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Saints #1-9
Saints: The Book of Blaise
When a group of misfits discover themselves to be the re-incarnations of Catholic Saints they must put aside their differences to battle the fallen angel Michael and his army of Doomsday Zealots. Critically lauded, this is the comic debut of award winning playwright Sean Christopher Lewis (Kennedy Center Rosa Parks Award; NPR'S This American Life) and graphic artist Benjamin Mackey (of Twin Peaks Tarot Card fame). SAINTS is the wildly funny and challenging story of people questioning what they believe in the midst of fighting for it. Religion, Humor and Heavy Metal combine in this audacious drama for adults. Sean Lewis' plays have been produced the United States and Europe winning the Kennedy Center's Rosa Parks Award, the Barrymore Award, the Smith Prize and many more. His work has been published in the NY Times Sunday Magazine, lauded in the Huffington Post, and heard on NPR'S This American Life. He is a proud father, husband and Artistic Director of Working Group Theater. He can be found at Benjamin Mackey is the co-creator and artist of the ongoing series SAINTS alongside Sean Lewis. While this is Benjamin's first foray into the world of comic books, he has been working as a freelance illustrator for various books, magazines, and films over the past six years. He lives in Arizona and enjoys a damn fine cup of coffee.
256 pages, Paperback
First published September 13, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
November 9, 2017
I was torn between 3 and 4 stars for this but ultimately I think I have to go with 3. I loved the art style and it was a really cool concept [also love how they use the way they were martyred as their weapons, really great] but the whole just felt a little bit disjointed. Also I've always gotta take a star off for the sex obsessed metalhead 'satanist' trope like please just let me live. I wish there was a more gender-balanced cast as well.
September 10, 2016
"I don't believe in you not because you don't exist, but because you don't care." Humorous, touching, with a fast moving plot. I wish it could have been longer, with more individual backstory for each character. Regardless, it's worth the read. Anyone who has stood, middle fingers to the sky, will understand.
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January 10, 2026I’ve chosen not to rate this, because I am not the targeted audience for this graphic novel. If you like the show Preacher, then you’ll like this. Should have read ALL of the back of the book and reviews more. The description of “religion, humor, and heavy metal”…. “challenging story of people questioning what they believe in the midst of fighting for it” led me to expect something that this was not. I don’t even know if I know someone I’d recommend this for.
From as best of an objective POV as I can give though, some parts felt extra just to be “heavy metal” or punk.
From as best of an objective POV as I can give though, some parts felt extra just to be “heavy metal” or punk.
October 12, 2018
The book was more focused on being edgy, humorous, and “cool” than it was on being accurate in any way (apart from what Saint Blaise is most commonly known for) that the only people that would truly enjoy it are the author himself, and an eighth grader who is going through their punk rock phase. Also, having a Satanist metalhead character doesn’t automatically make the book more interesting.
The illustrations were creative but a little too dark, 8.5/10.
The illustrations were creative but a little too dark, 8.5/10.
December 5, 2016
Disclaimer: I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was requested or offered.
“Monster” Blaise is a heavy metal musician with “one weird trick”–his glowing hands can cure throat ailments. It’s never occurred to him to look further into this, so it’s a bit of a surprise when a mysterious archer interrupts one of Blaise’s assignations. The bowman claims to be the reincarnation of Saint Sebastian, yes that Saint Sebastian, and our protagonist is the reincarnation of Saint Blaise.
Blaise wasn’t raised Catholic, or even Christian, and is none too clear on what’s going on. But bad things are going down, and they must find the last few reincarnated saints before the end of the world. The next on the list is Lucy Sweetapple, a grocery store clerk with the gift of Sight, and whose parents own a painting of Jesus that talks to Blaise. It’s only getting weirder from here.
The author of this Image Comics-published story was raised Irish Catholic, he tells us in the foreword, and he’s combined his childhood love of the Saints with metal and comics for this series. He’s best known for his plays, and it takes a while for his comics writing to click. The art is strongly inked to give it a bit of a stained-glass feel, and works well with the story themes.
This is not a book for those who like their religion orthodox; the writer plays fast and loose with the abilities of the saints, the motivations of angels and the nature of God. The ministers who have joined up with the antagonists are from non-standard churches, and there’s a children’s crusade filled with child soldiers. Meanwhile, the protagonists’ forces include morally dubious metal bands and a demon.
While this isn’t specifically labeled “mature readers”, there’s nudity, gory violence, sexual situations and some unnecessary vulgarity. Urine drinking in the first scene for shock value, for example. Lucy attacking Blaise in the mistaken belief that he was about to sexually assault her is played for laughs, but it’s pretty obvious men have tried it enough before to make her violence an ingrained reaction.
