American Jesus:  Chosen, tells the story of a young boy named Jodie Christianson. Jodie lives in small backwater town in 1980’s Midwest USA. His life is much like that of any 12 year old. He reads X-Men comics, ducks school when he can & has to climb trees to look at pornography (somehow I just know that all of us here at MOMB will identify with him for that). It is not till a miraculous escape from death by falling truck things start to change. First Jodie discovers that he can answer any question his teachers throw at him, & then his mother informs him that her and his father never did what people have to do to have children. This brings Jodie to the realisation that his initials are slightly more than just window dressing & he may in fact be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ himself.

                In my experience, Mark Millar is an author that tends to write stories where Helicarriers fall on cities & super villains take over the world. Chosen however is different. This falls more into the category of supernatural psychodrama. There are no explosions & no tights, even though at its heart Chosen is still a super hero story. It contains all the internal struggling between power & responsibility that is typically found in comic books. Jodie’s transition from a character that is trying to figure out why his voice is breaking to one whose birth roughly 7% of the world’s population have been expecting for 2000 years is a beguiling one. My only criticism of the writing is that the events involving Jodie’s newfound power seem somewhat obvious at times. While there was obviously going to be some similarities to the stories in the New Testament it does occasionally feel that Millar is just creating an Ultimate universe version of the Gospels. Given how long the messiah has had to prepare for his return you would have thought that he could come up with a few new tricks. However the miracles serve their purpose of moving the story along & helping to develop the characters. The responses to Jodie & his abilities provide some of Chosen’s best moments. The character of Father O’ Higgins in particular stands out & I hope to see him again in future volumes.  It is well worth noting that Jodie himself is not always likeable & is flawed enough to still seem human, despite the fact that he can turn tap water into a half decent Merlot & thus will never get carded ever again.

               
The art in Chosen suits its piece particularly well. Peter Gross is the sort of person who is good at being able to mix the fantastical elements of a story with the more mundane & not lose any of the flavours of each. This is a story that involves a particularly large amount of talking heads scenes. Gross manages these with consummate ease & keeps them interesting without putting in so much detail that panels become distracting. The version of Chosen I read has an interesting interview between Gross & Millar after the main story. In the interview Gross points out a number of Easter eggs that he slipped into his panels at various points. Some back up the story while others are there simply to emphasise that the story is set in the 1980’s. This is an enlightening interview & gives the reader more than enough reason to reread the book & see what they can discover. However Gross’s artistic talents are upstaged on this occasion by his partner Jeanne McGee on colours. Her muted shades fade into the background only really choosing to make themselves known when the story demands it. The pastel colours are a beautiful touch & remind you that there are still some things even a computer can’t quite do.

                Chosen is a solid & thought provoking idea. It gives Millar an opportunity to put a positive spin on religion without being condescending, but also allows him the opportunity to deliver a kick ass yarn. Originally published as a standalone piece, Chosen has more than enough in it to stand on its own two feet. However I challenge anyone to get to the end & not at least be curious about where the next two parts of Millar’s modern day parable will take his own personal Jesus Christ. Unfortunately the next two chapters have yet to appear despite the back of the book saying volume 2 will be out in late 2009. Here’s hoping that divine inspiration strikes Millar soon...