The Sacrificers #1 [Review]
By: Mithrandiel
Since getting into the comic hobby properly back in 2020, I’ve read a lot of great comics. Jonathan Hickman’s East of West, Daniel Warren Johnson’s Murder Falcon, Donny Cates God Country, Tom King’s Superman: Up in the Sky and Mister Miracle. The list goes on.
One issue that consistently stands out in my memory is Rick Remender’s first issue for A Righteous Thirst for Vengeance. Delivering a suspenseful and chilling introductory chapter with hardly any dialogue, it remains one of my favorite opening issues to date. After reading the first few issues and realizing the quality was no fluke, I sought out more Remender work including Tokyo Ghost and Seven to Eternity - I was hooked. With a fantastic blend of physical brutality and profound introspection/insight, Remender’s storytelling was compelling.
So, you can imagine my excitement when the latest round of preview PDFs came in from Image and featured his latest work: The Sacrificers #1.
While there is still much to be fleshed out in the vibrant world that Remender introduces us to, the premise is this: the world is overseen by gods, including a Sun-god named Rokos and his 18-year-old daughter, Soluna. There was a massive conflict in the past, presumably between competing divine forces, and the resultant world now worships Rokos and his kin, but at a cost.
In exchange for life in a harmonious and beautiful world, a sacrifice is required of those that live within it. It’s uncertain when the sacrifice is chosen (at birth? during a ceremony?) but what we do know is that come harvest time, these chosen ones, the “Sacrificers”, are gathered.
Thus we are introduced to the other protagonist in this issue - an unnamed bird-humanoid creature, a sacrificer, that has been relegated to the family barn. After a violent encounter with his father in the opening panels, you begin to wonder if it’s not so bad that he’ll be getting marched off to who-knows-where, but in the concluding pages the anger of the earlier encounter melts away into something surprisingly more poignant and emotional.
While most of us are likely putting two and two together here, I’m intrigued to see how Remender plans on delivering the narrative curve that will inevitably arrive. Still, in the meantime, I’m very interested to learn more about the politics of the divine, and the challenge and plight of the working-class that have to offer their sacrifices to secure some semblance of a peaceful life.
Sacrificers arrives on August 2nd, so prepare your pulls and mark your calendars - it’s aiming to be a fun ride!
