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COVER:
The cover has an art Nouveau feel to it.
A beautiful looking red & orange haired Promethea making the sign of silence above 5 bluish ghost figures rising out of their graves. Fire can be seen in the background. Amongst the figures rising from their graves are Nancy Spungen (Nan... can be read on the tobmstone behind her) and John Lennon. Both are also seen inside. The foremost figures looks a bit like Andy Warhol, another one could be Charlton Sennett, maybe Steve Shelley and the one in the background is probably a WWI soldier.
RIP can be read on one of the graves.
The circular motif is just the kind of thing you get from Alphonse Mucha, as is the waving hair. The trees look rather like Austin Osman Spare's artwork.
Ten stars can be seen on either side of the cover.
TL adds:
it's an imitation of the tarot card "The Judgement/The Aeon" which is
number
20 of the great arkana.
Promethea is the angel of the Apocalpyse that calls the dead to rise.
See
chapter 20 of the Apocalypse.
See also Promethea #12 page XX where Harpo Marx makes the sign of silence.
Promethea seems to blow away little
stars
like dandelion seeds. The symbol of the French editor Larousse has a
similar
sign, a woman that puffs dandelion seeds with the words "Je sème à tout
vent" (I sow at all winds).
TITLE:
Same title used for Issue #1.
Repeating what I wrote there:
The Radiant Heavenly City could refer to Revelations Chapter 22
SYNOPSIS:
Still to be done properly.
What do you do the day after the world ends? This is it, the end of the story — the one that answers all the questions! And whatever you do, do not miss issue #32!
QUOTES:
“…for a while there, at the peak, I thought I was everyboyd. We all did” – Sophie, pg 1
“It’s like we were all one person and time had scrunched down to just one moment” – Sophie, pg. 1
“Every town and village was one metropolis, on everywhere place. And the light. The light was unbelievably brihgt” – Sophie, pg. 1
“I’m an idea. But I’m a real idea” – Promethea, pg 7
“And there’s nothing here but a funny little twist of amino acids, playing a marvelous game of pretend.” – Promethea, pg. 7
“…an exceptionally lucky diamond pool-break” – Promethea, pg 8
“…caught within this glittering, endless, hyper-monent. Our consciousness, a startling outgrwoth of the universe, is possibley, its most important part, the fraction of existence that can think, feel, marvel at itself. We are all speacetime’s sensory organs, spacetime’s mind, our thoughts and lives naught but the three-dimensional, material expression of its blazing and immortal soul. This Jewel of Being, Big Bang flared at one end, Big Crunch at the other, simultaneous, all going on right nhow, a perfect frozen fire. The world is young, our most remost ancestors not yet born. The world is old and we have all been dead for decades, centuries” – Promethea, pgs 8-9
“The Big Bang never ended” – Promethea pg 10
“And all of us, the lifesnake’s myriad contingencies, embroiled in three dimensions, suffering time’s illustion, fear our end, don’t understand each second is eternal, here forever” – Promethea, pg 11.
“Live knowing that you are already dust…not bygone legends but your once and future selves…” – Promethea, pg 12
“All is one, and all is deity, this beautiful undying fire of being that is everywhere about us; that we are. O Man, O Woman, know yourself, and know you are divine…Know you are everything, forever” – Promethea, pg 13
“The white glare of revelation fades…the prison of material ambition that reduced you now demolished” – Promethea, pg 14
“And when I woke up, I was back in my own life and she was gone. Just like with everybody else” – Sophie, pg. 15
“What about you? How have things been with you? You know…since the world ended/” – Sophie, pg 15
“Dennis is amazing. It’s like the apocalypse drove him sane.” – Agent Hansard, pg 16
“Since what happened, I find I’m drawn to the Baptist stuff I used to argue with my Dad about.” – Agent Hansard, pg 16
“It’s okay to worship everything. I mean it’s not like there weren’t going to still be questions and choices after the apocalypse.” – Sophie, pg 16
“Life goes on. It’s not even like there aren’t still wars and murders and rapes. Everybody had the revelation, but not everybody understood it, or took any notice of it.” – Sophie, pg 17
“Hey I’m just Sophie. I’m not Promethea anymore” – Sophie, pg.
