In Review: Rapture #3

Synopsis: Babel is mere moments from achieving his goal, and with the help of Shadowman, his plan finally has the missing piece. The dark wizard recounts his tale from outcast to tamer of Loa. Shadowman listens intently to Babel, but his real attention is to the offer. A life free from his loa burden. Though the rest of the team fights valiantly to reach the top of the tower in time, the bargain has already been struck.

Review: The twisted history of Babel is the main focus of this issue. Exiled from his people because he was different, Babel knew nothing but cruelty. A cruelty that formed the basis of how he operates in the world. When a loa showed him kindness, Babel exploited it. He traded the loa’s prison for chains of a different sort. These moments solidify the motivations of the character while still maintaining a bit of mystery to him. We don’t know what made Babel different, and we don’t know why he so desperately desires to speak with the gods. Honestly, you could assume that it has to do with pride or power, but it may go deeper than that. In the end, the specifics for Babel’s motivations don’t really matter because it is the way he uses people that seems the most interesting.

The art for issue #3  conveys just how old this story is. I love how rough and faded the back story for Babel looks. Everything is so muted, like it could have been drawn on papyrus. The loa, however, still standout as they should. They are so bizarre looking, yet the color choices allow them to be seen as he beautiful beings from beyond the veil. Honorable mention to the gorgeous page with Rex the Razor; it is vicious and glorious.

Rapture #4 will have a lot of ground to cover since the big twist to Babel’s plan has yet to be revealed. The series has been entertaining, and it has been fun to see these varied Valiant characters attempt to work together. Independently, they are formidable in their own rights, but they have never worked together. It will be interesting to see if they can come together to prevent the apocalypse of everything. Even if they fail, this has been an interesting departure from the norm.