“Britannia: We Who Are About to Die” #4

Antonius and Achilla have figured out whodunit, but in finding them do the reveal something much darker about the world around them?

Cover by David Mack

Written by Peter Milligan
Illustrated by Juan Jose Ryp, Ryan Lee, Roberto De La Torre
Colored by Frankie D’Armata
Lettered by Dave Sharpe

Death and the deity!

The horrifying truth behind Rome’s grisly string of murders has finally come to light… but will Antonius Axia and his mysterious new partner – the gladiator Achillia – be able to stomach it? It’s a race against the clock to stop a serial killer – who may very well be the vengeful spirit of Apollo himself — before it strikes again! But should Antonius and Achillia fail in their mission, they’ll condemn not only Rome…but those Antonius holds dear as well.

Visionary creators Peter Milligan (Shade, the Changing Man) and Juan José Ryp (BRITANNIA) bring the latest case for history’s first detective to a chilling close…and forever alter the history of civilization itself!

There’s many reasons why crime fiction is eternally popular. The narrative framework provides a clear plot with which to build a story around. There are clear boundaries between good and bad. There is, of course the promise of finality, the case gets closed. Also, as with any long running genre generations and artistic styles emerge building out of this ex. Hardboiled fiction or the noir aesthetic (that isn’t a genre). Connecting all of these strands is the ‘why’ of it all. What could cause a person to commit this crime. What does it say about the society, that this happened in? Through investigation, what social ills are uncovered?

With the who of this whodunit revealed in the previous issue (Ellissa), writer Peter Milligan uses the final chapter of this miniseries to explore the ‘why’ of Ellissa and shine a light the social ills within Rome. Milligan and artists Juan Jose Ryp, Ryan Lee, and Roberto De La Torre, come together to close out “We Who Are About to Die” with a satisfying, well-paced, finale.
What happened to Ellissa?

“Rome is what happened to her … The great empire that poisons its own children.” The Detectioner Antonius explains in one of his internal monologues, which I’m now head cannoning as part of his written memoirs of all these cases. Miligan’s terse indictment of roman society fits its portrayal in this piece of historical fiction and what the historical evidence points to. Rome was a great many things, part of the reason why studying its history is so fascinating, but it cannot escape the underlying systems of power that allowed for its imperialist expansion. Ellissa is that darkness come to light, claiming to punish Rome for the ruin of Carthage during the Second Punic War. She is also emblematic of a society that is built on the back of chattel slavery and vast economic inequality.

“We Who Are About to Die” has done pretty good at illuminating these structures through the prism of Achilla, who without nothing in this story would work. Rome was xenophobic, Roman identity can be summed up as “I’m Roman and you are not.” What they really cared about was citizenship, no matter what you looked like or where you came from. Achilla is not a citizen and as a gladiator and as a woman, finds herself at the bottom of the social pyramid. She is not however, subservient in the role of gladiator constantly fighting to define herself and break free of Roman society. There’s this nice little moment, a scene within a scene, on the streets that show how much power Achilla really has even if it doesn’t present itself in the dominant ways of roman society.

As with any piece of historical fiction I wouldn’t call this sound history, but it uses the concepts and artifacts of the time to tell a good story about societal power that reads as relevant to our times. “Britannia” continues to surprise, what started out as the rational atheist stuck in irrational superstitious times (but also featuring legit demons) is now, surprisingly class conscious.

If you would like to do some reading about the roman economy and economic inequality, I’d recommend this article by Walter Scheidel and Steven J. Friesen or Scheidel’s recent book The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Economy. A note though, the article looks at the second century CE, well removed from the reign of Nero, and is over 5 years old. When dealing with this kind of stuff new data always pops up, but it gives an overall good idea of what we’re dealing with.

While Milligan wrote these pages, the art teams execution of them and their pacing are fantastic. I’ve always found mystery comics to be somewhat unwieldy when considering the overall physical limitations of the physical comic. Mysteries are built on conveying just the right amount of necessary information and then some, while still telling a story. Antonius’ unofficial interrogation of Livilla, is a compact one-page scene in 9 panels. But with Livilla’s ever changing melodramatic posture tells us everything that’s needed to be said. This issue has many examples of really well executed one-page scenes that contribute to an overall fulfilling reading experience. With this kind of story, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine how things wrapped up in a quick and easy, but unsatisfying fashion. Imagine Ellissa going on a short “You Meddling Kids” monologue instead of what we got.

On a different artistic note, there is some wonderful compositional mirroring done as Antonius and company attack Ellissa’s hideout. With how this book is credited, I’m unsure who did this page, however colorist Frankie D’Armata plays with textures and the pallett highlight and make supernatural the moments when the “gods” attack on one page. Before contrasting it in the next as the psychedelic fog lifts and grim reality sets in. Well, as grim realistic as the highly emotive detail oriented aesthetic for this book can get. Reading this physically will make for something of a quasi-splash page as the two images come together and bounce off one another. The completely different levels of dynamism in posture from one panel to the next was a very effective representation of Antonius’ rational mind kicking in.

“Britannia” is a book I’m continually astounded is published by Valiant, it’s the kind of thing you’d expect at Vertigo or Image not the home of “X-O Manowar.” But Valiant is a better line for it, Milligan and company have come together to tell another excellent supernatural mystery with some heart, soul, and surprising amount of conscious.

Final Verdict: 7.75 – “Britannia” concludes with the dark heart of Rome revealed and the promise of more “adventure” as long as Nero is around.