Okay so, way back in March of 1992, Rob Liefeld revealed his contribution to the Image launch titles with Youngblood. It was everything a comic fan in the early 90's wanted... Mainly because Liefeld lifted every successful trope in early 90's comics and made a supergroup. Chapel was basically black Cable/Punisher, Vogue was a purple Domino/Black Widow, Diehard was an android Captain America/Iron Man, Badrock (yep, that was his name) was a mix of the Thing/Hulk/Bloc and the whole group was lead by a Hawkeye/Bullseye clone named Shaft. Now one might say that his unoriginality was maybe justified in that Liefeld had mainly only worked at Marvel when he rose to prominence and he was sticking to what he knew at the time... of course if you read Bloodstrike Vol. 2 issue #1 from 2015, he hasn't progressed an inch, molding Cabot into a clone of his beloved Marvel creation: Deadpool (oh, and I'll get to Bloodstrike Vol. 2 at a later date. The book is magic garbage that the world needs to see.).
In issue #2 of Youngblood, the WWII one man army himself, Jon Prophet made his debut. He was a SOLDIER of the SUPER variety. He was a cross between Conan and Captain America with eye makeup tips from the Crow. He used guns, swords, axes, shields, spears, ANYTHING Liefeld could rest on his fists, strap to his back or stuff into his trademark 9,000 pouches. He wasn't very memorable and hadn't really made any sort of real impact until 1995, when Prophet #1 debuted featuring art from the newly acquired Stephen Platt who was riding a giant wave of popularity due to his stint on Marvel's Moon Knight. The prophet series saw some moderate success before being relegated to dollar bins in brick and mortar stores across the country.
Flash forward to the giant Image sale ComiXology had last week. As I was looking through the collected editions, I saw Prophet Vol. 1: Remission. What I saw in the preview of the book was NOT the same Prophet I remembered. It looked like Space Conan by ways of Jodorowsky. I was intrigued to say the least so for $3.99, I thought I'd check it out.... then I returned and bought the 3 remaining collections.
This is classic weird sci-fi. It's the future of Flash Gordon, the DEEP mythology of Dune, the uncomfortable organic technology of Warriors of Plasm and the sweeping high adventures of classic Conan. The ass-kickers are that 1) it's the same Jon Prophet from Youngblood, 2) it starts with issue #21, prompting me wonder if #1-20 were along the same lines or if this is a complete reimagining of the series, and 3) Diehard, Badrock, Supreme, Lady Supreme & Troll are in the story.... and it doesn't suck. The design of the world is truly wonderful, strange and unsettling. The mythology and history is DENSE. It's a lot of reading with so many strange words describing things/planets/rituals/organisms that Penny Arcade's Tycho Brahe would fall in love with its strange lore, worlds, stranger biologies and "relations." This is DEEP sci-fi. Don't read the books if you aren't ready to experience a new universe from the ground up. The previously mentioned characters don't seem shoehorned in either. They took the "Extreme" universe and built a future based on these older characters, and just went really strange with it. It's heroes you know in the future, but not in a Kingdom Come kind of way. It's more of a H.R. Geiger Biomechanical kind of way and it's really fascinating to read.
I've yet to pick up Prophet: Earth War #1-5, but after reading these 4 collections, they will be my next big purchase. I truly enjoy this strange and weird world that's such an interesting departure from the original bland, generic stereotypical character that was the 90's Prophet. If you enjoy things weird and wild, give Prophet a chance. You won't be disappointed.
