*I was sent a copy of Cult of the Lamb Vol. 1 in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Oni Press and everyone involved for my copy of the graphic novel*
Synopsis:
In a land pervaded by cruelty and evil, the most innocent among us—young Lamb—was selected to become a noble sacrifice. . . . Their death would be the magical rite that would forever seal the darkest of the Old Gods out of our realm and usher in a new age of bounty.
So Lamb died . . . but then they made a deal of their own.
At the crossroads of eternity, Lamb was met by the imprisoned deity known as the One Who Waits, who revealed the falsehoods and distortions of the false prophets who rule the world and the Old Faith. And so, Lamb was given a choice: Enter oblivion as intended . . .or return to the land of living with unholy powers and deliver a new cult unto the Earth.
The Four Bishops of the Old Faith must fall. The disbelievers must be destroyed. And, as Lamb assembles their flock, a new master shall reign over all of creation. Praise be to the Cult of the Lamb!
Synopsis:
Cult of the Lamb Vol. 1 is a great companion graphic novel. I don’t have a ton of knowledge on the game as I haven’t played it myself, but I have seen a couple of hours of gameplay. This means I know a little about it but I don’t know the deep lore behind the story and its characters.
I was somewhat worried I wouldn’t understand what was going on and why. Thankfully, this graphic novel starts from the very beginning and I feel like everything was explained really well. So well, that I’m tempted to play the game myself. I love how it’s both cutesy and gory. It’s often hard to find the balance between the two but it was done extremely well here.
I really enjoyed the style of the art, which is obviously the same as the game, but I felt like some of the pages were ridiculously busy. I’m all for small details in graphic novels, but there were some pages that were edge to edge covered in large characters and objects. This often made it difficult to follow the illustrative narrative and the dialogue as my focus kept being pulled away from the words by the sheer amount of things on the page. It was overwhelming sometimes but not to the point that my reading experience was negatively impacted too much.
The character designs were great though. Again the balance between cute and horrifying was done really well. I’m not sure if this is the same artist that worked on the game but the art translated very well.
Overall, Cult of the Lamb Vol. 1 is a pretty good adaptation. The story was well conveyed in a short space of time and when the art wasn’t overwhelming, it was great. I’d definitely check out volume two if that ever happens.
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