BOOM! Studios ushers in another original graphic novel this week, The Sacrifice Of Darkness.
This adaptation of Roxane Gay’s short story, ‘We Are The Sacrifice Of Darkness’ begins with a man who flies into the sun on an aircraft, resulting in the sun fading to darkness.
Plunged into darkness, the area in which the story takes place is forced to make adjustments. Like the underground world of the miners hired by the mining town Council, the surface is in blackness. No sun? No crops, no heat, no light. No fun.
Sacrifice of Darkness is adapted by Roxane Gay and Tracy Lynne Oliver to the graphic novel in flashback format, or should I say, “back in time to another time, leaping ahead to today, then back ‘before’, and again to today”. I must admit that this is not my favourite storytelling technique. I find it to be overused and fatiguing and frequently employed to make a story seem more complex and multilayered. Which is a pity here, because as (or despite how) this story unfolds, it inherently becomes more and more nuanced, sensitive, and beautiful.
Ultimately, Sacrifice of Darkness emerges as a thoughtfully constructed fable that examines human struggle, dignity, love, and hope against seemingly immovable forces of ‘darkness’ if you will.
The illustrations by Rebecca Kirby, coloured by James Fenner are sincere and observant. Figures, faces, gestures, and body language are all given a very real, hand drawn organic construction as if rendered from life. A quirky, artful feel. This is not an example of the Marvel style of wide-legged superhero stance, rather a quiet, watchful recounting of young and older people in turmoil.
It’s a fable, a parable, but even with its constant timeshifting motif, the language, dialogue and learnings stay with the reader long after the book is closed and the lights are off.
BOOM Studios, The Sacrifice Of Darkness, $24.99 for 136 pages of content
Newsdesk