Second Coming: Only Begotten Son #3

Second Coming: Only Begotten Son #3

Ahoy Comics 2021

Written by Mark Russell

Illustrated by Richard Pace

Finisher Sunstar Pages Leonard Kirk

Colours of Sunstar Pages Andy Troy

Lettered by Rob Steen

Chaos, weirdness, and corndogs reign when Jesus innocently stumbles into Bible Safari, a profit-squeezing amusement park that trades in his image. Meanwhile, Sunstar gets some disturbing news about his earthly foster-grandmother. Later, Jesus stands to recruit a new disciple - if he can inspire said disciple to keep on living! Also featuring illustrated bonus stories in the AHOY tradition.

I think what Mark does here is utterly fabulous! We see how religion goes from something people believe in into this business that has nothing to do with the original meaning. I mean my understanding of what Jesus stood for was peace and equality for all man and he was crucified for causing a scene at a temple that was charging folks to pray. Then suddenly after his death it became all about money, the one thing he though was the root of all evil. So seeing what we do within these pages is rather profound and poignant and that he’s able to say what he does and have it once again fall upon deaf ears is the way history goes, it repeats itself when the all mighty dollar is concerned.

I really rather like the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is perfectly presented. The character development we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter do a magnificent job in fleshing these characters out. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story we find ourselves reliving a version of history all over again.

I greatly appreciate the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to grow, evolve and strengthen as well as newly emerge. The layers here contain some great imagined history happening, strong characterisation and so much more and if they work with the main arc or not they add this great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is achieved perfectly well.

The interiors here are dynamic and interesting. I like that we see such different styles for the past and the present. While it may not necessarily needed the differential treatment it does make quite a stellar impact I’ll say that much. The linework is sensational and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail work is incredibly well rendered. That we see backgrounds utilised as we do to enhance the moments and how they work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and how we see the overall sense of size and scope to the story is amazing. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is brilliantly rendered. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is beautifully rendered.

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There is a lot to be said for not only the subject matter but for the way that it’s being presented as well. This could be seen a touchy subject but that this is being told in a fictional sense and more importantly a non-judgemental way, a matter of fact approach does have a much more powerful way about it if I’m being honest, makes this have that much more impact on the reader. With some wonderful writing and stupendous characterisation alongside some strong dynamic interiors this what maks for a great series.