Written by Sam Humphries
Illustrated by Dalton RoseWhat happens when you’re ripped from the 21st century and thrown into the middle of one of the greatest – and most bloodthirsty – civilizations in human history? How do you survive a strange world of war, blood, sacrifice, and death?
Join Hector, a dude on a one-way trip through the past, the present, and the psychedelic into the the glory of the Aztec Empire in Sacrifice – a new comic book by Sam Humphries (writer of Our Love Is Real and one of Wizard‘s “Five Writers to Watch in 2011”) and rising star Dalton Rose.
The self-publishing sensation behind that comic book everyone loves about banging dogs up the butt or whatever is back with a comic that is less about banging dogs and more about Aztec ritual murder. That is awesome, so read on after the jump.
The next step was carried out in a film studio – I learned to talk and think backward on all levels – This was done by running film and sound track backward – For example a picture of myself eating a full meal was reversed, from satiety back to hunger – First the film was run at normal speed, then in slow-motion – The same procedure was extended to other physiological processes including orgasm – (It was explained to me that I must put aside all sexual prudery and reticence, that sex was perhaps the heaviest anchor holding one in present time.) For three months I worked with the studio – My basic training in time travel was completed and I was now ready to train specifically for the Mayan assignment –
And so on. That is, per his 1961 novel The Soft Machine, how William S. Burroughs detailed time travel back to Mesoamerica in order to screw with an ancient civilization. For Hector, the star of Sam Humphries and Dalton Rose’s new mini-series Sacrifice, it’s as simple as having an epileptic episode. Or is it?
What we know: Hector is a Joy Division fan — note the Unknown Pleasures shirt — who has a neurological condition and the apparent ability to zap back in time to the days of the Aztecs, where he’s mocked for his pale skin and generally kicked around. What we don’t know: if he’s just hallucinating, or what.
Sacrifice is an enjoyable but scattershot comic — things move nicely and steam forward, but the occasional lack of clarity hampers it. Not from the art, mind. Dalton Rose draws clean, smooth figures who may not be the most expressive, but get the point across — which is probably more important. The really nice thing about the art in Sacrifice #1 is that you can actually see everyone on the art team — both Rose and colorist Pete Toms — getting more comfortable and confident with every page. The art is also aided by high-quality production — for a self-published venture, even the paper stock feels considerably more luxurious than the average Marvel piece.
My main quibble with Sacrifice, though, is that it feels a bit like false advertising. “BLOOD WILL TEAR US APART,” screams the cover to anyone who knows anything about post-punk. “Joy Division fans versus Aztecs,” Kieron Gillen tattoos on the comic’s backside. Then inside — well, the kid has an Unknown Pleasures shirt. I’ll level, though: I’m actually kind of glad it’s not so cutesy as “Joy Division fans versus Aztecs,” which is the kind of premise that lends itself to writers trying to be too clever by half, and which can sustain itself for exactly two Tumblr posts before getting tired. “Time travel versus not dying alone in the past” is a better summary, and makes for a better comic — I don’t know if we’re actually building toward a Joy Division fans vs. Aztecs thing, or if it’s just to put asses in the seats, but I really hope it’s the latter.
My secondary quibble with Sacrifice is that, as previously mentioned, some things just aren’t that clear — or not unclear enough, as the case may be. Is Hector hallucinating? Is he actually traveling back in time? The narrative viewpoint of the comic just seems to assume that Hector actually is zapping himself back to Ye Olde Time Mexico, which strikes me as a missed opportunity. Surely the last page could have been used to build that sense of maybe-maybe-not dread rather than the lame, sigh-worthy joke the book ends on. I try not to backseat-drive comics when I read them, but every now and then I can see such potential, and want to go back in time, Hector-style, to scream “are you just not seeing this?!” and then probably get arrested.
What you get for your four bucks: a very nicely printed pamphlet with perfectly fine writing and art, and a concept that lends itself to an interesting spin on the usual Connecticut Yankee stuff. The catch: you won’t actually get a first printing for only four bucks now. Sorry. Either way, Sacrifice gets more and more self-assured with each passing page. All it needs is to keep up that trend and tighten its nuts and bolts a bit, and by the end there’ll be a nice little book happening.
Final Verdict: 7.0 – Wait for the second print now, though, as I can’t in good conscience say it’s a $30 comic. (Sorry, Sam)
