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Promethea #28

Creative Team: Alan Moore, J. H. Williams III, Mick Gray

Reviewed by Kristen "NerdGirl" Smith

Alan Moore brought us a new heroine when he introduced Promethea in 1999. For those of you who haven't met her yet, Moore starts at the beginning where we learn of her origins in Egypt some 1600 years ago. The young girl who is adopted by the Gods after her father's murder is only the first in a long series of women (and men!) to take on Promethea's guise. As a resident of that land of the Gods, the Immateria, she becomes the stuff of legend; her reality drifts into the stories and poems that travel down through the centuries up to the present day, or at least to Moore's twisted view of modern day.

Alan Moore brings us to New York in 1999. It's an odd place, well, odder than you'd expect anyway. The hottest advertising ploy is a "Weeping Gorilla" who bemoans the sad state of the world (and his personal life) from television screens, magazine ads and momentous billboards. A group of "Five Swell Guys" are the resident science heroes of the day. It's a nice twist from your typically spandex-clad superhero. The mayor has a diversification problem with his multiple personalities. And Miss Sophie Bangs is a highschooler working on a term paper tracing the origins of the mysterious Promethea. When she is attacked by a hellish beast from the demonic realms (who already knows that she is the heir to the caduceus), she finds herself defended by a middle-aged and close to worn out incarnation of the demigoddess. This tired woman is Barbara, the most recent avatar, and she is more than ready to pass the reigns on to the next.

Sophie, guided by Barbara, invokes the spirit of Promethea. What follows is her learning just what it means to be Promethea. She learns Promethea's history, meets some old and new friends, and journeys down magickal pathways. Moore shows his fascination with and love for the occult in this series. We watch Promethea/Sophie make the Sacred Marriage in a bargain with Jack Faust to learn the ways of magic through the Chakras and the movement of Kundalini energy. As her teaching progresses, she learns the story of life as told in the Major Arcana of the Tarot. She continues on in later issues to attempt to save her friend Barbara's life by walking the Sefirot of the Kaballah to find Barbara in the Immateria. There is a lot of information packed into Promethea's stories and it is going to make you want to do some Googling.

Promethea brings a lot to the table. The artwork in these pages alone makes her stories worth reading. Moore and artists J. H. Williams III and Mick Gray knows their symbols, and know how to weave them together to create beautiful and imaginative images. The characters are well written, fully developed, and as perfect as I've seen in the graphic novel/comic book genre. I highly recommend you pick up an issue and dive in. It's worth the cover price. I suggest the graphic novels rather than the individual issues, however. These are stories you're going to want to explore again and again and those single issues can wear out pretty quickly.

The current issue brings us back to the beginning and to the end. It's the end of the world (or so we're made to believe), someone's got a secret, and the Doll is back.

By the way, has anyone else noticed that Alan Moore bears a striking resemblance to Spider Jerusalem of Transmetropolitan fame before his horrible shower accident? But that's another story...

Rating: (3 1/2 out of 4 stars)