Hunt Kill Repeat is the latest Mad Cave Studios comic by its CEO and Creative Director Mark London. This series has some great artwork and presentation, evoking pro wrestling. But the real story is about the thin line between cults and abusive parenting.
Hunt Kill Repeat: Says It All
This is a simple revenge plot made with some very striking visuals. The Greek Gods take over the world because they feel offended by technology. They’ve even got an army of volunteers who they turn into living weapons. Which they make through some kind of tech… We’ll come back to this. Goddess of the hunt Artemis meanwhile retired and was having a baby with a mortal. But Zeus and the rest of his family wouldn’t have it. So they beat Artemis to an inch of her life while killing her husband. Worse it looks like the baby was aborted as she was put on life support. So Artemis is looking for payback with help from Hephaestus and his followers.
Cult of Abuse
But it’s in later issues and promo material that readers can feel the abuse that shaped Zeus’ tyranny. The Olympians under Zeus feel the pressure to please him, hiding their fear of his wrath. As well as their envy of Artemis; she was Zeus’ favorite which is why she wasn’t killed in the beginning after finding happiness without him. That extends to the Olympians followers, the Avatars. From what Lemantis suggests without his helmet, they were vulnerable people rotting in the old world looking for purpose. These make the ideal recruits: pretending to be a path forward when it’s just more efficient domestic abuse.
That includes the extended cast as well. Hermes lost his wife Medusa to his family’s manipulation with Medusa’s trauma manifesting as her gorgon form. As for the Celibacy vow Zeus enacts, it’s a way to keep the Olympians from knowing any kind of love other than his own.
As for Zeus’ campaign against technology, it’s nothing ideological. There are still spray paints and electrical lights, it’s machine age technology that’s prohibited. Unlike modern dictators who have to share their power, Zeus doesn’t feel the pressure to be transparent unless it serves his interest. Like when he tells his still alive grandson that Artemis is his mother when he first told him she was dead. In essence, Zeus isn’t a warlord, he’s a cult leader.
Epic Stage Art
Through Francesco Archidiacono’s pencils, the scenarios feel like something between a pro-wrestling match and an action movie. For one the viewing angles and body language of the Greek pantheon make them look like heel wrestlers. With their facials and how the fast, brutal, actions are displayed these are characters audiences would love to hate. Even their godly glow by Lee Loughridge looks blinding, practically obscuring reader’s vision of them. In juxtaposition is the inking by Marc Deering who makes the important but mundane interactions more important with bold lines. It gives the impression that there are more important things than the god’s worship. Which adds to why the pantheon want to obscure these events with their imagery.
As for the action scenes they demonstrate the high stakes. Unlike most of her opponents, Artemis lacks a godly aura showing that she has less power. But her limber body movement shows off her skills and resources that highlight pivotal moments in chaotic panels demonstrates she doesn’t need it. One of the most efficient ways is when the lights are off causing the panels to be pitch black, leaving things to reader’s interpretation in the fight against Athena. Readers know from previous pages just how powerful Athena is with Artemis wounded and down a weapon. So with only Rus Wooton’s lettering, the weight of the anticipation to see the results on the next page intesifies.
Hunt Kill Repeat: Hunt, Kill, Revisit
Hunt Kill Repeat will definitely be making headlines. The art shows off an energy that speaks to readers’ inner anarchist. While fighting against Greek gods is nothing new, the presentation goes to great length to show how far abuse shaped everything. It makes the already high stakes fights all the more engaging. Final score 8.5/10.