of difficulty!  The Unwritten has been a slow-burn of a series that has spun a lot of intricate questions during its run.  Sometimes these types of stories collapse upon themselves, but that looks not to be happening.  All of the answers provided in this issue were satisfying and made sense.  And, in doing that, this issue is also helping The Unwritten to achieve it’s bigger goal of becoming an evergreen title that people still read in trade 10 years later.  You know how these ongoing Vertigo series are: If the finales are mediocre, they kinda diminish what has come before.  Based on this issue, The Unwritten still has a chance to become one of those timeless classics.  Again, Saga #1: very good and I’m sure that Brian K. Vaughn will give us 30+ issues of excellent story, but it hasn’t happened yet.

Most Anticipated: Batman #7 – See, it isn’t all about creator-owned comics with me!  I can get excited about superheroes too….when they’re good.  And the Snyder, Capullo, et al Batman has been so wonderful thus far that it’s my pick this week.  I’ve never read a Snyder comic book that I didn’t like.  I’ve never read a Capullo-illustrated comic that wasn’t insanely attractive.  These two guys are currently batting 1.000 and logic would say that they can’t keep it up…..but they haven’t disappointed yet.  Thus, I’m most excited about Batman #7 in a week that is stacked with interesting comics.  It’s really insane that this pathetically small comic industry is producing so much excellent product.  We comic fans are spoiled.

Other Picks: Dominique Laveau: Voodoo Child #1, Michael Kaluta Sketchbook Series Vol. 1, Rocketeer Adventures 2 #1, Hoax Hunters #0, Prophet #23, Rebel Blood #1, Amazing Spider-Man #682, Kick Ass 2 #7, Super Crooks #1, Hack/Slash #14

Alex’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Fantastic Four #604 – I thought it impossible that something would beat Saga #1, but here we are.  The conclusion of Jonathan Hickman’s 3-year story was nothing less than a perfect, fist-pumping, watery eyed conclusion.  Great, great comics here.

Most Anticipated: Batman #7 – Scott Snyder’s Batman is without a doubt one of the finest books on stands currently.  After a couple of months lost in a maze, getting the crap kicked out of him both mentally and physically, I’m very much looking forward to Bruce, now having escaped, getting his revenge on the Court of Owls.  It’s time for Batman to go back to being the hunter.

Other Picks: Justice League #7, Wonder Woman #7, Invincible Iron Man #514, Uncanny X-Men #9, Wolverine #303