‘Judas: The Last Days’ Comic Review

The Judas Chronicles begins with that famous apostle who betrayed his leader for forty pieces of silver, and is now left to live out eternity searching for a way to finally die. After he’s turned away by the highest power in the land, Judas goes to old friends, other former apostles, for help in finding a way to end his life.

This alerts and alarms the powers that be and leads to Judas, Matthew, and James the lesser being captured by the highest authority in the land. I won’t spoil the identity of their adversary but I will venture to say it’s not who you might expect. They escape captivity and begin to search for answers while their enemy puts a plan into action which could devastate the world.

Maxwell Prince pens the story of Judas and his search for death. The characters are interesting and all have their own unique voices. Judas is repentant and tired. Matthew is hedonistic and caring. James is the junkie along for the ride, looking for his fix. The villain is depicted with a pathos who may have more than a few seeing his side of the argument. Other larger than life entities are also written in such a way that they walk the line between philosophy and character expertly.

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The story itself is paced well even if it plays the long game with a few of its reveals. Specifically, I felt a little lost with the story when it came to some of the ancillary characters. The librarian imps that readers encounter very early on would probably have benefited from a more upfront explanation, whether it turned out to be true or not. As it is, a reader may be unsure whether they are supposed to be characters of Christian mythology or some other kind of extraordinary entity. Their actual dynamic with the rest of the cast is left for a later reveal that I think would inform their earlier appearances.

The Judas Chronicles deals a lot with the idea of the power and magic. Readers of Journey into Mystery and the Sandman will recognize the sandbox Prince is playing in. The story posits that if people have an idea they can erase the distinction between said idea and reality. The villain of the piece tries to take this to it’s most dark and selfish conclusion while others posit that there are better ideas to be had.

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John Amor draws The Judas Chronicles with an expressive style. His characters have well defined shapes and styles. Their facial features are mostly differentiated well in close ups. His big action scenes and spreads are also filled with plenty of goings on and details. His only real weakness seems to be finding something to do with the quieter scenes. When the group is trapped in a cell or when Judas is living the quiet life there doesn’t seem to be as much attention given to detail. This is only noticeable because the rest of his work here is really exciting to look at. Overall, he does a great job of layouts, line work, emotions, and choosing when to give a scene the right amount of emphasis and when to keep scenes busy with background details.

I enjoyed this book. It has a good plot and story with an optimistic theme with good art. I do feel that it could have benefited by introducing and clarifying some of its ideas like the aforementioned librarians earlier and better, but it definitely tells an entertaining and engaging story that comes together in the end.

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