Whomever Rome rules must be controlled or at least know their place. That might as well be what ‘Britannia’ should be subtitled. The emperor Nero who has sent the only detectioner in town doesn’t expect Antonius to return. Throughout the limited series he has had his mind destroyed by a demon, reworked to be the Vestal Virgins’ weapon and has become the first detective of ancient Rome. With all this the reader has become a part of great storytelling that effectively melds myth and history. Issue four is the culmination of Antonius’ journey that only leads to more questions than it gives answers.
Antonius once believed that the fracturing of his mind and being healed meant that he needed to work from a place ruled by reason, or rational logic. But how do you deal with the paranormal in a logical way? Britannia in 60 AD is steeped in mystery. Still nothing is in a vacuum. The vestal virgins in Rome have something in common with the women of this Roman territory. And that alluded to connection is one of the more interesting bits to this story. What writer Peter Milligan does is turn the patriarchy on its head. What if women governed the way the vestals are keepers of the flame? We know what the flame represents to Rome. It’s a power source similar to the battery of the Green Lanterns in the DC universe. In that world other color spectrums are kept from the only known lanterns by the Guardians. This creates a quagmire that nearly destroys everything. Because of their hubris, the Guardians didn’t have a problem sacrificing what they swore to protect.
That isn’t the case in ‘Britannia.’ Instead of keeping their secrets out of fear, Rubria, the head of the virgins crafts Antonius to eliminate the problem she unwittingly angered. She manipulates Nero into sending in someone to solve what on the surface is a mundane problem. Antonius won’t fail since he has access to the codex. And if he dies in the midst of battle or returns alive Rubria still wins. Dead Antonius is a hero, alive he is an ally. The use and true purpose of the flame is known by the people who matter – the women in this universe. On the surface they hold no authority. In the afterword, Dr. Carr discusses that early Britain’s altars for their deities were made of materials that could not sustain the test of time. Making the country even more mysterious and unknown. This may have been a way for the women of this time, in this comic to utilize the supernatural to rid themselves of the real threats that are out there. Essentially, without the women this narrative would have little meaning.
In a sense Milligan has made Rubria the protagonist in this comic. After all this limited series is not called Antonius Axia. She above everyone else knows exactly what’s going on, who all the players are, their weaknesses and what real threats are out there. Think of Red from the television show ‘The Blacklist.’ Only Rubria knows her motivations for saving Antonius in issue one. And she manipulates Nero to the point of thinking that everything she wants him to do is his idea. Nero may be a crass fool, but he’s still emperor who often has shown himself to be as mercurial and capricious as the gods.
Still after reading the ending words loosely translated from Latin ‘Hail emperor, we salute you’ you get the sense that it should be read in a mocking tone. After seeing that all the real power is wielded by women both in Rome and Britannia the reader is officially in on the joke. And with the promise of the return of Axia in 2017 makes a fine setup for even more questions to be left unanswered.
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