IXth Generation #2

By Matt Hawkins and Stjepan Sejic

IXth Generation feels like a culmination of years of work from the Top Cow Universe (Aphrodite, the Darkness, Witchblade and more) and there might not be two better creators suited for the task than Matt Hawkins and Stjepan Sejic. Hawkins is a stellar writer and Sejic, who apparently never sleeps and can do no wrong, hits all the marks you could want in a book of this magnitude in this universe.

Hawkins is one of those writers that seems to have a grand vision of where they want to take the story right from the word go. We’re not talking point form notes for the next several issues, it really feels like he’s mapped out, in detail, the next few years of actual work which could be a ton of time within the confines of the story. Particularly something like this set in the far future, where Hawkins could, and likely has, planned the next thousand years of the timeline. This could all be completely wrong and maybe he just wings it, but his writing is always so precise and always flows so well to the next thing and the characters are all so unique, with their own histories, flaws and personalities and futures, it’s hard not to imagine the notebooks filled with timelines of each character and event. Hell, he’s probably got a ten page, fold out timeline behind his desk, planning out every book and every major moment. Yeah, he’s that good.

Stjepan Sejic is also that good, and then some. Sejic seems to be everywhere these days, from his own series called Death Vigil that you’d be an idiot to miss, an OGN called Sunstone, to being named the ongoing artist on Rat Queens, and it’s a wonder how this guy continues to live if he is, in fact, a human. I wonder if you killed him, if his consciousness will be transferred to a new, identical body… anyway, diabolical plans aside, his work is great in IXth Generation. As always, he excels on his character work, particularly expressions, and monster designs and it seems like this story has been tailor-made for him. All it needs are some whips and chains and it might just cover everything that Sejic is currently doing—not to say he can’t adapt or can’t be great at everything. Have you seen his work on Ravine? This guy is a monster in his own right. Seriously check out his work.

It seems to be a fairly common occurrence with books coming out from Image Comics or any of its imprints, especially Top Cow these days, but this is another great series.  IXth Generation is building to something huge and likely something that is going to completely change this end of the Top Cow Universe for the foreseeable future. It’s hard to tell just where Hawkins and Sejic are taking this, and maybe that’s just due to being so far behind on a lot of the series that are in play here, but it’s going to be exciting finding out. In Top Cow we trust, particularly when it comes to Hawkins and Sejic. Check this out.