New this week is “The Tithe” brought to by Matt Hawkins and Rahsan Ekedal from Image Comics and Top Cow Productions. This first issue follows a group of hackers who target corrupt super churches and give the money they take to charities. Basically this is a modern version of the classic Robin Hood tale that we've been told minus the appearances of Kevin Costner and Morgan Freeman. The Pastor Tibbett character is very much in the shade of Joel Osteen and his form of religious prosperity teaching. Obviously he hasn't been found funneling money to an island, but you get the point.
The hacker group known as Samaritan robs the church and gains access to the vault. They then hack the projection screens and show the good pastor in a scene of decadence. They proceed to detonate a bomb which causes a mass of confusion. During all of the confusion the line “It's the Muslims” is a very telling statement for our current attitude of the masses unfortunately.
The FBI is brought in to investigate and Pastor Tibbett proclaims innocence during all of his interviews. There is some connection made between the Samaritan group and an FBI agent before we learn where the group is heading next.
With the overtly religious tone of this comic, it might not be for everyone. I'm just putting that out there right now. However, if you can see beyond the very obvious social commentary then this might be something you want to pick up. The group's actions certainly are done in a moral gray area. They have guns, they threaten violence to the families of the corrupt and even set off a bomb. At the same time, they expose corrupt leaders who are essentially stealing from people, then take this money and give it to charities. This comic walks a very fine line, and it does so very well. Pastor Tibbett is not at all likeable despite the fact that he is robbed. He's a slick, fast talking evangelical pastor in charge of a super-church.
Rahsan Ekedal does a great job with the art in this issues. It's nothing fancy, but it's well done. The showing of the congregation passing their money to the collection plate while singing praises is captured perfectly. The church is well drawn and doesn't take your attention away from the characters.
The first issue of Tithe shows some real promise and does a great job of introducing us to the story. It should be interesting to see where they take this story on future issues.
Like this review? Then pick up both The Tithe #1 and Variant #1 covers now!
Posted by: Jeff
