06/01/2014
On a thousand worlds, millennia in the future, the clones of John Prophet have awakened and begun fighting to rebuild the tyrannical Earth Empire. But the original Old Man Prophet, enemy of the Empire, has also awakened and is assembling a group of allies old and new to oppose them. In the third volume of this tremendously inventive series, the ancient entity Troll calls both sides to battle a terrible new cosmic threat. Prophet was originally created by Rob Liefeld in 1992 for Image's "Youngblood" series, and far-future versions of other Image characters from that time appear here—but no knowledge of them is necessary to appreciate the worldbuilding present. Each artist on the series follows a different set of characters, illustrating only scenes featuring them, and each one renders amazing scientific visions—living starships, grotesque genetically engineered posthumans, truly alien aliens, and all manner of organic technology—with exceptional vividness. Graham contrasts all of this with an earthiness of tone (which leads to brutality and gore but also to humor) and with genuinely human emotional moments. VERDICT Highly creative, hugely impressive, and strongly recommended.—S.R.
