Rippaverse’s Saints and Sinners Anthology Has Plenty of Good in It, And a Little Bad

Saints & Sinners is the first anthology comic book from Rippaverse, and it features six brand new short stories from established Rippaverse authors, and friends of the brand. It’s an enjoyable read that presents itself in very digestible bits due to its nature as an anthology. While I definitely enjoyed each comic, they’re obviously not all created equal, and some do stand out to me over others.

SPOILERS FOLLOW

“Chasing Ghosts:” The first story in the anthology sets the tone by using the familiar Ingrid Valdez from Alphacore and making her face off against the supernatural. A killer is going around and targeting mob bosses. The bodies are found in a state where it looks like they were scared to death. Valdez works with the rough detective Briggs, who doesn’t care for Valdez’s help, as they investigate a crime scene. Valdez encounters Sydnee Bloodruth, who warns Valdez that she’s fighting something very dangerous. A commotion at the docks draws Valdez’s attention, and she finds two mysterious figures there. She engages one while the other uses some supernatural powers to connect with a fallen comrade. A spirit appears and nearly kills Valdez, and then the two figures suddenly disappear, and the ghost with them. The story ends with Valdez reflecting on the events at a grave, and a sinister supernatural figure seems to watch her from a distance.

In terms of atmosphere and subject matter, I really enjoyed “Chasing Ghosts.” I’m a big fan of the magic and supernatural angles the Rippaverse is starting to develop, and it’s no exception in “Chasing Ghosts.” Similarly, I’m intrigued by the two mysterious figures: Noah and Maia. They definitively have a history, and I’m really curious to see what that history is. The two are behind a few killings, but only on the mob boss’ underlings. They’re found searching for the body of a comrade, Lucas, who might be the spirit wreaking vengeance on the mob bosses. It is a little unclear, especially given the ending with the smiling skeletal jester.

“Chasing Ghosts” is strange because it’s firmly on the line between being a standalone short story and set-up for more. I can definitely see the intention of setting up these characters for future comics, but it does come at the cost of narrative satisfaction. Though I suppose the open-ended, and frankly unsatisfying, conclusion is intentional because those are the exact emotions Valdez is experiencing. A common complaint I have with a lot of the stories in the anthology is that they tend to skew more towards introductory character pilots than self-contained short stories, with a few true exceptions. “Chasing Ghosts” is one such example where I could easily see it becoming its own arc with this story being the inciting incident. That’s not a bad thing per se, but it does detract from the story because it ends up feeling open-ended and introductory when that’s not the point of an anthology.

I did really enjoy the artwork in this story. I found it to be very well done, especially the character faces. A common occurrence I notice in comics is that character faces sometimes look a little uncanny. This is not the case here. The characters all look great.

“A Cross to Bear:” The second story in the anthology centers on the mysterious Cameron Cross. Cross wakes up in an alley, unsure of who or where he is. There’s a brief flashback of Cross fighting in the military and mercilessly eliminating a family of noncombatants in a village that was designated to be destroyed. Back in the present, he encounters some men harassing a woman and attacks them. Police arrive, and he attacks them. He’s restrained and finds himself in a hospital where a detective and some agents are there to question him. These men leave the room to discuss the questioning process, and Cross takes that opportunity to escape. When the men return, one of the agents reveals that Cross is actually a cyborg soldier. The still unsure Cross finds himself praying in a church for answers.

“A Cross to Bear” is the story that feels the most like it’s a set-up/introductory comic for a character. Again, that’s not a bad thing per se, but in this case I do think it is. This story moves very slowly. Again, that’s not necessarily bad, but when the space is limited, the end result is not a lot happening. The paragraph summary I wrote is quite literally everything that happens in the story, and it’s honestly not a lot. Don’t get me wrong, I want to see more of Cross, but his first introduction just feels lacking. I hope we do get to see more of him, and I hope it’s a lot more substantial.

As for the art, it’s solid enough. It’s the kind of art you would expect from a typical Rippaverse comic, which does mean that some of the faces can look a little uncanny at times.

