4 out of 5

Bloody good fun, womp.  And: boy does Aquila like to stab people in the face.  Two thoughts immediately upon closing the cover on the last issue of these reprintings of 2000 AD tales from Rennie, concerning his titular gladiator-turned-demon-hunter.  I actually struggled for a bit to knock this down a peg, as the bloody conclusion to this compilation of the three Aquila tales is such a well-done payoff that you’re temporarily blinded to any previous flaws… but, dutifully, I must remain your observant servant as a reviewer and write truths which we may all take to our graves.  So lest you go about telling people this comic book is perfect, know that there are some pacing blips.

…Because Rennie is so skilled at writing for 2000 AD’s weekly format that he knows how to abuse it to get the most out of a story, saving some moments for inbetween progs.  Unfortunately, when it becomes collection like this, and the prog breaks removed, it can seem unnecessarily choppy, or like you’ve missed something… something the characters inevitably explain a panel later, but our comic training tells us we should’ve seen some action detailing the same.  Along these lines, there’s also a slight disconnect from story one to three which, again, because it’s presented all as one tale here, becomes more obvious: Aquila’s switch from Ammit devotee to Nero’s thug is, essentially, bridged via the middle ‘Where All Roads Lead’ tale, but his tussle with another Ammit follower (the Spartan) doesn’t have as much direct fallout as we might otherwise expect in a traditional sequential book.  There’s also the too-similar vestal virgin and mother of the vestal virgin creepos to fight; these matches had progs inbetween them in 2000 AD but are back-to-back here and so might confuse.

So that’s an honest assessment of reading this without prior knowledge of its structure.  But since this is the only way to read it in one sitting, hey, let’s take what we can get, because this is a revenge tale done right.  As illustrated by Leigh Gallagher and Patrick Goddard, Aquila’s world is big and brutal, and, true to the time period covered, smelly and gross.  Our tale is stocked with shades of greys and blacks of associates and villains; true to Rennie’s characterizations, entertaining characters emerge from otherwise disreputable types – in this case Aquila’s diminutive pal Felix, who ends up being the perfect blend of coward and awesome.  Maybe possibly inspired by God of War if the creators had had any consideration of long-term characterization, ‘Aquila’ details the after-effects of slave-turned-gladiator Aquila’s crucifixion and resultant prayers, which are answered by demoness Amitt the Devourer: bring her some black souls and you got yourself some invincibility, along with some other fancy tricks.  On that bloody path he treks, stabbing people in the face, and learning that there are others like him, and maybe a way out of his prayer’s answer, which has become a curse…

It’s not a historical lesson by any means, but Rennie grounds us in enough reality and references to keep the tale feeling earthy and gritty and real.  And while Aquila’s quest still, hopefully, continues, the arcs captured here do create a wonderful build-up to that aforementioned conclusion.  I caught this story midway through previously and didn’t really appreciate the grit of it.  Seeing it from the start really sells the characters, despite the presentation inevitably causing some pacing hiccups.