There are some clever bits with the saints’ abilities being based on their folklore but not confined to that; and very effective artistic renderings of revelatory messages. But in places I was uncomfortably reminded of some of the excesses of early Vertigo Comics.
I think this will go over best with lapsed Catholics and comparative theology majors.
“Monster” Blaise is a heavy metal musician with “one weird trick”–his glowing hands can cure throat ailments. It’s never occurred to him to look further into this, so it’s a bit of a surprise when a mysterious archer interrupts one of Blaise’s assignations. The bowman claims to be the reincarnation of Saint Sebastian, yes that Saint Sebastian, and our protagonist is the reincarnation of Saint Blaise.
Blaise wasn’t raised Catholic, or even Christian, and is none too clear on what’s going on. But bad things are going down, and they must find the last few reincarnated saints before the end of the world. The next on the list is Lucy Sweetapple, a grocery store clerk with the gift of Sight, and whose parents own a painting of Jesus that talks to Blaise. It’s only getting weirder from here.
The author of this Image Comics-published story was raised Irish Catholic, he tells us in the foreword, and he’s combined his childhood love of the Saints with metal and comics for this series. He’s best known for his plays, and it takes a while for his comics writing to click. The art is strongly inked to give it a bit of a stained-glass feel, and works well with the story themes.
This is not a book for those who like their religion orthodox; the writer plays fast and loose with the abilities of the saints, the motivations of angels and the nature of God. The ministers who have joined up with the antagonists are from non-standard churches, and there’s a children’s crusade filled with child soldiers. Meanwhile, the protagonists’ forces include morally dubious metal bands and a demon.
While this isn’t specifically labeled “mature readers”, there’s nudity, gory violence, sexual situations and some unnecessary vulgarity. Urine drinking in the first scene for shock value, for example. Lucy attacking Blaise in the mistaken belief that he was about to sexually assault her is played for laughs, but it’s pretty obvious men have tried it enough before to make her violence an ingrained reaction.
There are some clever bits with the saints’ abilities being based on their folklore but not confined to that; and very effective artistic renderings of revelatory messages. But in places I was uncomfortably reminded of some of the excesses of early Vertigo Comics.
I think this will go over best with lapsed Catholics and comparative theology majors.
February 13, 2017
Okay, this one is going to be too much for some people on my list. If you think the premise sounds offensive, you will definitely not like this book. If you think it sounds amazing, well, it ramps up so much better than I expected.
Though the book is fun in many ways, it goes over things too fast for them to have much weight, at least for me. I could imagine that for someone who has a personal investment in saints or heavy metal, this book could have a real impact.
Though the book is fun in many ways, it goes over things too fast for them to have much weight, at least for me. I could imagine that for someone who has a personal investment in saints or heavy metal, this book could have a real impact.
October 7, 2017
Saints could have been, and really should have been, twice as long as it was. Though the premise and some of the story is pretty good, everything happens way too fast. And as a fan and believer in saints, there’s literally thousands of saints to choose from. I’d like to have seen more of them included in the story.
April 28, 2017
If you love Preacher and heavy metal, this is it man!!
January 21, 2023
Punk rock reincarnated saints say who?
January 21, 2018
This book could have been really great, but falls far short from its potential, so - for me - was incredibly disappointing. But I have to acknowledge that it’s not altogether a bad read. What you need to know if you’re in a hurry: Is this read worth it? Yes - on the condition that you aren’t too hung up on the sanctity of Catholic figures or Christianity in general, as long as you aren’t too hung up on “I don’t believe in anything”, as long as you don’t consider heavy metal your baby and would be utterly offended by static and strangely overly sexualized heavy metal characters.
What you might like to know about my opinions if you have more time: While other reviews online praise Saints for its originality, I would argue there’s nothing original about Saints. There’s hundreds of comics and graphic novels that revisit and reimagine religious, particularly Catholic/Christian lore; what makes Saints stand out in that respect is the edgy-rebel-without-a-cause-searching-for-answers-heavy-metal-teen-angst twist. In the writer,Sean Louis’s, foreword he explains that the whole series was really a way for him to process his ideas of faith (particularly Catholicism) and believing, heavy metal, and what magic and more are. Always a cool and interesting approach to writing, in my opinion. But Saints should have been workshopped some more. The pacing is ridiculous and the structure is loose and haphazard. “Rushed” and “disjointed” is the best description for the writing and dialogue. A shame, because Lewis started so many great things in this project and just dropped all follow-through throughout the entire work. If the series had been twice as long, perhaps, and been allowed to develop at a more natural pace I think all of my gripes could be resolved.
