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Prophet #21 review

By Dan Horn
January 19, 2012 - 11:33

Churchland cover

I should really dock this book three points merely for its Rob Liefeld variant cover, not just because it's extremely unappealing (this might be one of the worst cover images of the past decade), but also because it misrepresents the contents of Prophet #21 so severely. However, the regular edition with a cover by Marian Churchland, which I lamentably couldn't get my hands on, indicative of how truly awful the scarcer variant cover is, is exemplary of the departure from Liefeld's original Prophet that King City creator Brandon Graham and artists Simon Roy and Richard Ballermann present to readers in this reboot. It's part of an Image Comics relaunch of Liefeld's Extreme line of comic books, which unfortunately maintains a continuation of the original numbering on those books. Feel free to scratch your head over that fact after reading this issue. I did.

Prophet #21 heralds a brand new beginning for titular character John Prophet, and there's hardly vestiges, save the name, remaining of the original. This could easily be another series entirely and be just as effective. But, it's not billed as something else. So, that's just something I had to overlook, which wasn't difficult, considering the divergence. Although, this numbering business has "marketing blunder" written all over it.

This debut sees Prophet woken from a subterranean stasis with a mission already at hand. He finds himself at odds with a world radically different than the one he once called home, encountering strange wildlife aberrations and alien civilizations, a grounded and decaying jellyfish spacecraft that's been converted into a thriving metropolis, psychic indoctrination, and a vagina/chicken-foot creature with a voracious sexual appetite. John must adapt quickly if he hopes to survive. However, as he discovers, the mission itself, one involving a very Philip K. Dick theological twist, has only just begun and will require Prophet to put his life on the line to reestablish an empire he can no longer even remember.

Rob Liefeld could no more pat himself on the back for having a part in this book than Alan Moore could kick himself for the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen film. This is a wholly new creature, completely distinguished from Liefeld's Prophet of the 1990s and full of immersive weirdness and keen artistry. The issue starts off plodding, but by the end it's hard not to put your hand to your head and say, "Jesus Christ. That was something close to science fiction genius."

Simon Roy's artwork exists somewhere between James Stokoe's brilliant cartooning and Tony Moore's stylized illustrations, though it's noticeably looser and less refined than both, which isn't so much a drawback as it is a narrative asset, setting a whimsical and sometimes terrifying tone for the book. But, it's Richard Ballermann's versatile palette, ranging from earthy to vivid, that really elevates Roy's panels to fantastic heights.

Liefeld variant

Because of the excellent marriage between the unsettling, constructivist detachment in storytelling and the rough-edged cartooning, Prophet #21 feels like an underground comic from the 70s or 80s, and therefore there is this aura of unpredictability surrounding it that really surpasses anything recently published. It feels dangerous, and, dammit, that's a wondrous sensation. The comic book industry desperately needs more books like this. Here's hoping the rest of the Extreme Studios relaunch is just as brilliant.

Rating: 9 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12