AfterShock’s Sacrilegious Epic Returns With Dark Ark: After The Flood #1

Two arks were built to survive the Flood. One was filled with the creatures of the natural world. The other was populated by…everything else.

Now that the denizens of the Dark Ark have beaten Noah’s Ark to land, a new societal order must be created, one based on the rule of monsters. Khalee, a new sorceress, ventures to maintain order amidst the chaos, but her otherworldly masters have a different task in mind. She must devise a way to bring Noah’s Ark to the monsters…because the beasts must feed.

Dark Ark: After the Flood #1 pops back and forth from storyline present and a few decades ago, when Shrae first found and claimed baby Khalee as his daughter. Now that she’s repaid the old man for his kindness in saving her from a burning temple back then, it’s up to her to step up and lead. The monsters are hungry and cranky, and not necessarily all on board with the violent succession. Noah’s apparently not just some old crackpot with a floating zoo, and they’ll need a strong and savvy leader to combat the zealots on that other boat. 

If you’ve been tracking, you might have wondered where Cullen Bunn would take this thing after the arks made land. Needn’t have been bothered. If I’m not mistaken, there were, like, twenty six whole books that came after this story in the source text. Bunn ties up some loose ends from the previous arcs, and introduces a few new subplots, while renewing the conflict between this boat and that other one. 

Juan Doe carries the dynamic visual style of the first three arcs into ATF. Same great character designs. Same fantastic monsters. Same vibrant palette. This is a beautiful book.

Dark Ark: After the Flood is off to a creepy, sacrilegious, awesome start. It sounds like a new series from the title, but if you haven’t been tracking, this isn’t the greatest place to dive in. If you’re familiar with the premise, it isn’t terribly hard to piece the backstory together from the dialogue, but it’s a much more enjoyable experience having already read the previous three arcs, which are fortunately available in trade.

Dark Ark: After the Flood #1, AfterShock Comics, released 02 October 2019. Created and written by Cullen Bunn, art by Juan Doe, letters by Dave Sharpe, logo by John J. Hill, cover by Juan Doe, lenticular variant cover by Mike Rooth, NYCC exclusive variant cover by Nat Jones, Baltimore Comic-Con exclusive variant cover by Leila Leiz with Edgy Ziane, produced by Charles Pritchett, edited by Mike Marts, additional variant covers available by Andre Bressan, Juan Doe, Francesco Francavilla, Armando Ramirez, and Mike Rooth.