Reviewer: William Cooling
Story title: N/A
Written by: Mark Millar
Art by: Peter Gross
Coloured by: Jeanne McGee
Lettered: Virtual Calligraphy’s Cory Petit
Editor: Dave Land
Publisher: Millarworld/Dark House Comics
What do you get if cross Mark Millar, comic book iconoclast and breaker of barriers of taste and decency, with the Second Coming of Jesus? If you said a hard hitting, foul mouthed, widescreen satire on Christianity then you’d be dead wrong. Instead, the practising Catholic Millar adopts a very respectful and serious attitude towards his tale of the second coming of Christ. Indeed he leaves aside the Church for this opening episode and concentrates on developing the character of Jodie, his would be messiah. Millar exercises a very different writing style to what is the norm for him as he focuses entirely on characterisation as he shows Jodie’s first manifestations of his powers. Here Millar shows a very tight grasp of his character by avoiding the danger of the Second Coming seeming like the manifestation of mutant powers by stressing the direct power of Christ into areas that superheroes don’t usual posses with only the first manifestation having anything truly superheroish about it.
Millar’s sensitive and subtle characterisation (I know I’m as shock as you) is even better shown in Jodie and his two friends quest for a porn mag, which instead of coming across as sensationalist and smutty actually provides us with a realistic but gentle view of the behaviour of young boys. Indeed Millar’s characterisation is excellent throughout with a very naturalistic tone, something that is at odds with his usual widescreen approach. Something that is even more at odds is complete lack of action in the story, with the story entirely focused on characterisation, plot and dialogue. Millar’s dialogue is particularly noteworthy, as it doesn’t featuring the “coolness†that his writing usually has. Instead it is very subtle, very realistic and on the whole has a gentle feel to it with Jodie in particular coming across as a nice young man. Indeed the only thing you can use to identify this as a Millar comic (save the cover and credits) is the sneaking of a double spread.
If there is a criticism to be had of Millar’s writing, its that the general aura of respect for Christ and the Christian Church sometimes becomes outright reverence when the story moves from general characterisation to the “God Thingâ€. In particular there are aspects that seem almost slavish in their retelling of the New Testament. These do point to someone who takes their religion seriously and is producing this a serious piece of work although thankfully Millar does imbue his writing with charm and the characters are never less than likeable, so even a wicked atheist like myself can enjoy it. The art plays an important role in developing this charm with Peter Gross’ simple linework drawing the reader in. The art is a hybrid of a cartooney style (think John Higgins) with a more naturalistic tone (think Bryan Talbot’s Tale of One Bad Rat) that suits the mixture of realism and nostalgia that is at the heart of this story. Gross’ is excellent at capturing the emotional content of this story in a superficially simple way, with his facial characterisation especially excellent throughout. His character design is good as well and manages to give all his characters a likable quality, another sign of his excellent synergy with the script. The naturalistic side of his work on the whole comes from the watercolours (esque?) colouring of Jeanne McGee, which similar to Lynn Varely in The Dark Knight Returns add a level of depth to the artwork.
This is a very surprising issue with Millar’s writing bearing a closer resemblance to the likes of Brian Michael Bendis (Ultimate Spider-Man) or Greg Rucka (Wonder Woman) than his own with a charming, naturalistic and unironic tone coupled with a dialogue and characterisation heavy content. Perhaps even more surprising is its micro-nature, with the whole issue centred on Jodie and his personal journey rather than the wider issues surrounding the Church or nostalgic eighties pop-culture references. While it does at places seem more reverential towards the Church the sheer quality of the writing and art stops it becoming cloying, and besides even as an atheist its nice to see given a supportive portrayal. Although I do wonder whether this conservatism coupled with the different writing style will make this a comic for the average Millar fan.
