Rapture 1 Featured Reviews 

“Rapture” #1

By | May 26th, 2017
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

Finally the comic event you’ve been waiting for: Valiant crosses with The Leftove … oh, this is a different kind of Rapture story.

Cover by Mico Suayan
Written by Matt Kindt
Illustrated by Cafu
Colored by Andrew Dalhouse
Lettered by Dave Sharpe

On a scarred landscape, two otherworldly armies prepare to battle one last time, vying for control of a massive tower named from an ancient language no longer permitted to be spoken.One army is led by a primeval force named Babel, whose goal is singular: to breach “Heaven” no matter the cost. The only thing standing in his way is a gray-haired barbaric warrior, filled with rage and regret, a man who sees this battle as his last chance for redemption. But he knows his depleted forces have little chance of victory unless aid comes.Enter Tama: A 12-year old girl on the crest of a hill overlooking the battle, who has just become humanity’s only hope. The last in an ancient line of mystics who protect the Earth, she has foreseen this battle and knows millions will perish if she’s unable to stop it. Now Tama and her ragtag team of malcontents – Ninjak, Shadowman and Punk Mambo – must somehow defeat an elder god hell bent on piercing the heavens.This summer, New York Times best-selling writer Matt Kindt (X-O Manowar) and artistic sensation CAFU (Rai) lead a Tolkien-esque journey into the space between life and death…through the Deadside…and into the many worlds that lie beyond right here with a spellbinding and horrific standalone event!

“Rapture,” written by Matt Kindt with art by Cafu, marks the beginning of several miniseries Valiant will be publishing over the summer. While this mini has ties to Kindt’s run on “Ninjak,” specifically the ‘Operation: Deadside’ story arc, the cast page does as good a job as can be expected filling new readers in on cast biographies. That kind of functionality is emblematic of the issue overall, it manages to set the table for the following 3 issues without feeling like a laborious task or meaningless read. The start to “Rapture” is the kind of start to an event, or serialized narrative in general, one should expect from other producers.

At the center of this story is Tama the young Geomancer, created by Kindt, Jeff Lemire, and Paolo Rivera in the pages of “The Valiant.” During the Valiant Summit ’17 Kindt stressed the need to make readers fall in love with this character (who I realized technically had been named in the lead up to this series) and dedicated the first sequence of this book on doing just that. I wouldn’t say I “love” Tama, but that doesn’t mean I’m not totally sold on her character and the strong introduction Kindt and Cafu give her in the vein of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Instead of Tama talking to her Slime-esque companion TADD and telling them about herself, Kindt sets up the sequence to be dominated by her actions; trusting that Cafu’s illustration would show us her character. That is a character of pure goodness, not a naïve little girl but someone who is clearly empathetic and considerate to those around her. In a Valiant U dominated by wounded characters, Tama stands out.

As Tama and TADD traverse up the High Tree (a floating boobytrap filled fortress of sorts) she get to show off her studious and capable skills, like Indiana Jones meets Hermione Granger. She dodges poison darts, acid mushrooms, and answers riddles. Cafu’s paneling and design in this climbing sequence is excellent. The right amount of action is represented in each panel giving things a call and response, problem based, dynamic you’d find in Raiders. These illustrations are helped, also, in no small part by colorist Andrew Dalhouse who gives the withering and worn Deadside an appropriate amount of gritty texture to the fantastical realm.

It is the demon that lays atop the High Tree that seels her character. Inside the High Tree is Amy, an imprisoned demon. Their function is to drop some exposition about Babel, his tower and scheme’s relation to the vaguely specific writings within the Book of the Geomancer. All just general move the plot forward kind of stuff that doesn’t really matter in the long run. If the creative team had stuck to the Raiders style entertaining functionality, that would have been fine. Instead, they use this expository sequence for something more, a chance to show the considerate side of Tama.

Continued below

The expression Cafu renders on the demonic Amy’s face is full of a mixture of anguish and joy at the Geomancer’s small acts and promises of kindness. While Kindt has used The Lord of the Rings as a reference point to describe the scale of “Rapture”, one of the key points of that series was how small moments make very big differences. This first sequence nails the small moments. The kind of beats within beats only really good actors and storytellers think about, and it makes all the difference. I’m now invested in this character that I didn’t even realize had a name before “Rapture” and a demon, both of whom have been in ~40 panels of comics.

This first issue is largely about table setting, an unenviable task in comic production given the mediums requirements for synergistic and efficient storytelling. Game of Thrones doesn’t even do this kind of storytelling well at times. “Rapture” largely succeeds in this manner because it manages to get the table set in entertaining fashion via the use of a semi-ironic frame story. By having this issue act as a story within this overall story, Kindt is able to flex some referential and humors barbs at its nature. Tama essentially goes around repeating the story to Ninjak, Punk Mambo, and Shadowman (or is it Magpie still?), each time the story is compressed until it is a single half page.

With the energy spent on Tama and preparing the plot, there isn’t much time to really introduce readers to the relatively obscure Punk Mambo or Shadowman, beyond their biography. There are some playful quick jabs at everyone’s favorite ninja spy once again being forced to play with magic. “Rapture” is supposed to help propel Shadowman to a more prominent position within the publishing line, he’ll be getting a new comic early next year. To do that, however, will mean rehabilitating his character, which should be fertile dramatic ground for “Rapture” going forward.

Final Verdict: 8.0 – “Rapture” takes a strong first step selling readers on character, and getting all the pieces in place for a large scale fantasy adventure down the road.


Michael Mazzacane

Your Friendly Neighborhood Media & Cultural Studies-Man Twitter

EMAIL | ARTICLES