Comics / Spotlight / Religion and Comics

Chosen #1

By Nathan Patton
February 12, 2004 - 13:36

If Ultimate books are about stripping away continuity and re-imagining characters for the present day, then Mark Millar may not have been quite joking when he called this book Ultimate Jesus. The story is lined with parallels with the original adventures of the character, if you will, updated for the twenty-first century. A coming of age journey on foot turns into a trek with his pals to find a dirty magazine. Where once he talked amongst the townships most intelligent, he now has to prove to his teacher that he didn’t cheat.

Things like these are both the strength and the weaknesses of this book. Millar crafts an interesting tale, as he often does, but it gets a little too convenient. From the main character’s last name being Christianson to frequent use of “Jesus Christ” as a swear word, it all starts to feel like Millar is winking at the reader. Not to mention how everyone just seems to know whom the child is without a second thought. That aside it has definitely interested me enough to want to pick up the rest of the mini-series. I just hope it delves a little more into how heavy this must weigh on the main character’s mind.

When this series was announced, I immediately went and found some of Peter Gross’s past works to see if he could live up to the hype that Millar is so famous for spewing. To be honest, I didn’t much care for it. But I’m certainly glad that didn’t deter me from picking this up, as I have not one bad thing to say about the art. It sets the mood quite well and more importantly has a fresh look to it that sets it apart from most things out there. I hope this book leads to more mainstream work for Gross, as he’s been a well-kept secret for too long.

Best Features: The art and the no apologies approach to such a controversial tale.
Worst Flaws: The ever-present humor sometimes gets in the way of the darkness.
The Flub: The cover—not the art, the idea.

Rating: 7 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12