The art, on the other hand, is wonderful. It’s very clear why Benjamin Mackey was chosen to create the art for this story. Mackey’s highly stylized and graffiti-ish art is perfect for the low-reverential, quasi-Catholic iconography of the story. Mackey’s art, in my opinion, carried this work. Just wonderful.
What you might like to know about my opinions if you have more time: While other reviews online praise Saints for its originality, I would argue there’s nothing original about Saints. There’s hundreds of comics and graphic novels that revisit and reimagine religious, particularly Catholic/Christian lore; what makes Saints stand out in that respect is the edgy-rebel-without-a-cause-searching-for-answers-heavy-metal-teen-angst twist. In the writer,Sean Louis’s, foreword he explains that the whole series was really a way for him to process his ideas of faith (particularly Catholicism) and believing, heavy metal, and what magic and more are. Always a cool and interesting approach to writing, in my opinion. But Saints should have been workshopped some more. The pacing is ridiculous and the structure is loose and haphazard. “Rushed” and “disjointed” is the best description for the writing and dialogue. A shame, because Lewis started so many great things in this project and just dropped all follow-through throughout the entire work. If the series had been twice as long, perhaps, and been allowed to develop at a more natural pace I think all of my gripes could be resolved.
The art, on the other hand, is wonderful. It’s very clear why Benjamin Mackey was chosen to create the art for this story. Mackey’s highly stylized and graffiti-ish art is perfect for the low-reverential, quasi-Catholic iconography of the story. Mackey’s art, in my opinion, carried this work. Just wonderful.
October 18, 2019
I do like weird biblical stories that involve lots of swearing, alas, this reminded me of Dogma a lot. Saints comic is about these young people that are actually somehow newborn saints. They have weird powers and visions and they must fight Archangel Michael and his nasty child crusaders group. The saints group end up together with a death metal band and they fight the bad guys of course - in a sense it's about what anyone believes in. The comic is quite bloody with lots of odd and grotesque humor, which I take isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I liked this aspect. The ending is a slight letdown though, since it's axed. I don't know if the series continues, but I was dissatisfied, dammit. I really enjoyed the humor part, it makes this awesome and the metal band is perfection too. Especially their adoration for the demon pet.
The art looks like taken straight from the altar pieces. It was great! Even the colors meshed. There's this humorous vibe to the art, which works nicely although the comic looks slightly dull at times. Perhaps the lack of backgrounds makes it so. With a better ending this could've been four stars, but it's still enjoyable like this. Not for people taking religion seriously, though.
The art looks like taken straight from the altar pieces. It was great! Even the colors meshed. There's this humorous vibe to the art, which works nicely although the comic looks slightly dull at times. Perhaps the lack of backgrounds makes it so. With a better ending this could've been four stars, but it's still enjoyable like this. Not for people taking religion seriously, though.
November 11, 2022
Interesting art and concept, but still with some major flaws. I was torn between 3 and 4 stars for this, and I might revisit this review later and adjust score, but for now I will go with three stars rating.
The story is humorous, with a fast moving plot - too fast if you ask me. It just opens too many different narratives without any background, and then rushes over it. It could easily have been longer, with more individual backstory for each character, or at least each fraction. I also thought the story need some work at the end as it feels rushed.
The art here is really good, mix some graffiti with orthodox iconography and simplify the details and you get the grip. Only on basis of art I would argue this maybe deserves four stars. But for now three is enough, in the closing word author mentioned that this might not be the end of it, and I hope it's not as there's a lot of unfulfilled potential. In a way, it reminds me of a Preacher, Volume 1: Gone to Texas series.
The story is humorous, with a fast moving plot - too fast if you ask me. It just opens too many different narratives without any background, and then rushes over it. It could easily have been longer, with more individual backstory for each character, or at least each fraction. I also thought the story need some work at the end as it feels rushed.
The art here is really good, mix some graffiti with orthodox iconography and simplify the details and you get the grip. Only on basis of art I would argue this maybe deserves four stars. But for now three is enough, in the closing word author mentioned that this might not be the end of it, and I hope it's not as there's a lot of unfulfilled potential. In a way, it reminds me of a Preacher, Volume 1: Gone to Texas series.
