Written by David Lapham
Illustrated by German NobileIn an age of depravity, one man’s appetites horrified the entire Roman Empire. The very Empire he ruled. Some stories are passed from one generation to the next only in secret. Told in hushed whispers as the very words are too horrific to speak aloud for fear they offend the Gods. A Roman Empire built on the blood of its people, a ruler who began as a generous man but who ended as the most debased of monarchs.
One name still speaks volumes of how absolute power can corrupt – Caligula. David (Crossed) Lapham unveils a new tale of Caligula, he was not just a man drunk on power, he was possessed. A modern master of horror, Lapham digs deep into the world of Rome 37 AD and offers a unique epic of horror. Joined by new talent German Nobile who promises to serve up fully-painted pages dripping with blood, this all-new, full-color series will be six issues of evil that will make any Crossed fan smile with glee. For in the age of Caligula, all roads lead to Hell.
Here we have a comic about one of the most depraved people to ever live in human history, and it’s written by the man who brought you Crossed: Family Values. I could have never thought of a better match. Does that mean that the comic was any good, though?
Well, find out after the cut.
This comic was pretty much everything I expected it to be: gory, sick, and twisted. I wish I could give you the at-this-point cliched “…and I loved every second of it,” but I really didn’t. Lapham’s earlier Crossed Family: Values took Garth Ennis’s creative property and at least equaled Ennis in how flat-out messed up the story was. Still, there was at least a kernel of a good story behind that one (though how much of one is a debate between me and editor in chief Matt Meylikhov – Editor’s note: nothing quite beats “Horse Cock,” but the dead baby was close!). We’re only an issue in so I can’t pass too much judgment, but I’m not sure if that kernel is present in this miniseries. From the little bit we’ve seen so far, Lapham is just exploring a similar concept in a different setting: the depths of human depravity, only this time in corrupt, bustling city rather than a post-apocalyptic scenario. Color me unimpressed.
Now, I’m not squeamish. As “gross” as things were in this book, I wasn’t turning the pages and going “EW!” or anything like that. Nor do I find gore and such inherently cool – something that I feel these sorts of stories try to capitalize on. I’m fine with gore and extreme levels of violence, provided it’s there for a purpose beyond shock and awe. I don’t see any interesting purpose here: we know Caligula was supposed to be extremely screwed up in the head, and we know that someone that messed up should be “taken care of,” so to speak. These are very basic things. So… what’s the point? Sure, I don’t mind gore and severed limbs too much, but I don’t want to be subjected to viewing such things for very minor points like that. Sure, maybe the twist at the end is supposed to be some strange meaning like (spoiler) “evil is immortal and we’ll never get rid of it,” but that’s pushing it – and still not really “worth” it.
I’m very conflicted on the art. Some panels are absolutely beautiful, while others leave a lot to be desired. I think that the artist gets objects and locations much better than he does anatomy. Honestly, the page that shows a panel overlooking Rome from a POV perspective? Gorgeous. And even then, it’s only sometimes with the people. The first couple of pages I didn’t notice anything wrong with anatomy and such, but soon I turned the page and exclaimed “what happened?” As nice as the art is in some pieces, I prefer consistent alright-ness to sudden splashes of brilliance.
David Lapham can write well. I’ve seen it happen before. There’s still time for this story to get better, but so far this doesn’t seem to be taking off for me. The story isn’t necessarily bad, though; rather, it’s just about average, but I’m not going to read an average comic with a premise that I’m not really into. The twist at the end hints that maybe this could be going somewhere interesting, so maybe I’ll check out the next issue. We’ll see.
Final Verdict: 5.4 – Browse.
