Skyworld: Prodigal

Skyworld #3

by Mervin Ignacio, Ian Sta. Maria

56 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2011

Reviews

[Nicolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first two volumes of Skyworld were consistent. The first half of each volume portrays the mysterious games, gods, monsters and men play, in the shadows of history or prehistory. These events were tragedies like the fall or death of kings, like Lapu-Lapu whose death may have rendered the archipelago defenseless to a foreign invasion or the fall of a sky god to earth. Had it happened differently, history may have unwound differently in modern Philippines.

The third volume, Prodigal, is much different. It has a post-apocalyptic setting where the Philippines is overcome by the monsters that used to hide in the shadows. Events unfold that would precipitate an important confrontation by asuang queen Rianka and the last scion and heir to the power of the fallen sky god, provided the young man who wields this power can find a way to use it.

I liked how the artist, as he did in the second volume Testament, render the human characters more realistically than the stylized monsters. It gives the humans a different visual language from the monsters. The artist goes wild with the monsters, often fusing fantasy elements with steampunk technology.