The Sacrificers vol. 3

Pigeon has the power to change the world, but will he be able to wield it in a way that will allow him to do so?  The answer to that question remains to be seen even as he sets his sights on a goal that’s much easier to attain:  Revenge on the Foreman for sacrificing all those children to be food for the gods that rule this world.  Coincidentally, the Foreman has also selected Pigeon’s sister Beatrice, and the former godspawn Soluna to be part of the next sacrifice.  Only he’s not aware that there’s something bad lurking within Soluna, something that Beatrice is all too aware of.  If those two are going to survive, they’ll have to learn to trust each other.  Which is easier said than done in this world.

Things don’t just get worse in vol. 3, they get better too!  This is one of those volumes in a Rick Remender-written series where the characters stop being ground down for a bit in order to set up future storylines.  Not that awful things don’t happen to the main characters here (the first issue ends on a real bad note for one of them), but the story takes some surprising turns as it goes on.  Turns which continued to be exceptionally well-rendered by Max Fiumara for three of the issues here, with Andre Lima Araujo contributing some less vividly drawn but still striking work in his issue.

All of this is to say that “The Sacrificers” succeeds with its character arcs and spectacle.  Its larger themes of the necessity of rebellion and the obligation of rulers to the ruled don’t feel as compelling with one exception.  That’s mainly due to how overwritten the narration and dialogue can feel, to the point where it feels less like characters are talking to each other than speechifying ate one another instead.  The one exception is in Pigeon’s dialogue-with-fighting in the second issue where it actually has a point that winds up serving the main story in the end.  If we can get more of that next time, that’ll be what takes this series from being good to great.