Written by Brandon Graham
Illustrated by Simon RoyThe distant future Earth is inhabited by alien settlers that feed off of the ape-men mankind has devolved into. John Prophet awakes from cryosleep on a mission to restart the human empire.
Rob Liefeld’s Extreme Studios is back at Image Comics, and if this joint from writer Brandon Graham and artist Simon Roy is any indication, we can expect great things from the relaunch.
Find out why after the jump.
I’ve probably read and likely still own parts of Liefeld and artist Stephen Platt’s initial Prophet work. I remember it being a pretty big deal, at least in terms of hype, because it was in tail end of the speculator love affair with Image the years following its high profile launch.
While I don’t remember specific details, I do know this: I never remember it being nearly as good as this first issue of the relaunch from Brandon Graham and Simon Roy.
While the core concept stays the same (John Prophet is an enhanced warrior designed for evil but made to be good, and is constantly traveling through time to protect himself and to carry out various missions), everything else is grounded in an unfailing realism that is tied to an Earth that is otherworldly and dystopian in a way unlike anything we’ve really seen before.
And that is a very good thing indeed.
Because this is the twenty-first issue and not a true first, the story jumps readers into the beginning of what amounts to a new mission for Prophet, but in a way that slowly through action and omniscient narration develops everything you need to know about the character. One of my favorite things the book does is it the hyper focus on details – the beginning of the book essentially is about Prophet awakening and then sorting out what he can eat and what he can’t in this ruined Earth, and to do that the narration shares lines like “he smoke cooks what he can eat of the Tulnaka” and we are given a rundown on what he has on him for supplies.
While things like that traditionally aren’t in most comics you’ll read (it’s probably easier to assume things like this happen without reading it for most), for me as a reader, it very much places me in this world with Prophet. Like in one panel that finds Prophet traversing a forest, we’re given that image combined with various forms of wildlife active on the page (one larger beast sleeping, a smaller one curious (“?”) about what Prophet’s status is, and a third eating a bird whole). Seeing full details like that enriches the environment and makes it feel all the more three dimensional.
The story itself is well told by Graham, as Prophet is there to restart the “Human Empire” by any means necessary, and to do so he needs to meet up with a contact who is supposed to inform him of that (when they first meet, they have a strangely fitting first act to share). As I said, the narration choice gives the book a very grounded feel, and the art works extremely well with it.
Having recently spoke to Graham about this book, the art pairing well makes sense, especially considering how closely Roy worked with him on plotting the book. Graham and Roy feel like two strong storytellers tightening the bridge between the written and the visual, and while some may not like Roy’s aesthetic appeal (I love it personally, but people at my shop have suggested that they don’t love it), it’s impossible to deny how well he can tell a story visually.
Just like the written detail helps readers understand Prophet to a level he might not have reached in his previous days as a steroid driven minor league catcher (bonus points to Team Prophet for simplifying his costume as well), Roy’s level of detail in the art and layouts helps readers appreciate the world he’s in. One two page splash midway through in particular does so, as Prophet looks onto a small village with binoculars. We’re given a wide look at the farm as a whole as the main image, but also at the top given how Prophet got to the vantage point and at the bottom zoomed detail of the farm with arrows pointing to where that detail is at on the main map. I loved the page, and it added a lot to the methodical density of this book.
Continued belowThis book is, in many ways, completely unlike anything we’ve seen from Extreme Studios previously. To me, it seems like Graham looked at this book and this concept and boiled it down to the most important factors and then rebuilt it from the ground up. This is a lean but somehow also dense read, and something that feels very fresh and dynamic as well.
I want to stress though, this isn’t just a detailed and unique book, it’s also an extremely well told one that happens to be a really enjoyable read. Graham’s story and words pair incredibly well with Roy’s art, and this is one hell of a total package. Prophet is very much unlike anything else I’m reading, and I’m happy to say that I’m a huge fan of this, the first relaunch book of Extreme Studios.
Final Verdict: 9.0 – Buy
