The Sacrificers vol. 1

This is the start of a new series written by Rick Remender.  Does that mean we’re getting something that’s good and makes me want to read more?  Promising but with issues?  Depressing enough to get me to stop reading the series after one volume?  Or something that shows the writer trying to evolve his established style?  “Something in the middle of all these,” looks to be the answer regarding this first volume of “The Sacrificers” as it’s perfectly readable without feeling truly exceptional.  Which might be down to how this is another first volume that reads like a first issue.

We’re told early on that this world is an utopia, ruled over by five great houses which oversee all of its functions.  The rulers of these houses don’t ask for much from their people as a token of thanks for making all this possible.  Just the sacrifice of one child from each of their households when the harvester comes knocking.  That’s what we see happening to one family at the start of this volume as we see how they deal with the loss of their eldest son for reasons unrevealed to parts unknown.

You will find out answers regarding the where to and the why these kids are being taken away over the course of this volume.  They’re interesting enough in that they provide plausible reasons as to why the ruling class would do this kind of thing.  Remender also doles out the answers in ways that sustain the reader’s attention and suggest that he’s aware of his own tendencies to grind his protagonists down in unproductive ways.  As a longtime reader of the man’s comics, this was refreshing to see.

As is the final-issue twist that indicates where this series is actually headed.  It’s not as dramatic as something like what we saw way back in “Black Science,” which suggests that the writer has learned his lesson about dealing up swerves that he then doubles back on in the next volume.  That’s for the better even if what we’re getting seems like a fairly straightforward Fight The Power narrative.  It does have the effect of turning vol. 1 into what feels like an extended first issue as we don’t get that sense of where this series is really going to go until the end.

The details of this world are interesting, though.  What I haven’t mentioned is that it’s a fantasy world populated by regular-looking humans, anthropomorphized animals, and esoteric godlings as well.  Which is how we have a protagonist that’s a talking human-sized pigeon who visibly suffers through his existence, but demonstrates the courage and will to endure and interrogate it along the way.  More interesting is Soluna, the daughter of one of the ruling houses who also gets too curious about the source of her father’s power.  While we’ve seen her kind of character before, her arc doesn’t go in the way you’d expect.  Even if Pigeon is set up as the protagonist, it’s Soluna’s story that threatens to buck convention here.

All of this is rendered with gloriously weird flair by someone I really wasn’t expecting to write that about.  Max Fiumara first came on my radar after he illustrated multiple”B.P.R.D.” issues along with his brother Sebastian.  Even though his style fit the series’ “Draw Weird Monsters Well” remit for the art, his characters always had a wiry look about them, especially in their eyes, that I always found off-putting.

While I’ve seen him improve in subsequent projects, his work on “The Sacrificers” is next-level stuff.  The off-putting eyes are gone, resulting in characters that look unreservedly sinister, or sorrowful as the story demands it.  What’s more is that he makes the world feel distinctly mundane or fantastic as the story demands it.  From the quaint rusticness of Pigeon’s home, to the joyful urban city he finds himself in, to the celebration held by the godling nobles, the entire volume has a real flair to its settings.  As do Fiumara’s characters as they go through some extreme circumstances, but he manages to render them all in memorable fashion.

So the artwork represents the real revelation here while the story being told is appreciably solid.  I don’t get the feeling that it’s going to break the mold of the kind of tale that it appears to be telling here; though, both creators come off like they’re dedicated to putting in the work to get you to care about it.  This isn’t something that will get you to change your mind about Remender, yet if you’ve had similar reservations as I have about Max Fiumara in the past, prepare to have them wiped away here.