December 24, 2017
2.5
Lo mejor de Saints es definitivamente el arte. Mackey hace un excelente trabajo, el diseño de personajes, la paleta de colores, el estilo de la ilustración, todo en conjunto recuerda a la pintura bizantina, cosa que resulta acertado para la historia que nos cuentan. Sin embargo, la historia es un poco floja, el inicio te atrapa pero poco a poco todo se va tornando sobrecargado y caótico, para mí llegó un punto en el que no entendía bien qué estaba pasando y tenía que tomármelo con mucha calma, aunque el final vuelve a hacerle justicia a la premisa original de este cómic. En resumen: la historia es una estira y afloja.
Creo que es una genial idea un tanto mal ejecutada pues se podría hacer sacado más partido.
Lo mejor de Saints es definitivamente el arte. Mackey hace un excelente trabajo, el diseño de personajes, la paleta de colores, el estilo de la ilustración, todo en conjunto recuerda a la pintura bizantina, cosa que resulta acertado para la historia que nos cuentan. Sin embargo, la historia es un poco floja, el inicio te atrapa pero poco a poco todo se va tornando sobrecargado y caótico, para mí llegó un punto en el que no entendía bien qué estaba pasando y tenía que tomármelo con mucha calma, aunque el final vuelve a hacerle justicia a la premisa original de este cómic. En resumen: la historia es una estira y afloja.
Creo que es una genial idea un tanto mal ejecutada pues se podría hacer sacado más partido.
May 16, 2018
I was drawn to it because of its Catholic iconography, and as someone who is interested in those themes, myself. While I really liked the premise, it felt rushed and disjointed and had me wondering what the hell was going on for half of it. The mix of heavy metal, dark magic, an outcast with healing powers, saints and angels was a good mix for me--but it could have been altogether a lot better. I would have liked it if it were at least twice as long and explained how Archangel Michael fell from God's grace; as someone who has some knowledge of the archangels, it was ultimately confusing.
From the view point of another comic artist, however, I appreciate this addition to the canon of graphic novels out there. It's definitely topical for me, but could have been executed better.
From the view point of another comic artist, however, I appreciate this addition to the canon of graphic novels out there. It's definitely topical for me, but could have been executed better.
February 24, 2021
One of the many things I love about comics is that it's a medium that shines especially when it comes to bringing high-concept ideas to life that are either heavily reliant on visuals to be literature or simply too outlandish and niche to be adapted into TV or film. Saints by Sean Lewis is the epitome of this: a great concept executed soundly, so much so, that it even makes me forgive its occasional hiccups, like the sometimes tumultuous dialogues and scene construction.
September 25, 2024
This was okay. Really cool central idea, but the pacing was rushed and some theoretically important characters were meaningless and one dimensional as a result. I love the art a lot but it's not always a style that lends itself to movement and action so I think the book suffers there a bit too. I still wanted to see how it all turned out and, again, it is gorgeous to look at.
April 8, 2021
Interesting concept about modern day saints. The art was nice and seemed somewhat angular, perhaps trying for a stained glass feel?, but I'm not an art person.) Some nudity and definitely battle gore.
July 14, 2023
Deserved way more character development than a nine-issue run allowed it. Everyone felt like a cardboard cutout and I had more questions than answers any time another person showed up. Love Benjamin Mackey’s art, though — really like how angular and dynamic his figures are.
November 24, 2017
I want more! loved this!
August 15, 2019
Gorgeous art style, satisfying ending! it could have benefited in having a grander scale than 9 issues but c'est la vie.
June 5, 2024
Story makes no sense.
January 3, 2017
found this on a shelf in the library. rather strange.
May 11, 2017
Rating: 2.5
I won this book in a free Goodreads Giveaway for an honest opinion.
For the record, I'm an atheist, which factored greatly into my feelings & experience while reading. I'll fully admit to cringing through out the whole course of this book. Mostly because the antagonists depicted can be found in our everyday life & ugh why.
I will say that this is far different from anything I'd normally read. And although the concept was interesting, in my opinion it failed in execution. Although I did fly through it, in the end just didn't care. The story structure felt disjointed through out the story. I've also never experienced a climax of a book to feel both rushed & slow at the same time but this comic managed accomplished that. Which isn't saying much because the ending was nothing to be proud of. As for the characters, Blaise & Stephen were the only ones that stuck out to me, I guess. The rest were 1 dimensional & boring. Also what was w/ the part where they summon a demon dog thing?! That was all kinds of random & ridiculous. I will say that the art style did get better by the end but not by much.
I won this book in a free Goodreads Giveaway for an honest opinion.
