Writer: ROB LIEFELD
Art: MATT HORAK
Publisher: Image comics
Release Date: 6th June 2015
I enjoyed this book very much, even though it’s narrative construction initially confused me. It begins with talk of the Ark of the Covenant being stolen by the Philistines, and a rescue attempt being planned. It then switches to a history of the Israelites/Hebrews, their exodus, Moses, the Ten Commandments, and the construction of the Ark that contains those commandments.
The book then proceeds to demonstrate the destructive power of the Ark, winning battle after battle, tearing down walls, and safeguarding the Hebrew people. It’s all done in an exciting way and drawn with a style that comes across more superhero than Bible story. It’s not all one point of view though. The Philistines themselves are personalised, and their individual intrigues are explored, as are their motivations for war against the Hebrews.
The book concludes with talk of a ‘Siege,’ so I guess the opening narrative with a small team of Hebrews looking to regain their lost Ark was set AFTER this siege, and that the Ark will be lost during it?
The story then will explore how the Hebrews lost the Ark, and then follow them as they attempt to reclaim it? I think this is what is happening, but it wasn’t easy to decipher, and that’s a problem. It should be easy, and I shouldn’t have to re-read the book just to make sure that I understand what is going on.
Despite the confusion, I’ll keep on reading, as this Bible influenced story intrigued me, a lot. It’s a tale about a decadent society growing complacent and abandoning their God. This sounds very familiar to me. It’s a tale not just of the past, but a tale about humanity as it is today.
What happens to a society when it abandons God? What happens when people work for market forces, and religion is bypassed, treated as a story, as a myth to be told to children? How can such a people hope to survive, and do they even deserve to survive when all spirituality has been sucked from them, replaced by commerce, greed and complacency?
Does the following scenario sound familiar to you?
A largely Godless society is threatened by a bloodthirsty, human sacrificing, conquest hungry cult of religious maniacs. What should be done, and what would happen if that cult of maniacs got their hands on a weapon of mass destruction?
Was that controversial? Good, it was supposed to be. The scenario is not the latest news coming out of the Middle East, although it certainly does sound like it, doesn’t it? No, that scenario is what is being explored within the pages of this comic book.
In other words, ‘The Covenant #1’ is a mirror on the past that is showing us what is happening in the world today, and that is why it is must buy comic book.
I wish it success, and hope that people will give it a chance.
It can be read in a couple of ways. On the surface it’s an action packed comic book with mighty heroes and dastardly villains, with blood, swords and muscles and scenes of brutality and amazing weapons of supernatural magic. But it’s also a book about the waning influence of God, about secularism, about a bloodthirsty cult getting their hands on a weapon of mass destruction, and a small group of heroes looking to retrieve not just that weapon, but the influence of God on their complacent and decadent society.
The past is alive in this book, buy it now, it has something to say, and as anybody that reads comic books in 2015 is all too aware of, having something to say is a rarity in comic books today.
Rating: 9/10 (A brutal, action packed book about heroes, villains and a biblical weapon of mass destruction)
