In Review: The Sisterhood

British indie Timebomb Comics The Sisterhood: Morningstar is a gem of an indie title from this young Leicester-based UK publisher, who also brought us the time-bending Ragamuffins last year.

With art from newcomer Dan Barritt, The Sisterhood are dedicated to fighting the good fight in God's name. Sinners, it seems, are everywhere, blinded by Satan’s lure. Who else but women of faith, from all the known worlds, can thus help bring salvation to the lost souls of the galaxy and, in particular, to the backwater planet Morningstar that refuses to accept the message of the Church?

TimeBomb's first full-colour book, Steve Tanner delivers an acerbic script drawing, I'm assuming, on the Catholic Church's treatment of non-believers in the past (much in evidence in South America and Mexico during the destruction of indigenous civillisations in the quest for gold, for example): although of course there's plenty of modern-day evangelists of all Christian churches that continue to employ some appalling tactics in pursuit of converting the heathen. (The web site Religious Tolerance provides a starting point for examples...)

None though, measure up to the devastating tactics of the future See in The Sisterhood, wiping out entire planetary societies if they don't bend to the will of God. Steve's vicious and yet often funny script is actually given more menace through artist Dan Barritt's cartoony, manga-esque style: while anime and manga often use funny animals to deliver a satirical take on the world, Steve and Dan go for the jugular and bring deliver a cruel, savage take on future war, future religion with a cast of human characters.

While the title is not without fault -- with a fairly big cast for a one-shot title, more could have been done with character introduction for example, and the sheer chaos of the battle of Morningstar very occasionally leads to some confused storytelling -- any faults are more than made up for by Dan Barritt's stunning panoramic battlescapes and the delightful satire the script offers, easily on a par wit some of the best of the early 2000AD stories.

While I'd also argue the overall print quality of the title is a little dark, muting the quality of the art a tad, this is still a title well worth tracking down via TimeBomb themselves or other outlets.

• Buy The Sisterhood on the TimeBomb Comics web site
• Dan Barritt's official web site
• Short Fuses: The Official Time Bomb Comics Blog