“Divine Intervention”
Creative Staff:
Story: Christopher Cantwell
Art: Adam Gorham
Colors: Kurt Michael Russell
Letterer: Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou
What They Say:
Facing consequences for his most recent act of vigilantism, Sam plummets towards rock bottom. Meanwhile, the Blue Flame gets a firsthand look at what happens when an entire civilization is annihilated. Shattered by what he witnesses, the Flame desperately searches for some proof of a benevolent force in the universe, as Sam faces his own oblivion in Milwaukee.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
As we get into the seventh issue of the series, more and more what we’re seeing on both Earth and on Exilos is proving to be disturbing to watch. But the back and forth and time-shifting narrative can be frustrating at times to remember when and where we are. Cantwell knows what he’s doing through and the script and the characters keep you coming back for more with each tease. Adam Gorham made a lot of it really fun as well, with the creativity of the outer space sequences with all that we encounter there, to the more humdrum mundane material of Sam, but especially his time with the therapist this time around that really works well. The expressiveness of the cast is what’s key in this installment, however, and Gorham delivers on that quite well.
There’s a lot going on with this issue and events on Exilos definitely ramp things up a good bit. Sam is struggling with the prosecution that was just laid out and the prosecutor, meeting with him after, goes so far as to offer him a gun to kill him with so that perhaps the case can be thrown into disarray. But the reality is, there is no stopping the case and the prosecutor shows him through technology what happened to his own people, how the judgment ships came and destroyed everything within minutes around his world. Billions dead so quickly and the world turn to a smooth cold surface after the fact, removing any instance of his people, society, or anything from the universe. Which adds the extra cruelty in making him a prosecutor in this case.
That in turn has Sam trying to rearrange things and make his way back to earth, which will only make things worse for the case, but it’s uncertain here as to the reality of what will happen. The rest of the book focuses on events from last issue with Sam as he’s now been arrested for assault and both Reed and Dee now know that Sam was responsible for Mateo being picked up for deportation. Suffice to say, Matteo’s intent on getting out so as to not miss the birth of his child but he does at least get Reed on his side to try her best. The fallout between Sam and Dee is what plays out the most here with her being completely done with him while he’s now trying to figure out how to get the help he needs. I do like that Reed does fill in Dee about the whole trial thing, which does make him sound like he’s in even greater need of help, but it serves to bring more people into the loop with his mindset.
In Summary:
Blue Flame continues to be a fascinating book to read but it’s also getting dangerously close to a point where it needs to really step up and make clear what’s going on. There’s still enough that you can believe Exilos is a fever dream of Sam’s while at the same time it can be the best part of the book because of what it represents. I do like Sam’s nod to wondering who is judging the judges here and how that could play out as a wedge, but I’m wary of it being a thread not picked up. Cantwell does some solid stuff with what’s happening in the normal lives of the characters but so much of that will just read far better when you can binge through the series rather than these irregular releases. It’s totally worth it for those invested to keep with it though as there’s so much to like.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Vault Comics
Release Date: March 2nd, 2022
MSRP: $3.99
