Seven Sons

Twenty-one years ago seven identical sons were born to virgin mothers across the world.  This was seen as a sign that the Second Coming was at hand and that God’s Son would soon walk the Earth again.  However, none of them immediately displayed any divine gifts, so the question as to which one was actually the reincarnation of Jesus was still up in the air.  Flash forward to the present day and only one of them is still alive with the rest of them having been killed by a particularly dedicated Islamic terrorist group.  This remaining son will be crowned in New Canaan (formerly Las Vegas) in front of a televised audience of millions.  It should be the defining event of our times… provided no one finds out about the person who came back to life in one of the city’s back alleys.

It’s rare that I buy a title because of the artist who’s drawing it, but you don’t see much serialized work from Jae Lee these days.  A longtime veteran of the industry with notable runs on “Namor,” “Inhumans,” “The Sentry,” the original run of “The Dark Tower” comics from Marvel, and his own creator-owned series “Hellshock,” he’s got a distinctively spooky style that’s immediately recognizable and the most distinctive part about “Seven Sons.”  Lee’s work gives this story about the Resurrection an immediately creepy edge to it that draws you in and remains strong throughout the entirety of the miniseries.  It’s easily the best thing about it.

It is not, however, strong enough to compensate for the utterly predictable story that co-writers Robert Windom and Kelvin Mao have served up here.  Any guesses you’re likely to make about the series from the start about, say, the honesty of the “prophet” behind all this, the journey our protagonist will go on, or whether or not the Islamic terrorists are actually the bad guys, will likely be proven to be right by the miniseries end.  Which, in a truly aggravating last-minute rug-pull, turns out to not be that but a direct setup for a sequel.  That’s something I’m not going to bother with, even if Lee returns to draw it.