Theodicy
Staff: Chad Handley, Fernando Brazuna, Ryan Boltz, Minan Ghibliest, Kel Nuttall
Overview:
A heavy handed comic about Jesus themed superheroes in cartel-run Mexico that is way better than how I am describing it.
Review:
Next on the agenda is “Theodicy”. You can actually follow along with this review HERE. I was promised blasphemy and, in honor of the holiday encroaching on Thanksgiving- I’m all for it (Seriously? Why is there Christmas music in the middle of November).
In terms of lettering, we have a few times when the letters could be larger but it’s all legible so no complaints here.
The art isn’t bad but it’s not professional either. It’s about 75% of the way to being professional but there are still some odd expressions and odd rendering of the contours of human faces (sometimes really flat, sometimes really detailed). Some of the rendering of the clothes they wear are draw in a fashion that doesn’t reflect the nature of the material (leather jackets seem to work just like cotton does) and there is some minor continuity errors artistically.
To say the plot is heavy handed is a grievous understatement. The good guys are TOO good and the bad guys are puppy-kickingly evil. It’s about a subtle as an episode of blue clues. Exposition is pretty doled out by the spoonful on page 6 but even with that generous helping of plot details I am still left awestruck by the randomly unexplained man with giant black wings that no one seems to notice/care. The names of the characters on the pinups are all very generic (seriously… the Chinese dude is named “Wushu” and the other one is “Wuxia”?)
Despite all the flaws of this comic… yeah I liked it. It has charm and personality. The religious aspect of comics like this which normally kind of bothers me… didn’t. I dug these priests and after I saw the pin ups I was like, “Holy shit*! Super-priests in cartel run Mexico dishing out the hurt to Evil McEvilson? Sign me up!” It’s just rough and dark enough to take the “sunday school” aspect out of it and almost parody that sort of “Jesus is my best friend!” comic. I REALLY hope they go farther with that and the preview of issue #2 really showed that they are. Call me crazy but I’m interested.
*Pun pun pun
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