The Goddamned vol. 2: The Virgin Brides

It’s been four years since we got our last dose of Bible Stories from writer Jason Aaron and R.M. Guera.  “Before the Flood” told us what a certain biblical immortal was up to while Noah was getting his ark ready, and while it had its moments the story it was telling felt very familiar in regards to the writer’s previous stories.  This time, however, comics’ second-most-famous atheist has delivered a much more interesting tale.  It focuses on a pair of girls, Sharri and Jael, as they struggle to get by at their matriarchal commune. The kids do the hard work of harvesting crops, the adult women fend off attackers and look for new… converts, and the old women keep order while also looking for more brides for the sons of God.  It’s a system that the two, particularly Jael, are fed up with, but it isn’t until they find out what happens to those who become brides that they find the courage to run.

What follows is a thrilling kids’ adventure told with grindhouse sensibilities.  Children burned with the wrath of God.  Ignorant, murderous monsters born from unholy unions.  Kids braining adults to death with stones.  And snakes.  Lots of hungry and menacing snakes.  It’s not surprising that we’re seeing all this from Aaron, but he manages to deliver it all in a way that adds urgency to Sharri and Jael’s quest.  Particularly with regards to the snakes, who look appropriately devilish courtesy of Guera, who again delivers the biblically-themed carnage in visceral, bone-crunching detail.  Though this means that this volume is (like its predecessor) not for the squeamish, it also allows for the more sensitive scenes to stand out the more.

The sentiment feels earned in this story, even though there’s not a whole lot of it to go around.  What keeps “The Virgin Brides” from being a real downer is the fact that the story takes some interesting turns as it goes along building to a climax that’s equal parts nihilistic, cathartic, and sad.  Most importantly, it also leaves me wanting to know more about the person who survives at the end.  So much so that I’m willing to forgive what appears to be the setup for a Biblical “Avengers” assembly at the volume’s end.