“soph, you are such a nerd…” – Stacia, pg
“I kinda wanted a catholic wedding with everything.” – Sophie
“EEEK! Sophie, that’s gross. I mean, do I talk to you about vibrators?” – Stacia
“Well, actually, yeah” – Sophie, pg
“Everybody can stay up as late as they want. Do you like worms?” – Polly Royce, pg
“Strong has assured fans that the full story of his experience during the event will eventually appear in his official comic book, from ABC” – TEXTure, pg
“We met Sophie when I was stuck up a tree” – Marcus Atansi
“And we held hands and we jupnmed all the way down” – Cleo Atansi, pg
“She was bautiful like lightning. She wasn’t anything I could hold” – Carl, pg 23
“She was a current passing through me.” – Sophie, pg 23
“The Promethea spirt looks like it moved on from her” – Promethea (), pg. 24
NOTES & ANNOTATIONS:
First issue with no acknowledgments for Mick Gray so he must not have had to ink any images for this one.
Pgs. 1 and 15 must have been the easiest illustration pages JH Williams III has ever done.
Here's the Barbelith Underground discussion of this issue with some questions and answers to/from JHW3
A review of this issue at Comixfan Forums
Some interesting observation about the whole issue from Thomas Lautwein
The book has two major parts, the revelation of Promethea told by agent Hansard in a flash-back, and the description of the aftermath world (pages 16-24). So you have a link and frame story from page 1 to 15 (a typical novella technique), and then Sophie's walk home where she mets the other characters so that we learn what they became. Last page gives a short view of the Immateria.
A more detailed analysis:
page 1: Sophie and Hansard, dialogue, frame
page 2-14: flash back
page 15: Hansard, frame
page 16-23: Sophie's walk
page 24: Immateria, the former Prometheas
In the new world, the atmosphere is 70s like, for instance the panel where Sophie stands before the Love Club and the
poster with Uvula/Baskerville, that's really like "Yellow submarine" the animation.
The colouring reminds of super hero comic books from the 70s or the use ofcolours in Hergé'. There's a dominance of brown, yellow, orange, pink and red (pag.21-23).
Page 1: "Dog crap" similar to dialogue at the start of Issue #13.
Manchester : Alan's friend the artist John Coulthart lives in Manchester
Page 2: Big Ben, Onion domes, CR… or GR…(Grauman’s Chinese Theatre?), African village with thatched roofs (on pg. 1 Nairobi is mentioned), Chinese writing on tall building (who can read Chinese and what does it say?), electricity cables, Hebrew writing.
Letters are : Nun? And Tet.
See Issue 12 annotations for Hebrew Alphabet
Page 3: Credits on graves.
Previously done by Alan on a Swamp Thing issue.
Also the Simpsons uses this device every Halloween for its’ Treehouse of Horror specials.
Moore esteemed writer
Williams III obsessed artist
Wendy inspiration - [Wendy is JH Williams wife]
Villarubia Colorist Extraordinaire
Cox Amazing colors
Klein America’s Best Letterer
Quinn Faithful Assistant
God Dunbier Exuberant Editor
Scott must feel flattered.
Panel 2: 32nd Street obviously from the famous film 42nd Street
Page 5 Panel 2: We can see John Lennon outside the Dakota apartments cigarette in hand with a leather jacket on.
JHW writes: He is a little less recognizable due to him looking as close as I could make him to the way his and clothing looked on the day he died.
The golden yellow figures appear to be the dead brought back to life
Kingdom Come on a man’s bare chest
Thanks to Mark Bowers for ptoing out that this is
Alex Ross (creator of the DC series Kingdom Come, and also artist on numerous ABC first issue covers).
JHW3 writes that is indeed comic art god Alex Ross. A year ago he had expressed to me how much he wanted to be drawn into Promethea so I more than graciously complied.
Can’t recognize the others
Panel 3: Uvula Cascade/Babalon kissing one of the multiple tentacle neck heads of the Sonny Baskerville beast. A goat head in the sky.
