Prophet #36 Review


The unique science fiction series continues this month in Prophet #36. This issue sees a growing shift to focus on a greater plot, with more coherent characters and settings to follow which, for many, may make Prophet a more interesting title to read and follow.

The official description from Image comics:

The three-armed Prophet wants Old man Prophet found. NewFather disobeys his superiors to seek out weapons needed to combat a new mysterious foe.

This issue demonstrates the two sides of Prophet, offering a more centralized conflict. Of course, it’s still Prophet, so there are many wonderful and weird science fiction concepts abound. Whilst it gets a little complicated with Prophet-this and prophet-that, its an interesting read. It also harkens back and suggests more to do with other Image title’s, that may or may not please some readers. I personally don’t know if superheroes, in the traditional sense, have a place in the more hard-science and unique setting of Prophet.

As far as writing goes, Brandon Graham and Simon Roy still offer an interesting story. The writing here focuses on the human empire, which really helps ground the story and offer weight to it. Whilst it doesn’t explore as many new concepts and settings as previous issues, the writing does have a greater focus on characters and their subsequent development.

As for the artwork, Simon Roy and Gianni Milonogiannis offer the usual level of detail.  Prophet always has a unique approach to color, being somewhere between water color and block-color in its approach, which gives it an unusual and interesting aesthetic. It works well here in Prophet #36, especially with the bio-mechanical lifeforms used by the earth empire, where the colors help give that slightly unsettling and disturbing feeling to the art.

Overall, I’m impressed with this issue. Prophet #36 has the right sense of balance. There’s developments without an over reliance on action, and there’s a unique setting without having to jump around and discard previous characters and plot-lines at a time. This is definitely the right way to take Prophet, as it shows much potential.

4/5

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