“The Weight of Restraint:” The third story follows a man named Jackson Kanehart as he examines paperwork involving the incarcerated. One mysterious case crosses his desk, and all of the information surrounding it is either locked or redacted. He repeatedly tries to find out what he can, but he’s blocked at every turn. Eventually he finds the name he’s looking for: Samford Williard. If that name sounds familiar, it should. It’s the name of Avery Silman’s friend and ranch hand.

“The Weight of Restraint” is another set-up story that ends up being fairly slow paced, so not a whole lot actually happens. That being said, I think it works a little bit better then in “A Cross to Bear” because “The Weight of Restraint” isn’t introducing a new and enigmatic figure in the same way “A Cross to Bear” is. Sure, Kanehart is a new name, but Williard isn’t, and his past has already been alluded to during the Isom “Ill-Advised Arc.” I think the slow burn set-up that asks more questions than it answers works well enough here because that’s also the point. This isn’t Williard’s first appearance, and I highly doubt it’ll be his last. His story strikes me as the kind of eclectic one that you have to piece together one comic at a time. Maybe he’ll get a standalone entry, but that seems unlikely to me. And I think that rationale is the reason I’m a little more accepting of this story being so set-up heavy.

The art is also a pretty different style from the standard Rippaverse fare. It has a pencil-drawn aesthetic with coloring to match. It almost seems reminiscent of a courtroom sketch, which is definitely a fitting parallel. Overall, the art is different, and it works well given the more legal based subject matter of the comic.

“Bone God:” This is the story I was the most excited for. I’m a big fan of monsters and eldritch horrors, and “Bone God” looked like it was going to lean into that niche and scratch that itch. It definitely does, but it takes a second to get there. The story follows a group of six explorers as they venture into an ancient tomb. The group consists of the wealthy Adam Vahnosus, his ex-wife Sarah, their sons William and Wyndam, the hired guide Mr. Maps, and the hired explorer Caster Graves. Adam is obsessed with exploring the temple and becoming immortal through the discovery. His sons are bratty sycophants, and his ex-wife is a parasitic leech. Graves, however, quickly realizes that something is amiss and urges the team to turn back. They don’t listen to him, instead insulting and belittling him as they transgress deeper into the tomb. Graves eventually has enough and leaves on his own, convincing the good-natured Mr. Maps to come with him. Adam and his team find a door that they’re able to open, and in the process unleash the horrifying Bone God from its prison. It promptly kills the party.

“Bone God” is a weird story. I really want to like it, and part of me does, but I also can’t overlook some of its glaring problems. First and foremost, the hardest thing for me to get down was the names. I didn’t actually realize who some of the characters were until halfway through the story. I also kept mixing them up in the beginning. For example, there’s a scene where one of the sons (I think it’s Wyndam) uses C4 on a wall while Graves objects. At first I had the two characters completely reversed, so I thought it was Graves trying to blow up a wall while the son protested. Having finished the story, it makes sense now because the entire Vahnosus family is supposed to be portrayed as these awful, vain explorers who are exploring for the wrong reasons. But that doesn’t make Graves a whole lot better. Graves is meant to be the voice of reason who recognizes and respects the danger. He’s the character in the horror movie that brings a gun to the knife fight with the slasher and leaves the second supernatural stuff starts going down. But he’s also a jerk. Maps is meant to be a ridiculous character you don’t take seriously, and yet he’s the only one there who ends up being conventionally likable. Don’t get me wrong, I do like Graves because he’s cunning and has his head on straight, but he’s still a flawed character who lets his aggression get the better of him. As for the titular Bone God itself, it’s an interesting entity. Whatever it is, it was sealed away in the tomb as its prison, and now it’s out. I have no idea what that means for the future of the Rippaverse. Its design is also pretty unnerving and unsettling, and I love that.

The pacing of the story also feels a tad off. It’s definitely another slow burn that builds towards that cathartic moment of the monster’s reveal, yet the middle feels muddled by the same arguments every few panels. It’s not a bad story by any means, and it reminds me of the classic Lovecraftian tale where aspiring explorers stumble into horrors beyond their comprehension. It definitely succeeds at what it’s trying to do, and I really think it’s because the story lands the monster reveal. We aren’t supposed to understand it, and the story only unveils it in the final page or two, so we’re left knowing nothing about it aside from its name and what it looks like.