Page 4: The people we see here are Harry Smith, Nancy Spungen and Allen Ginsberg who all died at the
Chelsea Hotel
Also Greyshirt who didn't die there.
Panel 5: Jack Faust's dialogue is repeated from the previous issue.
Pages 8-9: Captions similar to Alan's monologue in Snakes and Ladders.
clock image repeated twice. Astrology signs with dates. Visible around the clock 3, 6, 9 and 12. Also Roman numerals III, XI, IX and XII. (NOTE: XI should actually be VI). This should be fixed in the collected edition. Brick wall in the background.
Little lifesnake
Lucky Diamond Pool break.
Pages 10-11: Probably my favourite image from this issue
An orrery is
a planetarium consisting of an apparatus that illustrates the relative positions and motions of bodies in the solar system by rotation and revolution of balls moved by wheelwork; sometimes incorporated in a clock
Definition taken from Dictionary.com
Visible are naked cave man and woman, then clothed and finally modern clothes with children.
Night outside bubble on Left Hand Side.
Day outside bubble on Right Hand Side.
Looks like the Space Shuttle and Golden Gate Bridge visible. Also 2 fish one yellow one with red stripes, snake and lizard, monkey taking apple from Tree of Knowledge on the Promethea side. A dinosaure (T. Rex?) on the other side, alligator, climbint monkey, w bireds, shark, dolphin, swordfish, duck(?), humming bird, dragonfly, bee, moth.
Pages 12-13: Figures reading around from right to left clockwise are:
Indra (the net gives it away)
Ares
Christ
Venus
Thoth the ibis headed Egyptian deity.
Another Thoth page
Ganesha
Demeter
Selene
Hermes
Another Hermes page
Nike
Apollo
Kali
Blue Zeus or Jupiter the thunder God
Halos visible on some of the figures
In the middle eyes in triangles
Angels & Demons (or Devils) around circle in yellow and red.
4 men and 2 women in the middle. According to JHW3 the faces springing from Promethea's forehead are representations of humanity on earth. People of all kinds.
4 eyes outside everything.
Paages 14-15: Nice fade to black on page 14
Fire extinguished
Page 16 and onwards : Cartoony bright colors
JHW3 writes about the colors in this last part of the issue
I know that coloring would be a bit jarring for the last half of the chapter but it needed to be different than anything we had previously done. So I went with completely open line art with no shadows to create lots of structure and shapes. So the archecture seemed to be lighter and less imposing. This led Jeromy [Cox the colorist] to the notion of using a heavy colorful palette along the lines of what you might find in India or similarly. This gave us that unique sort of uplifting feel that the end of the chapter really needed.
Sophie looking so different skintone wise was a idea [colorist] Jeromy [Cox] came up with. All along I have been wanting her to look less like a white girl and more hispanic so Jeromy gave her more of a darker tan since the "sun" came to earth. She's been in "sunshine" a lot. I liked the way it looked on her so we kept it. Stacia not being completely trimmed down again was also my idea. She just looks better that way I think.
Panel 1: Figures in background in the park recall ones from Issue #13.
4 little girls and 3 guys (+ a baby this time)
Panel 2:Old lady still feeding birds (and a cat) plus that couple with their child now born.
Panel 3:Over 6 Billion Enligh[tened] on T-shirt
Panel 4: Understanding: A scent for a new life reminds lonepilgrim of
the ad for Millennium pefume in Issue 12 of Watchmen.
Wings
Tea House
Promethea like figure walks by in the foreground behind Sophie.
Sophie’s skin is much darker than it was previously.
Baptist
Page 17 Panel 2:
Hestia
Stone snake
Panel 3: Hotel Pentecost
Ankh on building
Panel 5: Babies on the Slates: The limits of the 3rd dimension.
If this is a reference to anything I’m not familiar with it. Apart from Karen’s vision of the rooftop
Page 18 Panel 1:Stacia
and Lucille have both dramatically changed their appearance.
Nice T-shirt
survived the
apocalypse
and all i got
was this
lousy
t-shirt
on the back
and
it
sucks
We finally learn Agent Hansard’s first name which is Peter.
