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Knights of the Golden Sun An Original Story Based Off Christian Mythology
The second of now four offered titles by indie publisher Mad Cave Studios, Knights of the Golden Sun is certainly something that came from left field. Stories about Christian mythology (God, Angels, Jesus, etc) can come with a dicey proposition depending on who reads the material. I myself am denoted Agnostic so I went into the story with no real bias or personal attachment to the source material.
Which, in turn, allowed for me the story to be exactly what was presented. A confusing sentence to be sure, but essentially KoTGS is a high fantasy variant of the eventual birth of Jesus. How does this tie in with the Angels you might ask? I’ll let the comic explain.
God Abandons The Throne
There you have. God has abandoned his throne 400 years before the birth of Jesus, so now the Angels are scrambling. Added onto this complication?
Yep! Ol Flame Face Morningstar himself is back on the side of the right and good!…..is what they want you to believe. Anyone even remotely familiar with the Bible knows Lucifer to be both treacherous and a convincing liar. He is also pretty pissed at the whole being cast out from heaven bit, so the idea of him returning to “the fold” seems pretty ridiculous.
I gather Mark figured this would be the natural reaction to seeing this part of the story, since by the end we are definitely shown…
….Lucifer really just can’t be trusted. With anything.
Classic Good Versus Evil Tropes
What I find most interesting about this opening salvo is just how free Mark is with the source material. Its never really defined in the bible what Angels look like outside of choice source defining them as Eldritch Abominations so bizarre it would melt your brain. So his inclusion for some of the Angels to be not only female but PoC instead is, to me, a welcome change of pace.
All and all, I find it to be a strong opening similar to their previous title Battlecats even if it does move a BIT fast. While it is all well and good to provide compact stories with a define end goal (1 of 7 in this case), I do like to spend some time at least enjoying the atmosphere. Soak it in rather than being railroaded towards the end at lightning speed.
There is a bit of a twist at the end revealing who could be the real antagonist of the series. But I think I’ll let the audience discover who that is rather than reveal it here. It’s more fun that way.
Knights of the Golden Sun – Volume 1 is available through Mad Cave Studios or Comixology.