Tribulation Force

(Tyndale House, 2002)
™ and © Tyndale House
Book 2. Continues story from Left Behind series.

Over the past several years, authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins have crafted a series of best-selling books based on The Bible’s Book of Revelations from religious book publisher Tyndale House. Last year, Tyndale jumped into the comic book market with a plan to adapt each of these novels into a set of five-issue mini-series. The recently concluded Tribulation Force was the second such adaptation.

Those familiar with The Bible know that the prophecies foretold in Revelations are far more nightmarish than anything dreamed up in Hollywood. And one would think that a story based on these predictions by established comics talent would make for one riveting and haunting comic. But instead, both mini-series have managed to tell these stories with a cold, distant approach to events that should leap off the page.

The work of pencillers Aaron Lopresti and Paul Ryan and inkers Randy Emberlin and Bob McLeod is little more than competent. The plain, non-descript look is reminiscent of the old Valiant house-style; it’s not bad, just blah. This is in part because there’s not much for them to draw; there’s a lot of talking and exposition, but most of the action takes place off-panel. Writer Brian Augustyn does his best with the source material, but the characters are mostly two-dimensional, and their interactions are hollow and soulless.

What’s most frustrating is how key elements are glossed over; they are told rather than shown. Millennia-old religious denominations are falling; countries are turning leadership over to a mysterious political figure in the Middle East; these are world-changing events, but the story continuously gives a grossly disproportionate amount of page time to more trivial events.

In the end, it’s these world-changing events, however breezed by, that are the sole reasons for keeping this comic book even mildly interesting. But it’s disappointing that a literary prophecy of this scope should get distilled into such a tame and unassuming form.

— Jim Johnson

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