The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 934: Prophet Strikefile #2, November 2014

First up, I found someone who's going to order me a copy of Earth War #6. What I think I'll do is hold off on reading that series until I get that issue in my hot little hands. Then we'll finish off the Prophet odyssey properly. It's appropriate to use the word "odyssey" in describing this piece. It even has a very similar feel to ODY-C (which I'm unforgivably behind on), art and tone-wise. But even further, there's this thing that happens with the characters where they, in some ways, have attributes given them that are intrinsic to their personalities. Old Grandfather Prophet. Newfather Prophet. Prophet with a tail. In epic poetry, and specifically the Homeric verse, there are little catchphrases, almost, that stick with each character throughout the piece. This is a holdover from oral tradition, where having such a phrase attached to the character was an aide to memory. So Athena is (I think) usually followed by "grey-eyed." Prophet has some similar apparati in place.

It's quite appropriate that these comics are called "strikefiles." The comic portion of each outlines the two major antagonists that Old Man and his new arc will face in the coming mini-series: the Earth Empire, and the Nucleus. And since one has possession of the other (and one may take possession of the other), it behooves us to know our enemy. As I noted before, I've long past hit the point where I wanted more background information for this series, and Strikefile delivers. The first issue outlines the rise and decline and rise of the Earth Empire, explaining the reason for so many Prophets, and offering notions as to what may have happened to humanity as it spread throughout space. The second issue gives us a history of the nucleus that sits at the heart of the giant pain nebula that required the joining of Old Man and Newfather's forces to defeat.

The reference pages that follow each story also offer tantalizing glimpses into the vast universe of the story, featuring creatures and individuals both current and historic. We may never see these characters in the series proper, but knowing they're out there lends a nice spice to the narrative.

And that'll be it for Prophet for a little bit. Let's get back to The Avengers and see what the Vision's going to get up to. And then when Earth War #6 comes in, we'll find out how it all turns out! To be continued.