The Shepherd: Apokatastasis

by Andrea Lorenzo Molinari, Roberto Xavier Molinari, Luca Panciroli (Illustrator)

After Professor Lawrence Miller’s teenage son Val’s tragic death from a drug overdose, he cannot shake the sense that his son’s soul is lost and wandering between heaven and earth. Grieving and deeply disturbed, he commits suicide, pursuing his son into the afterlife. Lawrence’s soul awakens and immediately encounters his deceased father who has arrived in order to help him transition. Lawrence rejects his father’s offer, choosing instead to stay in the ‘seam,’ the middle ground between heaven and earth, so that he can find his son and seek retribution. Lawrence embarks on his search for Val, beginning at his son’s grave. Lawrence begins to wage a brutal campaign of retribution against those responsible for the drugs that killed Val. His existence becomes a terrifying conflict between his unchecked anger… and his instinctive knowledge that he has lost his way.

Genres: Comics

142 pages, Paperback

Published May 16, 2015

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

A father loses his son to drugs and falls apart. He has a feeling his son is still lost on the other side and so kills himself to find him. I mean, what the hell? The guy abandons the rest of his family, not even caring about what his suicide will do to them. Then, instead of looking for his son who he just killed himself to find, he goes on a vengeance spree to take out the drug dealers that gave his son the drugs. In the foreword, Molinari talks about how the idea came from a nightmare and this story has that same kind of batshit crazy logic where people make insane decisions they'd never make in real life.

[The_J · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice play with death and the Egyptian Gods, but nothing here is particularly compelling or objectionable. Revelations 3: 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: Ebook provided by the author for my honest review.

To start, this graphic novel is emotional, yet full of action. It's also one that will make you think. In the introduction by the author, Dr. Andrea Molinari, he tells the reader how this book started as a dream he had and later became shaped into this graphic novel by him, his son, and the artist Ryan Showers. It was really interesting to read this story of a father and son's relationship knowing that the author worked on this graphic novel with his own son.

Even though it isn't a spoiler (as it's part of the summary for the book) that the main character's son dies in the beginning from a drug overdose, it's carried out so well that it's such a deeply emotional part of the book (and I don't have any personal experiences that are close to this at all). The father's emotional turmoil shows so strongly, and it's easy for the reader to sympathize with him. As the story carries on, there are many different emotions besides sadness, but they're depicted just as deeply to affect the reader.

The artwork style is dark, which carries the weight of emotional baggage that is dragged through this novel. I read this on my laptop, since it was an ebook, and I can only imagine how gorgeous the artwork is on a physical printed page. The colors chosen reflect the sadness and grief in the beginning, and later reflect the anger and hostility through the father's quest for vengeance.

This story brings up questions about life and death, morality, and forgiveness, and the afterword written by Dr. Molinari is very interesting as well. He is a theologian, like the main character, so his discussion on the background of aspects of this book are insightful and also make me miss a class I took in college (it was The Bible as Literature, and there were so many interesting discussions in that course). These themes are definitely ones that induce a need for further reading, because there's so much that can be learned.

I really enjoyed this graphic novel. It took me longer to finish only because I read it on my computer (which made the print smaller, therefore making me take breaks to rest my bad eyes), but it is definitely a quick read if you don't have that problem. You can order the book from Amazon here (either for Kindle or a physical copy).

This review and others can also be found on my book blog: swimmingthroughliterature.wordpress.com

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lawrence, a professor of theology, loses his son to a drug overdose. He finds the grief too much to bear, and he has a nagging feeling that his son's soul is lost, that he needs his father on the other side to help guide the way. As Lawrence crosses over, he meets with his departed father who tries to counsel Lawrence away from seeking vengeance on those he feel is responsible for his son’s death. Lawrence's father gives him a staff that he hopes he will use for good, but he instead uses it for revenge. Along the way, he gets a companion - a fierce wolf who follows his lead and seems to want revenge as well.

Read the full review, and find more graphic novel reviews, at The Graphic Library.