Click here for part 2

Note: Prophet has unusual issue numbering, due to following on from the original ‘90s Rob Liefeld series, which ended on #20. This series therefore begins on issue #21 (ending on #45) but can be considered entirely separate for readers in general and for the purpose of this blog; so whenever I say anything like “the first/second/tenth issue” I’m referring to #21/#22/#31 respectively.

In lieu of any serious cultural critics giving Prophet the thorough analysis it surely deserves, I thought I would try my (amateurish) hand at it. There’s so much to unpack in this comic that my efforts will run on for multiple posts (I have no idea how many yet), which I’ll collect into something resembling an essay format once it’s all done.

Prophet is ostensibly an action/adventure comic set in the far future, ranging from an Earth altered almost beyond recognition by the passage of deep time to the furthest reaches of galactic space. It follows a cast of cloned soldiers (the eponymous John Prophets), ancient robots, alien freedom fighters, all sort of evolved post-human beings and genuinely ‘alien’ aliens through several intertwining plot-lines. It’s a comic which grows increasingly sophisticated as it progresses, starting out as something described by many as “Conan in space” then expanding into a galactic scale epic…

…but before we go any further, by way of an introduction, I want to talk about how the comic was created and how those circumstances and methods of its creation inform its storytelling.



So let’s get materialist and talk about the means of Prophet’s production!

Originally created by Rob Liefeld as part of his ‘Extreme’ imprint, during the early years of Image’s existence as a breakaway publisher dedicated to ‘creator owned’ comics, Prophet was rebooted with a new creative team in 2012 alongside other Liefeld creations Glory, Youngblood and Supreme. While Liefeld retained ownership of his '90s Extreme characters, he appears to have given an extraordinary amount of leeway to the creative talent given charge of his creations and ought to be commended for recruiting upcoming comics talent, giving them the opportunities born of audience exposure.

Where Prophet has differed from its Extreme siblings, and indeed from almost every other comic produced in the American comics industry, has been in the structure of its creative team.

Normally in the now-traditional production of a monthly-format American comic, we have a writer providing scripts to a penciller, whose lines go to an inker, whose inked pages go to a colourist and (along with the script) a letterer; finally the publisher prints this collective endeavour onto paper stock (of varying degrees of quality), staples it up into one of these things we call a comic book and ships it out to your local store via the essentially monopolistic Diamond Comic Distributor. This process is gradually being altered by digital arts tech and digital sales/distribution but almost every American-style comic is made and published in a process along those lines. It’s a system which is entirely intended to efficiently generate products with sufficient polish, novelty and ‘thrill-power’ to sell themselves and their subsequent issues quickly enough to sustain a monthly release schedule in specialised comic shops. Nothing wrong with any of that - it works for a reason and the sheer quantity of story material the factory-esque system produces every month is astonishing - but it’s worth remembering that everything about ‘the industry’ as it exists today, from the expectations of readers and the storytelling structure to the forms of paperback and hardback collections, is related to or developed from this cycle and its creative demands.

Prophet’s creative team differs in some respects from the norm. It features three regular artists in Simon Roy (Jan’s Atomic Heart), Giannis Milonogiannis (Old City Blues, All New Ultimates) and Farel Dalrymple (The Wrenchies, Pop Gun War) with each following different characters/perspectives within the overall story. Additionally, guest artists like Ron Wimberly (Prince of Cats) and the series writer Brandon Graham take over art duties for issues where the story spins off with different protagonists. Some issues of the series adopt a comics-jam format with pages or half-pages being drawn by different artists, with the characters they’ve been having their stories woven together as they approach Prophet’s climax. There’s also an issue which follows a single character’s lifetime (Diehard, a re-imagined Liefeld creation borrowed from Youngblood), with each scene drawn by a different guest artist.

It’s also worth nothing that no separate inkers are employed, meaning that the lines we see in every issue of Prophet are entirely the work of a single artist. Removing this step from the 'production line’ is inherently more time-consuming and demanding but gives greater responsibility to artists for the final product and thereby express their own interpretation of the script.



Often the effect of having rotating artists is inconsistency of tone and, all too frequently in superhero comics, indicates a likely drop of quality as a speedy artist is drafted late to ensure the comic hits its deadline. In the case of Prophet, which was conceived as a team project, nothing could be further from the truth. Abandoning my pretence of maintaining a critical distance (full disclosure: Prophet is probably my favourite comic of the last few years), I was initially suspicious and alarmed to see new artists introduced after Simon Roy’s stint in the first three issues but quickly changed my mind when I saw the standard of Farel Dalrymple, Giannis Milonogiannis and Brandon Graham’s contributions. The artist rotation actually enhanced the sense of novelty and unpredictability that typified the monthly format reading experience I derived from Prophet - I honestly never knew what to expect from the next issue - and the link between the artists and narrative perspective creates an easily readable shorthand for scene transitions, perspective shifts and the passage of time in the later ‘comics jam’ issues.

Brandon Graham (King City, Multiple Warheads) is the writer throughout the series, with the exception of an issue he gave entirely to Simon Roy to create, and from how he described his process - where he initially provides the artist with a breakdown of the issue and then they hash out the layouts between them - it’s notable how much faith he shows in his artists with the room he gives them to interpret the story. More so than most comics, Prophet feels like a collective and collaborative endeavour; one which is open to the influence of those who join the team, rather than artists being mere vehicles for the writer’s story.



Together the Prophet collective, with its rotating cast of artists, were able to produce a comic with a unique voice, to a high standard, while sustaining a rigorous near-monthly schedule comparable to the rate at which an ongoing series can be churned out of the factory-like system of Marvel and DC. An undeniably impressive feat.

Below are some examples of Brandon Graham’s unique scripts, included as back-matter in many of the later issues of Prophet. Note the minimalistic, almost poetic use of captions and speech bubbles, the reference images and loose clarifying descriptions for the artist of what’s happening on the page.

Okay, so that’s the introduction dealt with. Hopefully I’ve managed to provide you with some some shred of insight into the creative process behind Prophet. In future I’ll be delving into the story proper; offering up my readings and interpretations for your consideration.

Next time we talk about Prophet, we’ll start by taking a look at the John Prophets; the endless cloned army of the Earth Empire, their terrifying overseers and what their perpetual war tells us about ourselves. Fun stuff.

Further down the line I also intend to look at the artists and their contrasting work, provide a study of the many varied alien and post-human species, attempt a close reading of several individual issues, have a crack at interpreting the unconventional representation of gender, and more besides.

I hope you’ll join me.