The narrative threads start to come together - we don't know why there's an Earth Empire that's completely Prophets, but we do know that they're out to take over everything and Old Man Prophet and his allies stand in their way.
There's some nice shout-outs to old characters in this series. We've come across two of "McCall's Children" thus far - Brainrock and Moorrock. These are ancestors of Youngblood member Badrock, one supposes. Prophet and pals also happen across a armada of potential allies whose power source appears to be Ethan Crane, aka Supreme. Not a happy ending for the Man of Might.
What I think Prophet is really quite good at is building the world of the story without diving headlong into extended exposition. Social customs are not explained but demonstrated. We're meant to remember the names of the various alien races we encounter, because there won't be a handy reminder the next time they show up. As I said last week, it's science fiction that moves quickly and that you have to pay attention to.
I had meant to note last week the creative team for this series. There are four main creators: Brandon Graham, Simon Roy, Farel Dalrymple, and Giannis Milonogiannis. And between the four they divide art and writing chores. Each artist handles a different character, at least for a little while, but when we look at the pages at the back of the book that show the creative process behind the series, it really does look like a communal creation. Perhaps this is part of the reason it's so good: it's a work that is taking complete advantage of the collaborational nature of comics. If you can find a group of artists who work extremely well together, they'll feed on one another, and produce something larger than the sum of their creative parts.
Prophet is proof-positive. Onward!
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