Promethea TP / HC

Wildstorm (America’s Best Comics)

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Whenever I look at my massive to-be-read pile I have to struggle to pick up something new rather than just reread Promethea again.

During my hiatus from comics I would occasionally pick up a comic or a trade, but the only things I bought with any regularity were new hardcover collections of Promethea. It served as the strongest tether I had to my past – and future – as a regular comics reader.

That’s part of why the temptation to reject modernity and embrace rereading Promethea is always so strong.

That and the fact that it’s so good.

Promethea tells the story of a young woman named Sophie Bangs who, as is so often the case, gets more than she bargains for while writing a college paper about a recurring character in folklore. That character is someone called Promethea, and Sophie learns that Promethea is more than just a story, but then again, even a story is never just a story.

The original Promethea was a little girl whose magician father saved her life by giving her to his god, who takes the little girl to a place called the Immateria, transforming her into a story that will live forever.

Throughout the centuries, different people found a way to bring that story to life, merging the little girl with a real person. After encountering the most recent person to merge with the spirit of Promethea, Sophie herself becomes the newest vessel, having multiple adventures and engaging in a voyage of discovery that reveals that she is meant to bring about the apocalypse.

The story told in the pages of Promethea is the real story of Alan Moore’s exploration of magic, serving as a kind of lesson in which he shares what he’s learned and what it can teach us about life, death, and art.

While it is rather didactic – some issues are essentially lectures – the lessons are interwoven with exciting stories featuring compelling characters and interesting plots, and it is overall a joy to read, even if you walk away from it thinking that all the magic stuff is just a bunch of hooey.

It’s also a joy to look at, with stunning visuals and dizzying layouts from J.H. Willimas III. Moore frequently challenged Williams to do the impossible and Williams never once let him – or us – down.

I really can’t spare the time to reread it again, so if you haven’t read it, do what I wish I could do and read it now.

And if you have read it, you almost certainly understand my struggle.

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