After a long march as prisoners, the sacrifices find themselves in a land of fun and plenty. Is this too good to be true? Find out in The Sacrificers #3 from Image Comics!

THE SACRIFICERS #3

Writer: Rick Remender
Artist: Max Fiumara
Colorist: Dave McCaig
Letterer: Rus Wooton
Editor: Harper Jaten
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: October 4, 2023

Previously in The Sacrificers: The Foreman of the Harvest travels through the lands, collecting the children who have been designated as the sacrifices. For most, like the pigeon boy from the first issue, this can be frightening. Then the procession reaches a town where the event is a celebration, not an exile. Noom gives herself up freely to be shackled, and she joins the group with her two holy wardens. While most of the children who have been collected so far anticipate a future ending in death, possibly a grisly one, Noom is confident that they will be entrusted with managing the world. Her optimism is unbelievable to the others. Their trek continues into the mountains where they are hooded. When the hoods finally come off, they find themselves welcomed to a bright and pleasant land. Could it be that Noom was right?

THE HALLS OF THE HIGH AND MIGHTY

The Sacrificers #3 picks up with Soluna in her family’s castle. The Harvest Gala happens only every twenty years, and she is not allowed to attend. But “not allowed” does not mean that she won’t hide behind the upper banister and watch. The people attending are the Lords in charge of every municipality, and she knows them all and has opinions about them, not kind ones either. These people are the most privileged, but she grew up learning about them, and she knows what they are like. She promises herself never to grow up to be like them.

The entertainment is interrupted by the arrival of Queen Luna, Soluna’s mother. As Rokos is clearly an embodiment of the sun, Luna is just as clearly that of the moon. Xia, Rokos’ mistress, greets her with polite, but very thinly veiled comments about how her moods cycle, and how she does not herself make light, she merely reflects it.

The scene shifts to where the young sacrifices are now living in their land of plenty and watching a light-hearted puppet show about Rokos and the other lords, people we have just seen in person. That is not their only amusement. There are games, there is music, there is food – even snacks. There is laughter. Noom notices that even the pigeon boy is more relaxed than he had been. He, however, still has a feeling of impending doom. Noom is confident that they will soon be feasting with the Lords of the world.

They are all interrupted by the arrival of some overly cheerful adults who talk in rhymes, as though someone told them this was a way to appeal to children. They announce that it is time for a fancy feast with the gods, and they are looking for some youngsters to go with them. They select four. Noom is one of them. The adults sing as they set the young people up in chairs to have their hair and makeup done. The singing and jollity distract them, and they don’t notice the spikes that pop out as hoods are placed on their heads.

Noom is the last one hooded, and she sees the face of the child next to her suddenly go slack. In an instant, terror hits her, and she demands to know what is going on. But it is too late; the hood drops down on her head.

Much to the consternation of the staff who were working with them. They were hoping to extract joy from all of them. Noom’s terror is a complication, but not a total loss.

TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE

The art of The Sacrificers #3 is tremendously imaginative. The party scene brings metaphors to life. The lords of the municipalities are more like personifications of aspects of the world, like a pantheon of deities. The sun and the moon are already represented, but we also see aspects of climate, of industry, of the woods, of the seas. Despite this, they also represent the baseness of people. Yet they are so caught up in themselves that they cannot see they perform this dual duty. Young Soluna, as an observer and a privileged teenager, has the luxury of being able to see this and look on them with contempt.

The second half of the book starts out so pleasantly that we are caught off guard. Was Noom correct after all? To see the young people clothed in pretty garments, being fed treats, being able to play and have fun perhaps for the first time in their dreary lives is delightful, yet, like the pigeon boy, we cannot help but wait for the other shoe to drop. And drop it certainly does, adding a note of horror all the more visceral because we let down our guard long enough to be hopeful.

BOTTOM LINE: A HARROWING TALE OF THE HIGH COST OF PRIVILEGE

The Sacrificers #3 deftly puts together a tale that is mythic in scope and yet viscerally down-to-earth at the same time. And at the center of it all lies the question of whether the end truly justifies the means.

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