Reviews 

“Antioch” #1

By | September 9th, 2022
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

On the surface, the world of American superhero comics is a pretty boring one that has been dominated by two companies for the better part of seventy years. Yet, if you’re willing to look a little bit deeper, there are great writers and artists who have either tried or are trying to break that monopoly and create a world where superhero comics aren’t dominated by Marvel or DC.

Sometimes they flame out and die, sometimes they manage to carve a nice and profitable little niche for themselves, although they almost never seem to break out into mainstream popular culture.

Let’s see if a new series from Image called “Antioch” has a chance.

Cover by: Marco Ferarri
Written by Patrick Klindon
Illustrated by Marco Ferarri
Lettered by Jim Campbell

FRONTIERSMAN creators KINDLON & FERRARI pick up where that series left off with an all-new ONGOING SERIES! A king from a lost continent enters the world of man with a purpose: to stop us from killing the planet. But when he finds himself in a superhuman prison, his title is useless and his powers only matter if they help him survive!

In late 2021 writer Patrick Klindon and artist Marco Ferarri teamed up to produce a book for Image Comics called “Frontiersman”. It was a short series about a retired superhero who came out of retirement to work for a group of environmentalists on their quest to save the planet from corporate greed. That story did not end very well for the herol, but thankfully “Antioch” #1 is there to pick up the slack. This new chapter follows the exploits of a king of the same name from an otherworldly realm as he seeks to lower himself to our level and fight for the planet on the Frontiersman’s behalf. There’s a lot of punching, a lot of proselytizing, and a lot of familiar faces to reconnect to…assuming you’ve read the previous books.

The script for “Antioch” #1 is provided by Patrick Klindon and it’s a well organized, well told, and well thought out superhero story that hits all the marks and does everything it’s supposed to do. The titular hero of the story is an otherworldly prince who is tall, strong, and likes to show off six pack abs that could cut through rock if he wanted to. He’s the kind of hero that is kind to the people who are good to him and are on his side and absolutely ruthless to his enemies, willing to use his super strength to hurl logging trucks like they were nothing and rip oil rigs apart with his bare hands. With all that being said, Klindon doesn’t just make this a simple power fantasy, he does do a good job with injecting the story with a bit of nuance. It turns out that the corporations that Antioch is waging his one man war against have hired super individuals of their own, and some of them are even fighting for causes other than money. Klindon does a good job of presenting good arguments for both sides, even going as far as to paint Antioch as a dangerous anti-hero who has a righteous cause, but fails to take the lives he might be hurting into account.

While “Antioch” #1 is a solid superhero tale, it does suffer from two problems. The first is that while this is a new story with a #1 issue, it is a continuation of an old series and the creative team doesn’t do the best job of making that clear. While this won’t be a problem for fans of the series, anyone who might be picking this book up for the first time runs the risk of feeling a little bit lost. The second problem is that while it is a well written book, it’s rehashing a lot of the same tropes and ideas from nearly every superhero story over the past fifty years. Granted, superheroes have endured for centuries because of what they are and what they represent, but the arguments and ideas that this book expresses have been done in the exact same way dozens of times before. Neither of these problems are absolute deal breakers, but your mileage may vary.

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The artwork and colors for “Antioch” #1 is provided by Marco Ferarri, and it is an absolute highlight of the issue. Ferrari has a style that blends several elements of Japanese manga with some of the best elements of modern European comic book art, and when it is combined with a soft and almost delicate color palette the end result is a style that seems to be garnering a lot of attention lately and makes the book feel timeless and something that comic book readers of all ages can enjoy. The character design is fantastic, Antioch looks properly manly and badass, and there are some great superhero designs that look like they were a lot of fun to come up with and design fun fight scenes around. Speaking of fight scenes, the action is well blocked, planned, and allows the comic to have its philosophical cake and eat it too.

“Antioch” #1 is a standard anti hero comic book story about a one man quest to save the planet from the traditional enemy of human corporate greed. It’s a story that’s been told a thousand times before and while this comic doesn’t really offer anything new to say, it does offer a lot of great things to look at.

Final Verdict: 7.9- The artwork is gorgeous, but if you’re looking for a fresh new take on superheroes, you won’t find much here.


Matthew Blair

Matthew Blair hails from Portland, Oregon by way of Attleboro, Massachusetts. He loves everything comic related, and will talk about it for hours if asked. He also writes a web comic about a family of super villains which can be found here: https://tapas.io/series/The-Secret-Lives-of-Villains

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