Second Coming Volume 1

Second Coming: Volume One by Mark Russell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When Jesus decides to take another crack at saving humanity, God persuades Sunstar, Earth's greatest hero, to take His Only Begotten Son under his wing. What could possibly go wrong?

Mark Russell is the Bee's Knees as far as I'm concerned. How could he go wrong with Superman and Jesus teaming up? That's right, he couldn't.

Similar in tone to Lamb by Christopher Moore, Second Coming is a tale of belief, faith, and religion, a tale of what might happen if Jesus returned. Russell tackles a lot of the same themes as it his titantic Flinstones run, like mega churches, organized religion, and people performing acts of cruelty and/or violence in the name of religion. Sunstar is a light yet surprisingly realistic portrayal of how Superman might live, the most powerful being on Earth yet unable to save everyone. Jesus, even the idealist, tries to preach his message in the modern world to an unfortunate but cynically realistic end.

Mark Russell's take on God might be my favorite part of this, an omnipotent creator who is far from omniscient. As Jesus said, "He's the life of the party but doesn't stick around to clean up afterwards." The irreverent tone might turn some people off but, like The Flintstones, this is a bleak, thought-provoking, hilarious book.

Richard Pace's art is a great mix of super hero and serious. His depiction of heaven is to my liking, a place with space whales in the sky and defunct chain restaurants like Burger Chef on street corners. The end of season 1 wraps up a lot of threads but I'm pretty eager for season 2.

Second Coming is easily as good as The Flintstones. Bring on Volume 2! Five out of five stars.

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