I love chosen one stories.
Chosen ones are the heart of classic storytelling. Percival was the first chosen one in western literature, as he was delivered the Holy Grail. Ever since that story first came out, chosen ones have littered literature. Luke Skywalker, Peter Parker, Eragon, are all examples of the archetype.
But what happens to chosen ones after the great evil is destroyed? Or what happens in a world where there are multiple chosen ones? Welcome to Ones, this weeks’ book.
The Book
The Ones
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Illustrated by Jacob Edgar
Colors: K.J. Diaz
Letters: Joshua Reed
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Issue One begins with a chosen one in a supermarket. He isn’t identified with a name, but everyone recognizes him as a chosen one. The constant celebrity gets to him and the scene ends with him getting out of the supermarket as quickly as possible.
The next scene is a little more of what you’d expect from a chosen one. One of them is sticking a sword into a demon. It’s a real darn cool splash page, and the demon is quite unhappy with its impalement to say the least. The one with the sword is named Dorothy. After the fight, as Dorothy is having a discussion/argument with her girlfriend, they are interrupted by a gentleman named Wilson, who approaches the rest of the chosen ones with the same thing, as apparently none of them answer emails.
Most of the rest of the issue is Wilson recruiting various chosen ones. Some of them like Novus, who has to use her wits to get out of being blackmailed. Then there are Dr. Jamax and Thrace, who have seemed to use their abilities like Dorothy did.
What Bendis and Edgar are doing with all these introductions is introduce a key point to the series and world we are about to enter. Chosen ones can be anybody. They can have names like adults, they can be like superheroes or superpowered people, who just someone who doesn’t want attention at the grocery store. Each of them has their own backstory, including Wilson, who is a chosen one of prophecy.
He has gatherered each of the characters introduced to a story to import on them the birth of the antichrist. He’s just born, so the ethics of killing such a child does not appeal to Novus, who bails. All of the remaining chosen ones agree to watch the baby.
The comic than cuts to six years later. Things apparently get out of hand rather quicker than anyone expects.
All in all this is a solid start to the series. Bendis does a great job both with world building and in introducing the characters and getting a sense of who they are in this world. He does an incredible amount of show and tell in this issue, and I compliment him for it. Sometimes he has a tendency to ramble on, but there is a very straightforward story at the heart of this, and while the introductions are a big part of this issue, they are done with the intention of connecting to some of the characters. Some more so than others. For example, the first character isn’t introduced with a name, only that he is a chosen one. Novus has to overcome blackmail, and refuses to murder the antichrist as a baby.
Jacob Edgar and K.J. Diaz do a wonderful job with the tone of the book. While I do feel like there is quite a bit of commentary on the trope of the chosen one in this issue, the tone is not something you’d read from Veronica Roth, but rather someone who invested in telling something entertaining, and a bg wondrous. This is a book that does have some weight to it, but doesn’t take itself too too seriously.
This is a solid book. One of my favorite Bendis books in quite a while. Will definitely check out issue two.
The Business
What a crazy two weeks. I went from making it full time as a freelancer to back down to earth in a matter of a couple of weeks. On the plus side, I started filming a pilot to a series I’m doing for a client. I’ll be talking about it in the weeks to come.
My latest podcast is at 877 on the channel. It’s been an amazing ride so far, and I’ve been going for some amazing guests to fill in the podcast once we break 900. I’m trying to get two really amazing guests for both 900 and 1000. It’s going to be a fun ride as I exit the current era of the podcast.
I’m doing NANO this month as well. What are you guys doing? Let me know if you are working on your own novels.
In the meantime, my next column will feature me following up on a work I reviewed a long time ago. It should be a good one. Until then folks, stay inspired.
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