7/27/13

"Prophet" by Brandon Graham

Set in the far-distant future, throughout the universe, "Prophet " tells the story of a plan to re-ignite the dying human race.  A series of sleeper clones, all named John Prophet, awake from their slumber to find themselves on planets and space stations knowing only intuitively their ultimate missions.  This first book, "Remission," collects chapters 1 - 6 of the rousing of four of those Prophets.

It's hard to write a review of a book that's really only the opening chapters of a sci-fi epic.  I really liked Brandon Graham's "King City," with its laconic pace, visual puns and cyberpunkish setting, and when I met him at Stumptown Comics fest I asked him what I should read next. I don't remember which book he suggested, but "Prophet" was his second choice. It is less Cyberpunk, leaning more toward technical sci-fi in the style of Iain Banks.

Farel Dalrymple's excellent style reminds me of Moebius
It's clear that Graham is a fan of Moebius (Jean Giraud), and the way "Prophet" uses multiple artists makes me reminisce for "Heavy Metal" magazine.  All of the artists draw a good story while still being creative with the layout, but I preferred chapter 5, the only one drawn by Graham. The other artists, Simon Roy, Farel Dalrymple, and Giannis Milonogiannis also all seem drawn to the style of Mobius (pun intended).
As mentioned, Graham tells a story at a casual pace, so while there is a lot of action, the plot points are few and far between, but I wouldn't expect otherwise during the exposition.  For this volume it is enough to explore and learn of the character(s) of John Prophet.  All the Prophets are clones of the original, but there is an interesting surprise near the end of chapter six -- enough to make me want to read the next volume.