Prophet 33 (January 2013)

Skitched 20130719 172620 Awesome issue, just awesome. Graham ends it with this awkward silence–he only hints at the big events going on–with a focus on Old Man John Prophet’s reaction. Milog does a beautiful job on the art for these pages too.

A lot of the issue is spent with the crew in this strange hive mind fleet. Hive suggests bugs but there are no bugs. It’s all ethereal and beautiful, some kind of Amazonian space fleet. There’s an unexpected cameo too. Graham integrates it beautifully.

He also has a lot of humor. There’s a wonderful running joke about Rein-East and her discarded biological mass. Graham doesn’t do a lot of the detail callouts–he does a few–but something about the pacing of Rein-East’s biological mass reminds of them. It’s matter of fact, but hilarious.

The backup, from Sloane Leong, is rather impressive. Poetic, visceral stuff.

Fantastic issue.

CREDITS

Prophet; writers, Brandon Graham, Giannis Milonogiannis and Simon Roy; artist, Milonogiannis; colorist, Joseph Bergin III; letterer, Ed Brisson. Backup story; writer, artist, colorist and letterer, Sloane Leong. Publisher, Image Comics.

Prophet 32 (January 2013)

900200 I always except Prophet to do something completely weird with its narrative. Simon Roy tells the tale of a female Prophet–still John, of course–and her adventures on a planet where the human populace has devolved.

There’s a lot of action, a little exploration, some of the regular Prophet grossness with nature, and then Roy gets to the unexpected conclusion.

It’s unexpected because Roy makes a bunch of judgements about the rest of the series so far. He shows things from the other side–there’s a lovely page where he juxtaposes panels showings the devolved humans on the planet and the female John’s childhood–and it gives an unexpected perspective.

Prophet is full of wonders–gross and not–and Roy takes the time to show the side effects. All while doing awesome sci-fi too.

Really fun backup from Daniel Irizarri. It’s fast-paced, consistently funny, rather nice artwork.

CREDITS

Prophet; writer, artist and colorist, Simon Roy; letterer, Ed Brisson. Greetings From Verde Luz; writers and colorists, Daniel Irizarri and Andrea Pecinkas; artist and letterer, Irizarri. Publisher, Image Comics.

Prophet 31 (November 2012)

This issue has to be the most traditional Prophet yet. Maybe Graham was just taking his time establishing everything. By traditional, I don’t mean “normal” in terms of Prophet issues. I mean “normal” as compared to other comics.

Prophet–Old Man Prophet–and his crew end up on a planet for some trading and for Prophet to attend a meeting. Graham writes Prophet as a solitary guy, but the other crew members talk and hang out. There’s comic relief with Jaxson the drone too. The plant guy and the lizard girl bond. It’s all very well done, with Graham’s return to the characters unexpected (but welcome).

He’s also got some interesting things going on with Diehard the robot.

Prophet is still picking up steam, its best issues ahead.

Olivier Pichard and Cécile Brun’s backup concerns a space traveller stranded on an unfamiliar planet. The art’s lovely, but the story’s slight.

CREDITS

Prophet; writers, Brandon Graham, Giannis Milonogiannis and Simon Roy; artist, Milonogiannis; colorist, Joseph Bergin III; letterer, Ed Brisson. Waveless; writer and colorist, Olivier Pichard; artist, Cécile Brun. Editor, Eric Stephenson; publisher, Image Comics.

Prophet 30 (October 2012)

Graham brings together a lot of plot threads this issue. Well, he actually more just brings the drone guy–Jaxson–alongside old Prophet. That part of the issue, the third, is probably the least interesting.

The issue opens introducing another new character–who Graham brings back somewhat deftly–and then moves into a lengthy flashback about old Prophet. Milonogiannis handles the illustrating on these two stories; he brings a palpable melancholy to Prophet’s flashback. The series continues to surprise in this way–Graham and his artists get a lot of emotion out of a few pages in the middle of their grandiose sci-fi.

Graham does the art for the last part. It’s action-packed and good, but the issue definitely peaks during the middle.

The Bartan backup from K.C. Silver and Dimi Mac is lame. It’s anthropomorphic animals in space stuff. The jokes are cheap, the punchline’s even worse.

CREDITS

Prophet; writers, Brandon Graham, Giannis Milonogiannis and Simon Roy; artists, Milonogiannis and Graham; colorists, Joseph Bergin III, Milonogiannis and Graham; letterer, Ed Brisson. The Maleficient Maze of Tzontonox!!!!; writer, K.C. Silver; artist, colorist and letterer, Dimi Mac. Editor, Eric Stephenson; publisher, Image Comics.

Prophet 29 (September 2012)

Farel Dalrymple does the art this issue. It’s a younger Prophet issue, involving his adventures on a prison ship. Or the prison part of a ship. It’s a very big ship. Dalrymple finds all sorts of stuff to draw. It looks, no surprise, amazing.

I just noticed most Prophet issues are these stopovers. Graham has Prophet–both or all of them–on journeys and issues tend to be about a stop. Here, young Prophet is able to get out of control of the Earth mother he’s escorting. It’s a side effect of the main story, but it provides a big change. Only Graham created both sides of that change this issue.

His writing is never disjointed or episodic. Every Prophet issue reads like it’s the only one. It’s a very interesting approach.

Andy Ristiano’s backup is derivative but okay. His art style nicely contrasts the serious nature of the story.

CREDITS

Prophet; writers, Brandon Graham and Farel Dalrymple; artist, Dalrymple; colorist, Joseph Bergin III; letterer, Ed Brisson. Game Over; writer, artist, colorist and letterer, Andy Ristaino. Editor, Eric Stephenson; publisher, Image Comics.

