“Second Coming” #3 digs into Sunstar’s origins, an additional temptation of Christ and the looming sense of never being able to go home again. Warning: spoilers ahead.
Written by Mark RussellCover by Amanda Conner
Illustrated by Richard Pace & Leonard Kirk
Colored by Andy Troy
Lettered by Rob Steen Searching for his missing grandmother, Sunstar is forced to confront the shortcomings of his super-powers. Jesus, left on his own for the day, runs afoul of street preachers.
“Second Coming” #3 continues what’s shaping up to be an interesting mash-up of religious parables, satire and a good punch-em-up superhero comic. Russell and Pace might not be the first people to posit what would happen if Jesus was a superhero, but their take on fusing scripture with pulp has unearthed more than a few gems so far.
Russell is quite apt at blending humor with serious storytelling, and thus the book’s been a bit of a surprise so far. Sunstar’s winsome monologue about never being able to go home again is balanced well by his girlfriend’s wry observation about nostalgia being his only weakness a moment later, just as layering aspects of what Evangelical Christians consider sin (pornography, homosexuality) in the background and not calling them out past a gag or two speaks to “Second Coming” as a pretty sophisticated tale. There’s nuance and subtlety here in addition to some juvenile humor, and Russell spends a good amount of time building up Sunstar and Jesus as believable, sympathetic characters. God’s a delightful rampage of bad senex energy and a keen counterpoint to the two somewhat lost protagonists, and the Devil’s a delightful dandy to boot. Russell also pays special attention to how Sunstar and Jesus are in this to raise each other, and each issue reads like an actual parable that’s been modernized effectively and injected with just the right amount of acerbic humor and fresh perspective.
Pace’s art is engaging and accessible when it comes to Sunstar’s perspective, but the Jesus pages leave a little to be desired. The point of view shift is fine as a device, but the scratchier, organic artwork doesn’t blend well with the crisp line or bright color palette of Sunstar’s adventures. Troy’s color palette in these scenes is extremely dark – no doubt meant to mirror the palette in earlier issues as we tracked Jesus’s first go-round on Earth – and feels grungy and murky in the wrong way. Jesus, Satan and the other characters are proportionally weird on the page and the irregular panel borders make the comic feel slapdash rather than intentionally eerie or strange. There’s also an issue with the shading and light sources, as the more impressionistic texturing feels amateurish rather than moody. Sunstar’s art is much more grounded and engaging, with a lot of good facial expressions and physicality, and Pace has clearly put a lot of effort into character design throughout the first handful of issues.
The Ransomer has a great Flash-rogue costume that helps heighten the absurdity and land the joke of his appearance and Sunstar’s subsequent Golden Age-Superman-esque solution of throwing the erstwhile lad into community college – no film majors, please! Pace’s palette here is much better, with a great purple and green combo to contrast Sunstar’s costume. Later in the book, there’s a surprising subtlety to the palette chosen for the sex shop window. One wouldn’t expect a bristle of dildos primarily meant to shock and amuse to boast a gentle pastel gradient, but the eye moves quickly to the “Ron’s Dongs” sign and down to Sunstar’s face as a result, and that’s exactly what should happen on the page. It’s a humorous moment heightened by restraint rather than lurid detail, and the team works in perfect harmony here to carry it off.
Steen’s lettering is straightforward in that we don’t have too much styling on either the font or the balloons. It’s a good choice given the amount of text, the color palette throughout most of the book and the smaller panels on some of the pages. Sound effects are bouncy and pop nicely off the page, especially the two that enhance Jesus’s first time out bowling. Russell gives Steen quite a challenge with the amount of narration and dialogue to contend with, but Steen’s placement is solid and there’s next to no padding in the balloons to compensate.
Continued belowGiven the controversy surrounding “Second Coming” and the triumph of its publication at all, let alone in a state that’s actually entertaining, is testament (ha) to Russell’s storytelling skill and the solid creative team at work on the meat of the book. We’d expect it to be a send-up with little else to recommend it but its press and concept, but “Second Coming” delights not just because of its blasphemy and slapstick but because it’s a pretty thoughtful take on the hypocrisy of religion and human behavior. Jesus in particular is portrayed with an unexpected tenderness, and the book doesn’t take an easy route by sliding into cynicism at all. Rather, Russell, Pace and the team engage fully with the mythology and the tenets of Christianity and, as a result, have something pretty interesting and compelling to say.
“Second Coming” entertains and, unexpectedly, educates, so if you’re interested in a crash course on Christian theology from a modern perspective laced with just a bit of salt and heart, this book is for you. Don’t let the wailings of the faithful or the skeptics put you off. See for yourself.
Final Verdict: 7.5 – “Second Coming” #3 continues an entertaining and educational look at Christianity and all its facets with good humor and surprising subtlety.