The art is a return to the standard Rippaverse comic art. I would say it’s probably a bit better than usual, though part of that bias might stem from how much I like the Bone God’s design.

“The Underdog:” This story is the origin story for the wrestler Larry Shungite who first appeared in Isom #2. It follows him as he goes from a wrestler in his father’s backyard to the champion of the SSWL. Tuna Calhoun (another familiar face, this time from The Horseman: Welcome to Florespark), is the current SSWL Heavyweight Champion, and he intends to keep it that way. Tuna continues to ignore the script, purposefully injuring his opponents. Tuna’s actions rightfully anger the owner of the SSWL, who’s a hilarious character by the way, and is scaring off the other wrestlers from fighting him. Shungite is brought in, and he’s expected to simply take the hits and roll over for Tuna. The wrestling is scripted after all. But Shungite isn’t an underdog. He doesn’t want to be looked down and discarded as a simple no-name placeholder figure. He flips the script and takes Tuna down, winning the SSWL Heavyweight Championship. The people love him, and Larry Shungite’s career is born.

I wasn’t expecting a grounded wrestling story in my superhero comic book anthology. It isn’t an unwelcome addition by any means. Sometimes it’s nice to back up and focus on the human characters living in the world. The story is simple enough, but not to its detriment. It doesn’t need to be terribly complex to be fun and enjoyable. It’s the perfect self-contained narrative that I would expect from a short story anthology. The pacing is strong and the characters are compelling. You easily find yourself rooting for Shungite and against Tuna, and plenty of the dialogue is entertaining.

The art in this one is also a little different from the other stories. It isn’t the same level of lightly colored pencilwork as “The Weight of Restraint,” but it’s not the same realistic and detailed style of story like “Bone God.” It occupies a stylistic middle ground, and it looks pretty good.

“One Little Push:” The final story in the anthology follows the Except assassin Cain as Darren Fontaino hires him to kill Yaira as a statement that he rules Florespark. Cain takes the job and prepares accordingly. He lines up the shot, with Altona Daniels caught in the collateral crosshairs, until a mysterious unseen cloaked figure (Death) manipulates the events to push a kid on a skateboard into Altona, causing the shot to miss. An enraged Yaira finds Cain and promptly kills him.

I really like this story. Not only did it subvert my expectations in a clever way, but it did a good job of respecting my intelligence as a reader. At first I assumed the hooded figure was Cain seeing how he was talking about people’s deaths, but midway through I realized he was a different entity entirely. It was a great switch-up that remained consistent from the beginning and made sense the entire time. The themes of fate, accidents, and choices being intertwined was also really interesting and handled well. I think that this story is also the perfect example of a small self-contained narrative that adds to the greater Rippaverse lore while not reading like an introductory pilot issue for a new character.

As for new characters, I was expecting a little bit more from Cain. He was hyped up as a skilled assassin, and he kind of falls short. Granted I think that that’s the point because his best laid plans are laid to ruin by what looks like mere chance. He’s also just not a good person. I was expecting some level of moral ambiguity, especially after coming to love media like the John Wick franchise where it follows morally questionable people doing pretty bad things for somewhat understandable reasons, but no Cain is pretty much just a bad guy. That being said, I doubt it would be terribly difficult for the Rippaverse to come up with cool assassin characters in the same vein as Marvel and DC ones.

The art is still consistently good. Character faces look great, and it maintains a good level detail while still having that comic book charm to it.

SPOILERS END

Overall, I did enjoy my time with Saints & Sinners. The benefit of an anthology is that even if one or two stories don’t grab you, odds are some of the other ones will. I do like the threads that have been established, and I’m curious to see where they go, but I also do believe that sometimes the set-up is to the detriment of the story currently in front of the reader. Setting up an adventure isn’t a bad thing, but if it comes at the expense of an existing story, it raises the question of why the first story exists in the first place, especially if it’s in the short form. That being said, Saints & Sinners is still worth a read.