In Review: American Jesus: The New Messiah #3

Synopsis: The Messiah is running wild in her new life, free from the rules of the church and the protection of her parents. But evil forces are descending. Evil forces that want to snuff her out before she receives her holy powers. Evil forces that will kill her to make way for the Antichrist’s rule.

Review: Things hot up as Catalina tries to outrun destiny.

The Story

Having run away from the compound at the close of the last issue. Catalina has settled into mainstream life and gotten herself a boyfriend called Dylan who may or may not be knocking on heavens door. While she has been with Dylan Catalina has indulged in heavy drinking and smoking and plenty more besides, but in her quieter more reflective moments she poses various questions to Dylan about whether he believes in God or not, which leads to some interesting philosophical discussion about Atheism verse evangelism.

Meanwhile, Catalina’s mother has left the compound based on a dream in which she says she saw the angel Gabriel who gave her the whereabouts of the Messiah. So off she goes for a long drive while being tracked by the forces of evil.

The Artwork

Peter Gross does some great artwork in this issue and gives us a nice mixture of solid character drawings and action beats. From the quieter moments where Catalina is in bed with Dylan to the more action-orientated moments where Catalina is racing to San Diego with her mother. This book is brilliantly drawn and has a sort of edgy cinematic tone to it with a very subtle color mix that is easy on the eye. I loved the panels toward the close of the book where Catalina suddenly realizes her powers.

Overall

I’m looking forward to seeing how this one plays out when it gets to Netflix. Having been raised Catholic and raised with several bibles in my house I can see a lot of the parallels that Mark Millar is drawing on in his story, but also quite enjoyed how he makes use of some of the more well-known conspiracy theories surrounding Disney. Particularly the one about ‘Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs’.

If I have any criticism of this book. It is that we haven’t really seen too much in this story from the opposite side of the fence as to the kind of upbringing the Messiah’s opposite number had and how he or she has been living their life. I guess the writer is saving all of that for later issues. Either way, it would be cool to see that.