Prophet 28 (August 2012)

Graham and company keep up the crazy and camaraderie, but continue to tone down the grossness. Prophet and his living tree sidekick are now traveling the galaxy (or at least the solar system) to find pieces of their other friend. For most of the issue, the other friend is a hodgepodge of parts. It makes for a very interesting supporting cast member.

Towards the end, Humpty Dumpty does get put back together again; Milonogiannis has a good time illustrating it. The character, Diehard, seems like it should look slick (and lame) but Milonogiannis makes the organic android lumpy and awkward.

Most of the issue takes place on a moon. Shattered pieces of planets hang in the atmosphere. Milonogiannis takes no time to beautify, instead suggests enough with his lines the reader fills in the majesty.

The Zooniverse backup is a cool discussion between Graham and Fil Barlow about Barlow’s technique.

CREDITS

Prophet; writers, Brandon Graham, Giannis Milonogiannis and Simon Roy; artist, Milonogiannis; colorist, Joseph Bergin III; letterer, Ed Brisson. Zooniverse; writers, Graham and Fil Barlow; artist and colorist, Barlow. Editor, Eric Stephenson; publisher, Image Comics.

Prophet 27 (July 2012)

This issue of Prophet is positively touching. It’s something of a quest story, with Prophet–old man Prophet–searching a planet for his friends from long ago. Of course, Prophet gets to this planet on a giant space worm.

Milonogiannis’s art doesn’t really get great until the planet. It’s an amazing place, full of strange creatures and gigantic, intricate landscapes. The inhabitants are tied to these landscapes too, which makes it all the more visual. Graham isn’t being gross in the details anymore. It’s implied more than shown; instead he lets the art overwhelm the reader.

And it’s Graham who makes the touching stuff so good. He never goes too far with Prophet and his friend, using a single line to make the friendship so powerful.

It’s a wonderful issue.

Lin Visel’s backup mildly amuses, sort of David and Goliath with aliens. The art’s in a cartoony style and underdeveloped.

CREDITS

Prophet; writers, Brandon Graham, Simon Roy and Giannis Milonogiannis; artist, Milonogiannis; colorist, Joseph Bergin III; letterer, Ed Brisson. Backup; writer, artist, colorist and letterer, Lin Visel. Editor, Eric Stephenson; publisher, Image Comics.

Prophet 26 (June 2012)

Prophet #26
Except for Emma Rios’s Coil backup story, this issue of Prophet is unlike any other. Graham handles the art chores himself, telling the story of a drone who wakes up to help Prophet.

Maybe. It’s a little unclear and the drone is a combination of organic and mechanical. Maybe. It’s unclear.

Graham sends the little drone on an adventure to save his fellow drone, then off into space to send a message to Prophet. There’s a lot of space travel, a lot of the drone just thinking about its existence. It’s a pensive issue of Prophet and a beautiful one.

The opening features the standard Prophet grandiose landscapes, but the finale takes place on a planetoid and Graham does a lovely job on the art. It’s breathtaking.

Rios’s backup is solid. A man tries to escape a larger organism from the inside. While never gross, it’s always a little slimy.

CREDITS

Prophet; writer, artist and colorist, Brandon Graham; letterer, Ed Brisson. Coil: a clone story; writer, artist and letterer, Emma Rios; colorist, Roque Romero. Editor, Eric Stephenson; publisher, Image Comics.

Prophet 25 (May 2012)

Prophet #25
Graham seems overjoyed to knock the reader’s expectations for Prophet around each issue. This one, with Giannis Milonogiannis on that art, changes things up once again.

It’s entirely possible Graham and company might have hit on their actual plot, but after two or three change-ups–I can’t even remember how many it’s been–I imagine most readers would be cautious.

Here’s the great thing though.

It doesn’t matter.

I don’t care if Graham changes it up every two or three issues, because each issue is this fantastic comic book. Milonogiannis’s artwork isn’t the best the series has seen, but it’s quite good. His rough on the people–a bunch of other John Prophets–but his alien world work is outstanding. And the ending is a big surprise.

Graham creates these intricate situations, only the decimate them for effect.

I love it.

Teran’s initiate back-up returns with decent success.

A-

CREDITS

Prophet; writers, Brandon Graham, Giannis Milonogiannis and Simon Roy; artist, Milonogiannis; colorist, Joseph Bergin III; letterer, Ed Brisson. initiate, Part Two; writer, artist, colorist and letterer, Frank Teran. Editor, Eric Stephenson; publisher, Image Comics.

Prophet 24 (April 2012)

Prophet #24
Prophet by Farel Dalrymple. Sure, Graham comes up with a great new approach to the issue, but it’s Farel Dalrymple doing some kind of even wackier sci-fi than normal Prophet. It’s indescribably wonderful.

The story is a bit of an odyssey. A new John Prophet–with a tail–wakes up on a toxic giant spacecraft and has to get somewhere. Graham has some red herrings–at least for this issue–and slips in a huge subplot almost unnoticed.

I suppose it’s technically derivative of 2001 and Moon but it’s so good it doesn’t matter.

Graham gets to the finish and ends it with more questions, though he never even tries to answer the ones he left open from the last issue. Either it’s building towards something or it’s not. The journey’s good enough on its own.

And that Dalrymple art. Just wonderful.

Sadly, the Shock Post backup is lame.

B+

CREDITS

Prophet; writers, Brandon Graham and Farel Dalrymple; artist, Dalrymple; colorist, Joseph Bergin III; letterer, Ed Brisson. Shock Post; writers, artists, colorists and letterers, Matt Sheean and Malachi Ward. Editor, Eric Stephenson; publisher, Image Comics.