The Tithe

By Matt Hawkins, Rahsan Ekedal and Mike Spicer

There are many subjects that are considered taboo or rude to talk about, and one of those topics is religion. The reason being that many different people believe in many different things and it’s easy to offend someone who doesn’t share the same view. In The Tithe, Matt Hawkins treats us to both sides of the religious coin. This month we get more in-depth with some of the characters we met in the first issue and of course, more robbing and scheming.

Going only off of the first two issues, Matt Hawkins has really thought this book out. It has a point for someone who celebrates the church and one if you don’t. The counter balance is what makes this series work and not feel too preachy. The horror to The Tithe is that this sort of thing does happen; churches get robbed, ask Joel Osteen. Hawkins writes his characters with a sense of love and that oozes off the page to readers and we love them too. The Samaritan crew are the “villains” of the story so far, but they are all likable, hell we probably all have friends who get high and bang all the time. One of the things this issue that Hawkins touched on and should ring true, is that priests and religious folk are nice when you are serving their cause, but the second you say or do something that they don’t like, they’ll toss you out and not forgive or apologize. All these ideas and thoughts are what make The Tithe a great read for the second straight month. Matt Hawkins is on a roll!

Rahsan Ekedal is on pencils this issue and Mike Spicer adds the colors. While the art is not bad by any means, many of the panels where people’s faces are prominently shown lack detail. Ekedal has a somewhat minimalist style that doesn’t go overboard on faces in some panels. He does great work on his backgrounds and buildings, but for one reason or another some panels have faces that just lack detail. The Samaritans still look creepy in their masks this month as Ekedal seems to have found a way to continue to make them scary. The colors by Spicer lean more to lighter tones for many of the panels. This isn’t a problem and actually looks decent on a lot of the pages. The art this month could use some tweaking, but overall it shouldn’t take you out of the story.

The Tithe is just as good this month as it was last, and the story is moving forward at a nice pace. Matt Hawkins has put together a string of good books, and this series adds to that. The art took a step back this issue, but Rahsan Ekedal is a good artist who will make it right next issue. Overall, this is a series that takes a hard look at a touchy subject, but Matt Hawkins writes it extremely well. If there is a problem with this work of fiction, I’m sure you could probably pray about it.