Review: ‘American Jesus: Revelation’ #1 – ‘Omen III’ Meets ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ In A QAnon World

You know how this story goes; Lucifer rises up against God and gets his ass handed to him by the Heavenly Host and his army. It’s one of the oldest stories in history and one Mark Millar is mining in his newest series, American Jesus: Revelation from Image Comics. The third in a planned trilogy depicting the rise of Satan to the status of President of America, which is where we find him at the start of this series. Or rather, we find him in the past and at a very particularly traumatic moment in contemporary American history that, to be fair, Millar is rather bold to put down to the machinations of The Devil and his plans for the rise of Satanism across the globe. Even now, for many this inclusion will seem too soon. But, as a narrative device by which to explain Satan’s actions and rise it’s pretty powerful. Hence the double page spread given over to this moment. But, it’s not the most shocking scene. Well, not for this reader, at least.

As this debut issue progresses, it also sinks to levels of depravity often linked to the “Satanic Panic” of the eighties; secretive cults, infanticide, the sexualisation of a young ingenue and sex with the Devil. A QAnon’s wet dream, in fact! But, even though these conventions are oft-used in such stories of Lucifer’s uprising on Earth, it doesn’t make it any less creepy, seedy and tragic. The fact that it will make your skin crawl is tantamount to the immense skills Millar has as a seasoned writer. A man know for his more bombastic, blockbuster violence here shows he can do horror and do it well. 

Time frames shift and as they do we get a front row seat as to Satan’s plans for world domination. Plans shared by a good deal of his followers. The whole thing has a strong vibe of Omen III meets Rosemary’s Baby at its heart, but set in a far more contemporary context of the encroaching powers of big tech, culture wars and a post-Trump America.

On the art front, it’s good to see Tomm Coker art again, even though it’s limited to the depiction of the fight for Heaven at the book’s start. Most of the heavy lifting is done by Peter Gross with Jeanne McGee and Daniel Freedman providing colours. These colours – watercolours maybe? – create a set of rather subdued and cool pages that are only broken by the scene of Satanic worship midway through the comic. And even here the reds on display aren’t raging. A sharp contrast with the story being told in this series, that’s for sure.

America Jesus: Revelation #1 is out now from Image Comics