Mark Sable, Sam Humphries has a new comic out this week, and...

Sam Humphries has a new comic out this week, and it’s great. SACRIFICE is his follow up to OUR LOVE IS REAL, which was first a self-published sensation and then joined GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES at Image Comics. It’s my favorite single issue of the year. Now Sam has gotten all ambitious and moved on to a limited series.

I just read a PDF of the first issue of Sacrifice. Even in reading in my Firefox browser where I couldn’t adjust the panel size, it blew me away. Kieron Gillen, writer of Phonogram and Uncanny X-men, had this pull quote:

“What happens when two of history’s greatest death cults meet up? Aztecs vs. Joy Division fans. You haven’t an answer. You haven’t even thought of such a thing. Humphries and Rose have”.

The Rose they are referring to is Dalton Rose. His art is a revelation. As much as I love the cover design, the interiors are full color and even better. Here’s a teaser courtesy of ifanboy.

I have to admit, Kieron’s quote scared me. I love the work he and Jamie McKelvie did on Phonogram, but the words “Joy Division” made me think my musical tastes were not hip enough for the book. While I’m sure if yours are you’ll get even more out of it than me, rest assured you don’t need to know anything about music.

SACRIFICE is an extremely smart, accessible book about a teenager that may or may not have traveled back in time to the Aztec Empire the end of Montezuma’s reign. It’s is-he-really-time-traveling-or-is-he-just-having-a-mental-breakdown thing reminded me of Life on Mars (the great British TV show, not the horrible American remake, which had the biggest “fuck you, audience” finale this side of The Sopranos”). The Aztec stuff is done well, and reminds of Civilization, my all time favorite computer game.

You might say I’m biased with my review here, as Sam is a great friend who not only shares my love for Civ but has helped me out tremendously. But trust me when I say it actually pains me to praise this book, that’s how jealous of it I am. It’s truly phenomenal and you’d never know it was only his 2nd creator-owned book…definitely no sophomore slump here.

SACRIFICE is available in select stores this Wednesday, December 14th, with print editions delivered from Things From Another World and digital download. Below is the official announcement info, and clinking the cover above will take you to Sam’s website.

samhumphries: