The XII - The Father #1

The XII - The Father Issue #1

The XII is written by Patrick Trahey, art by Luis Suarez, lettered by MaGnUs and published  by SOL Comics. The XII (as in 12) is a post apocalyptic series that I picked up on Kickstarter and had sitting in my "to read" pile (which was continually getting larger) for a few months and when I finally got around to reading it I was annoyed that I wasted so much time not reading them because they were fantastic and I now eagerly await the release of issue #4.

The story begins with an unknown man being chased by by heavily armed, gas mask wearing men screaming asking what happened to his family and seems to meet an unfortunate end. We then flash back to a week earlier to find out how this man got into such a glum predicament. We find out that this man, our main character Caleb, is the leader of a small group of survivors consisting of his wife, Anna Bell, their 5 children, his brother-in-law, Alvin, and friend Hank. The adults of the camp are concerned how they will make it through winter with a failing crop and so many mouths to feed that they begin to consider going out of the "dead roads" despite Anna Belle's objections. These problems quickly take a back seat when a suspicious old man turns up requesting food or harbour saying that "The 12", a dangerous group that murder and mutilate travellers, are on the road. Caleb and his group know better than to trust strangers and dismiss The 12 as a ghost story. Their suspicions proven true as the old man and his group steal their livestock and burn their house to the ground. This forces Caleb and his family to move to their secret base and they now have no other choice then to head out on the dead roads to search for some kind of salvation.

Not exactly looking promising

The thing that distinguishes the characters and their situation from other post apocalyptic titles is that these characters have already established a way of living without modern comforts and begun to truly work for a better future by farming and teaching the children to read and how to prepare for the future. These characters have their problems and disagreements but still have some semblance of a functioning family.

The art of The XII is black and white with the only colour present being orange, usually for fire. The characters are all different in design with the children being incredibly cute and the adults having a tough hardened look about them as you would expect people who had scraped a living out of nothing to look.

The XII is a great comic that has heart warming family moments, tragedy and fear all topped off with a little hope. Every struggle that Caleb and his family face they still have hope that they will some how make it, as the series progresses their hope and resolve will be tested as dark futures come to pass and darker pasts are revealed.

I give The XII 4 out of 5 flaming arrows.

Find out more about The XII here.