Caligula #1

Written by David Lapham
Art by German Nobile

I'd told myself that I was going to start trade-waiting Avatar books, since most of the time they are so late anyway, but then I saw the solicitation for this; a David Lapham-written comic set in Ancient Rome.  I've always had an interest in this time period, which in recent years has been fueled by HBO's Rome, and more recently by the Ides of Blood series. 

This series is starting out as a revenge comic, as a young boy from an olive farming family returns home to market to find that the Roman emperor, Caligula, had raped, murdered, and desecrated his family and home.  He heads to Rome, plotting his revenge, and has to immerse himself in the filth and depravity of the city's underside before finally gaining entry to the palace and coming face to face with the mad emperor.  Then something strange happens, but I won't spoil it.

Lapham has clearly done his research, and constructs a tightly-plotted story.  The artist, German Nobile, is painting this comic, and his look falls squarely into that Avatar house style, but it's still pretty good.  I'm definitely on board for this title.