Judas #1

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

Judas may be my biggest surprise of the year! I remember reading that a new series was starting about Judas’ life before becoming a disciple and then following him as a follower of Jesus. I was a little skeptical because I wasn’t sure how they would subtly pull off making Judas a good guy and Jesus maybe not as good as he claimed to be. I was taken by surprise by a very well written interesting take on the well-known story of Jesus’ death.

I am already a fan of this series because this first issue has already made me a fan of Judas. I am already invested in why he chose to make the decision of betraying Jesus because I already believe he was right in doing so. This book also already established in me a doubt about the Jesus character. Even knowing the Gospels very well, I immediately read Jesus’ words with more skepticism than before.

To top off this well written issue, the art is basically perfect in how it is taking this very old story and transforming it for the comic book format. Some panels of monsters sprinkled here and there only added to the eeriness the writer and artist worked together to create.

I am pretty sure that every issue going forward is going to be an interesting read. The story they are telling and the way they are telling it is unique and done well enough that this series has potential to be an absolute hit.