The Tithe, Volume 1 is a story on three fronts. The first front is the fraudulent mega-churches, run by pastors who hoard money. The second front is two F.B.I. agents, one of which is a Christian, and one of which is an atheist. They were investigating fraud among churches when the third front, a hacker group called Samaritan, began targeting these mega-churches. At first, the hackers would only attack electronically, putting videos up on the mega-church 'trons. Now they have moved into armed robbery, taking two million dollars in cash from a mega-church in Irvine.
My own connection to the church is spotty at best. I am a secular humanist, a socialist, a sometimes-Methodist. I have worked with faith-based organizations, and a lot of them are decent. The ones that aren't are what drove me from Methodism in my preteen years. Matt Hawkins, the author and co-creator of The Tithe, describes himself as an atheist. He disabused himself of the notion of Southern Baptism by reading Holy Blood, Holy Grail in his late 20s, a book that I have read and found some issues with. It is the basis for the mega-book The Da Vinchi Code.
Rahsan Ekedal is the co-creator and artist of The Tithe, and I'd like to write a little bit about the art of this series. It isn't hyper-detailed like Oldboy, but the depictions of churches and mega-churches are very good. The cars parked in a circle in the parking lot remind me of birth-control pills more than cars, and I think that's by design. The coloring is done by Bill Farmer and Mike Spicer, and their best work is on the 'trons and TVs, giving celluloid life to those media. The letterer is Troy Peteri, who uses a unique, bold style that I like. I guess on Wednesday, when I buy comics, I'll look for this title. Recommended.
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