Fanaticism could lead to destruction. But what if what is destroyed creates the ability for something better to take its place? Issue 2 of ‘Fallen World’ may not have the answer, but there are still awesome ways in which the idea is excitedly explored.
It’s 4002 and Rai is fighting Father. It doesn’t go well. While he’s away, the woman he’s placed in charge is still struggling with the factions who fell from New Earth. It isn’t just their ideologies, each group can only see their differences. For the humans, they believe they’ve fallen from paradise into hell. But for the synthoids who were enslaved, abused and used for humans’ enjoyment, they’re fighting for the right to maintain their newfound freedom. Then there’s Gilad, the Eternal Warrior, still protecting earth’s latest Geomancer and continuing to aid his friends. As an immortal some of those friendships have lasted centuries. What this second issue of ‘Fallen World’ does well is tie in the previous miniseries with not only appearances of longstanding characters like Gilad, but with one of Father’s creations. Not quite a fully developed AI, Raijin still has a connection to Father who the fanatical group called Fallen want to use to pursue their own agenda. Raijin asks all the right questions, specifically what this church hopes to gain by finding Father, now that New Japan is gone. Because of his connection to his creator Raijin seems to be the linchpin to power. Still, he’s a wild card.
In 2017 a woman warrior and her big sentient gun was introduced to the 4001 Valiant Universe. It was in the midst of Rai temporarily destroying Father and the debris from New Japan falling into a dilapidated post-apocalyptic earth. War Mother had found Raijin and left him with the villagers she was protecting. In this ‘Fallen World’ comic writer Dan Abnett answers the question of why Raijin was found by the church fallen and what happened to War Mother. Seeds planted years ago in both the ‘War Mother’ (written by Fred Van Lente) and ‘4001 AD’ (written by Matt Kindt) miniseries’ are coming to fruition. The thing is what’s Father’s agenda? His ultimate thing is about control. He would use human women to incubate his ‘children,’ then once they served their purpose destroy them. When Rai found out the truth he defeated his father but did not obliterate him. Instead a new series of problems came. What’s frightening now is though Father isn’t at full strength he’s more powerful and has allies.
Still, this story would not convey its strong narrative without the artwork. From the cover where we see a determined figure to the way Father plays with his newfound abilities helps the reader understand what’s going on and why it’s important to not just beat Father, but wipe out his influence. As long as he has followers like the woman with the pink blindfold proselytizing Father’s resurfacing as if it was a welcoming resurrection of hope there will never be a way to restore some sense of humanity. Instead people may become the worst of themselves again, lazy and tyrannical. The art of Adam Pollina and his crew and the cover art of Sanford Greene and his team help tell a complete story. You have to wonder how it will end while hoping it would be an ongoing series.
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