“You don’t chain someone up to take them someplace nice.”
The world has only ever known peace and abundance, at least that is what they’ve been conditioned to believe. The only way peace can be preserved is by sacrificing a chosen family member from each land to preserve harvest and prosperity. That is what they’ve been conditioned to believe. But not everything is as it seems.
Remender does a fantastic job showing classism, the dangers of indoctrination and conditioning by systems of power. Readers get to see the kind of influence that the gods have on each of the chosen sacrificers’ homelands in addition to each sacrificer’s perspective on their predicament. What might seem like an honorary role to preserve the status quo does not hold true for others whose reality is centered on enslavement. There is a character named Noom who believes that being a sacrificer is an honor akin to a messiah, and that conditioned view comes into conflict with the other sacrificers who hold a reasonably different view on their fate. What’s interesting is seeing the different kinds of upbringing and conditioning that each sacrificer that’s experienced that has molded them into the kind of people they are in the present, and whether it breeds more apathy, humility, or ignorance. It’s fantasy sci-fi at its best and much of that is explored in this second issue.
Much like the writing, the art is just as nuanced thanks to the art team on this book. Max Fiumara illustrates this book with so much style and detail that it drips with enthusiasm and chaos. Paired with Dave McCaig’s majestic coloring, and Rus Wooton’s stylistic lettering, the book oozes with nothing but awe, wonder, and substance. This is a strong second issue and is worth picking up for New Comic Book Day.
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