Judas #3

Writer: Jeff Loveness
Artist: Jakub Rebelka
Letterer: Colin Bell
Publisher: Boom! Studios

For the third month in a row, Judas has absolutely blown me away. This series is so smart and well executed that I can’t help but be completely engaged every time I read an issue. Afterwards, I am always so excited about the amazing story I have just read and immediately get anxious for more. This team is fantastic and has really created something special with this series.

This series may have one of the most interesting concepts I have ever read in a comic book. There could have been so many lazy ways to try to tackle this story of Jesus and Judas, but Jeff Loveness did not take that approach in the slightest. The story is very complex yet very easy to read and to follow. This issue in particular was really great because we get to see our three main characters in the same place and interestingly enough, that place is hell.

I remember being an evangelical and attending bible college, while also teaching at a Christian men’s rehabilitation center and tackling the issue if Jesus did go to hell or not. I even remember the verses from Ephesians and 1 Peter that I and others have used to believe that he did. Whether I believed it or not though, I was always curious about what he would do if he did ascend into hell after dying on the cross.  This series has already put a compelling twist on the story of Jesus and Judas thus far, and now we really get a great twist: Jesus ascended into hell where Satan has him trapped and tortured, all while Judas is there watching. Then, in an amazing turn of events, we see Judas coming to his own realization about Jesus and really tapping into the good man he was the whole time.

The artwork in these three issues has been spectacular and very unique. This issue has some of the absolute best pages and panels out of the three issues so far. Jakub Rebelka has put together such a strange, beautiful, sad setting that perfectly fits everything that this story is. All of my writing about the story above is only brought full circle by Rebelka’s art style in this issue. The characters all portray their emotions and thoughts so perfectly with their body language and facial features. And I have mentioned in the reviews to the prior issues that I have loved the color scheme in this series. Well, this issue made me love it even more because the whole book takes place in hell, so we get those colors and illustrations which are very creative, but we also have some strange supernatural things happening and the incredible illustrations in these moments are colored so differently than the rest of the issue and really makes it pop out of the page. Also, on a side note, the variant cover by Jeremy Bastian, which you can also check out below, is absolutely gorgeous.

I could probably go on and on about this issue and how much I enjoyed reading it but I will cut myself off. This series is such a great, solid comic book series that I think is worth everyone trying out. This issue does so much for the story: it makes us question what we thought about people in the first and second issue, it teases some interesting things we have not been told yet, and it pushes the story forward in a climatic way. I will go ahead and call this series and this issue perfect because I very much love and appreciate everything done in every single aspect. I truly believe that you are missing an important comic book reading experience by not checking it out.