Part of billboard writing can be made out:
3 dime(nsional?)
and what…
roof pec…
can teach…
Panel 2: L22
Mercury symbol
Note Stacia's tatoo of a sword on her right arm, also visible on panel 4 and pg 19 panel 1. The sword was Grace Brannagh's weapon of choice.
Panel 3: I Love Lucy is the name of Lucille Ball’s original TV series which ran from 1951-1957
Agent Scully refers to the X-files
Page 19 Panel 1: Whale blimp
Eye in triangle
Panel 2: Promethea paper – I was wondering what had happened with that.
Carl
Panel 3: Animation
Panel 5:…ASCADE
…ERVILLE
Texture has changed too
Come In & Get Kissed
The Indra Show(?)
Page 20 Panel 1: Live Joyfully Live Well
3 Unicorns
A plutocrat is
One whose wealth gives him power or influence; one of the plutocracy.
from Dictionary.com
Royce Temple Foundation
Panel 2: Polly Royce
Panel 3Tom Strong a shame we don’t get to see him Ditto for Karen Breughel
Probably Alan preempting questions from fans about when Tom Strong will see the end of the world in the final Tom Strong issues
Panel 4: Millionaire’s Club
Nice mermaid statute
Jacuzzi
Paraphrasing Crowley’s famous
“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law”
Panel 5: IV Swell Guys
Page 21 Panel 1: Looks like the Painted Doll has replaced Stan in the 4 Swell Guys and their number has been changed to a Roman numeral.
Panel 2: David Sykes???
Aftergeddon obviously from Armageddon
Which
occurs only in Rev. 16:16 (R.V., "Har-Magedon"), as symbolically designating the place where the "battle of that great day of God Almighty" (ver. 14) shall be fought. The word properly means the "mount of Megiddo." It is the scene of the final conflict between Christ and Antichrist. The idea of such a scene was
suggested by the Old Testament great battle-field, the plain of Esdraelon
(q.v.).
the scene of the final battle between the kings of the Earth at the end of the world [syn: Armageddon] 2: any catastrophically destructive battle; "they called the first World War an Armageddon" [syn: Armageddon]
from
Dictionary
Page 21 Panel 2 Klein’s Pizza of the Gods! - echoes a similar Klein Pizza sign seen in Issue #4.
Panel 3: Drug Rehab
Mrs. Atansi’s twins are now named:
Panel 4: Cleo and Marcus
Note the IV on Marcus' T-shirt.
The Beauty Monster
Munch Chips
Suck ‘em dry tou(r)
According to JHW3 a rock band t-shirt from the reality of the comic. they aren't a real band as far as i know. at least not yet anyway.
Panel 5: Mike Myers has played The Cat in the Hat so I suppose he’d be a natural for a Weeping Gorilla movie
It’s his party and he’ll cry if he wants to comes from the song
It’s my party recorded by Lesley Gore
Apple Core Magazine
5.99 US
Promethea costs only $2.95 US in comparison
Gold of the Alchemist
Jack Faust strikes it rich on the Astral Plane
Page 23 Panel 4: "This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but with a whimper"
is from TS Eliot’s The Hollow Men
Another TS Eliot page
Page 24:
Anna died in childbirth. We already knew this
Margaret took her own life after WWI. This is the first time we learn this
The Night Queen poisoned Grace Brannagh (first time we learn this too) and she also got Bill shot. We knew that already.
Cat Fish
Panel 2: Background from Issue #16 The underwater one.
Eyes.
Panel 3: From JHW3 the raggedy doll is one of a few references in the backgrounds of the immateria that reflect the characters or things that have appeared before. the doll is for Little Margie which for some reason I stopped drawing her with a doll somewhere down the line. The tiny winged flying missiles refer to Margeret talking about the war. The little blue erection like rocks are for Bill who used to be a man. Then there is the little reference to issue 16 in panel 2 with the Peter Max background. No real meaning intended there.
Panel 5: Moth Wine
Eye tree
Panel 6: Wrap Party
Mark Bowers writes these words were written so that they were symettrical (i.e. they'd look the same in a mirror).
I'm wondering whether issue 32's going to be equally symmetrical. Maybe it'll be the world's first palindromic comic.
We'll just have to wait and see about that.