REVIEW: The Sacrificers #8

In this issue of Sacrificers, our blue pigeon protagonist is launched into a 3 arch story that has him returning home and learning who he is truly meant to be. With rich, innovative character designs, environment art and wonderful coloring this issue is a thrill to read.

Whilst the overall pacing of the story is a little slow with way too many narration boxes, structurally this issue is very well written. Our main character starts all sad and droopy and through his journey back home becomes a true badass, effectively showing change in his characters as well as setting up an interesting dynamic for future issues of the series. The overall story is rather straight-forward; our pigeoned hero was supposed to be sacrificed but in the end he decided not to do it and now horrible biblical events unfold on his people as a result of him not fulfilling his duties. Everyone hates him and blames him for the disasters that have befallen his world. This simple plot makes for a story that is very easy to follow even at issue #8.

The overall story is broken up into three parts. The first part follows the protagonist traveling back home, hoping to see his family again, only to discover they are dead due to a natural disaster. This segment explores the theme that family is all we have, but sometimes they don’t care for or love us the way we want them to, adding an interesting layer to the narrative. In the second part, the protagonist is assaulted and smacked around by a priest who believes he should have died as a sacrifice, highlighting the conflict and struggles faced by the protagonist. The story culminates in the third part with the protagonist rebelling against the priest and ultimately killing him, delivering a powerful and exciting conclusion to the conflict.

One very good thing that this comic has going for itself is the art. The character designs are inventive and filled with creative design elements that not only capture your interest but provide a deeper layer to the overall lore of the world. The environments are just as interesting with many of the panels showing fully drawn scenes instead of gradients or flat color backgrounds, but where the art style really shines is in the coloring, especially during the last part of the story that shows some very interesting use of colors to depic emotions, especially that of anger and frustration.

The lettering is quite cool too with some great use of word balloons, narration boxes, and sound effects. However, honestly, some of the narration boxes went on a little too long. I think there should perhaps be a limit to how many narration boxes can be on a page. Sometimes, you can convey more by showing the inner world rather than describing it. Certain moments could have been just as effective with a few well-executed close-up shots of his face, without the need for narration boxes.

The sneak preview at the end, was fun. It gave me a nice chuckle but where it’s really at is the coverart for this comic. The cover a is fantastic and cover b for the next issue is even better. This is gonna get real good, real fast. Overall, though, this was a great read and I enjoyed the art a lot. As a fan, I definitely want to see more. That final page of him beheading the priest is pure art. All in all this was a great read, a bit wordy for the amount of beautiful art that it had but despite that it was still a very fun read and something I want to read more of in the future. There is something incredibly interesting of putting animals into dramatic worlds that are akin to scenes from Game of Thrones or even Lord of the rings, this is not a particularly happy story but it makes me happy to see how inventive the creators of this story are able to get within the confines of the world they have created.

Writing: 3.5 Stars Art: 5 Stars Colors: 5 Stars

Overall: 4.5 Stars

Written by: Rick Remender Illustrated by: Max Fiumara Coloring by: Dave McCaig Lettering by: Rus Wooton

Cover art by: Max Fiumara & Dave McCaig

Variant Covers by: Dan Panosian Published by: Image Comics

Reviewed by Antonio “Mabs”