Men of God versus the pagan horde. It’s a story as old as Christianity, and the
Dark Ages seems to be the perfect setting for such stories. TEUTON uses just such a stage, but almost
right away, you can tell something is different about this one.
One of the pagan leaders is a man named Aras ,
and early on in the story, while praying to his gods, one of them actually
answers him. That’s right, in this book,
the gods are real, and they like meddling in the affairs of humanity.
If Aras is the embodiment
of the pagans, then Tamm is the representative of the One True God. Like most soldiers, he’s tired of the
bloodshed, yet he has resigned himself to what seems like a never-ending
conflict. His faith is strong, but he
knows exactly how fucked up this war is.
Both Aras and Tamm seem
destined to clash, to put their respective faiths to the test, to see whose
gods are stronger. But the road to such
a climax is long and fraught with many perils, many monsters, and many
blood-soaked skirmishes.
Writer Fred Kennedy is clearly a fan of the fantasy genre,
and it is clear that he researched his subject matter very deeply. Not only is the plot amazing, the characters
are incredibly well drawn. Aras is a fucking stone, unwavering in his certainty that
he’s doing his gods’ work; and so is Tamm, who refuses to budge, no matter the
circumstances. In one scene, Tamm has
been tortured by Aras ’s men, and he refuses to
give the location of a pagan relic his former commander had stolen. When one of the pagan gods learns of his
presence, he decides to take a turn, only to find that Tamm has brass balls the
size of church bells. Get this: Tamm promises to tell the god where the relic
is only if the god can beat him in battle.
Holy fuck, right? A
mere mortal is willing to take on a god in battle?! In many ways, this makes him stronger than Aras . Aras is certain of his gods because he’s actually talked
with them. They really exist. All Tamm has is prayer; he’s never seen
God. Yet he believes so strongly that
he’s willing to take on something he cannot possibly beat on his own, and he
shows no fear about it.
Artist Adam Gorham is the perfect match for work like
this. He depicts battles that jump off
the page, gods that radiate intimidation, monsters with amazing detail, and
just about anything Kennedy would need him to do. In black and white, it lends a nice stark
feel to the work.
There is another volume out there already. Kennedy and Gorham are working on the third
and final volume. Get on board, before
it’s too late.
TEUTON, vol. 1
Written by Fred Kennedy
Illustrated by Adam Gorham
Published by Big Sexy Comics
A whole buncha’ great pages!
$10
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