For the record, I'm an atheist, which factored greatly into my feelings & experience while reading. I'll fully admit to cringing through out the whole course of this book. Mostly because the antagonists depicted can be found in our everyday life & ugh why.
I will say that this is far different from anything I'd normally read. And although the concept was interesting, in my opinion it failed in execution. Although I did fly through it, in the end just didn't care. The story structure felt disjointed through out the story. I've also never experienced a climax of a book to feel both rushed & slow at the same time but this comic managed accomplished that. Which isn't saying much because the ending was nothing to be proud of. As for the characters, Blaise & Stephen were the only ones that stuck out to me, I guess. The rest were 1 dimensional & boring. Also what was w/ the part where they summon a demon dog thing?! That was all kinds of random & ridiculous. I will say that the art style did get better by the end but not by much.
September 12, 2016
Christianity from different angles
A group of Saints, reincarnated in our times, find themselves on a quest while the followers of Michael are out to prevent them. Recruiting along the way, they eventually end up in Babylon for the battle with Michael and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
With simplistic line drawings, this comic collection shows us conflicts within Christianity as fanatics will do anything to maintain their position/beliefs. This was not really my sort of comic so I did not enjoy as much as others might.
A group of Saints, reincarnated in our times, find themselves on a quest while the followers of Michael are out to prevent them. Recruiting along the way, they eventually end up in Babylon for the battle with Michael and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
With simplistic line drawings, this comic collection shows us conflicts within Christianity as fanatics will do anything to maintain their position/beliefs. This was not really my sort of comic so I did not enjoy as much as others might.
October 3, 2016
** I received a copy of this book for free through a Goodreads giveaway. **
Wonderful story and characters. I loved the art and the storyline and was very sorry when this graphic novel ended. The idea of showing people of all religions and of no religion working together, for both good and evil, is well done and fascinating. I really enjoyed the misfit, heavy metal bad-boy/girl vibe too. My only complaint is that the ending was a bit abrupt but I'm hoping there will be more to come so I'm willing to overlook that for now!
Wonderful story and characters. I loved the art and the storyline and was very sorry when this graphic novel ended. The idea of showing people of all religions and of no religion working together, for both good and evil, is well done and fascinating. I really enjoyed the misfit, heavy metal bad-boy/girl vibe too. My only complaint is that the ending was a bit abrupt but I'm hoping there will be more to come so I'm willing to overlook that for now!
October 6, 2016
Disclaimer: I received a free copy through the Goodreads giveaways program.
This is a fun read. It has it's flaws, but it's fun.
Think of Kevin Smith's Dogma meets X-Men with a healthy dose of metal. The 9 part miniseries goes by quickly, a bit too quickly at times. I'd have liked more character development as the motivations are unclear at times.
The story pulls you in and the action carries it along throughout. Splashes of dark humor help the book avoid getting too macabre as blood and gore abound.
Worth checking out.
This is a fun read. It has it's flaws, but it's fun.
Think of Kevin Smith's Dogma meets X-Men with a healthy dose of metal. The 9 part miniseries goes by quickly, a bit too quickly at times. I'd have liked more character development as the motivations are unclear at times.
The story pulls you in and the action carries it along throughout. Splashes of dark humor help the book avoid getting too macabre as blood and gore abound.
Worth checking out.
January 4, 2017
This was quite the story. I highly recommend it to fans of Preacher and heavy metal. I'm a Preacher fan, but what drew me in was the concept of the saints reincarnated in the modern day. I've always been fascinated by the saints even though I am not Catholic. Still, the main character (Blaise) shows you don't have to be a believer to enjoy this. My only complaint is that I felt it was too rushed. I thought the characters and background could have been more developed at a slower pace. Still a wonderful graphic novel. Would definitely recommend.
January 15, 2017
I really enjoyed the storyline but would've liked to see it a bit more fleshed out. It would've been nice to see some more backstory on the characters and I think there were opportunities for more conflict that weren't taken advantage of.
For example, what if Lucy's parents had been part of Michael's group? They were devout enough it would've been believable and would've made for an interesting conflict in the final battle. Regardless, it was nice to see an atheist main character and the combination of metal and myth was really fun.
For example, what if Lucy's parents had been part of Michael's group? They were devout enough it would've been believable and would've made for an interesting conflict in the final battle. Regardless, it was nice to see an atheist main character and the combination of metal and myth was really fun.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 26, 2016
The Perfect tonic to deal with current times. Sean Lewis and Ben Mackey bring us a tale of reborn saints fighting an End Times cult. Misfits, outcasts and heavy metal embellishes this tale of Armageddon. Read this book. Now.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews