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Sons of Chaos HC
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Story: Chris Jaymes & Jordan Beckett 
Art: Ale Aragon
Colors: Hi-Fi Design
Letters & Maps: Pablo Ayala
Cover: David Palumbo

In his fictionalized retelling of Greece’s 1821 war for independence against the Ottoman Turks, writer Chris Jaymes has crafted a solemn tale of secret love and unfathomable loss. Though the author has taken liberties for the sake of narrative consistency and conforming to the medium, Sons of Chaos offers a compelling glimpse into the past and one of the most pivotal conflicts in recent history. The story of Marcos Botsaris is traced against the ceaseless machinations of Ali Pasha, the rapacious Ottoman warlord who presided over the occupied Greek territory of Ioannina. The Pasha possessed a shrewd intellect, entertaining foreign dignitaries and forging backchannel alliances while paying lip-service to Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II. Though he was not treated cruelly, the circumstances by which Marcos came to be in the care of Ali Pasha and estranged from his father were emotionally debilitating and affected Marcos for the rest of his life.   

Beginning with the loss of his home, Marcos’s story bookended by the savagery of an intractable vendetta. At its core, it chronicles the evolution of a relatively mediocre child, lacking confidence and often silenced by fear and uncertainty. He is not skilled in any manner of combat, and disinclined to succeed his father Kitsos Botsaris as leader of the Greek Souliotes. Once freed from Ali Pasha’s estate, Marcos is tempered through rigorous training by the grace of Ibrahim, Pasha of Berat. A more reserved and compassionate political rival, Ibrahim sought to subvert Ali’s plotting, and free his own daughter Eleni in the process. She was married to Ali’s sadistic son Muhktar, similarly isolated from her family and captive at the whim of a machiavellian tyrant. In this plight, separated from his family and his home, surrounded by enemies and spies, Marcos thrives through hardship and grows into a leader and icon of a revolution. 

Artist Ale Aragon brings a rough, appropriately chaotic style to Sons of Chaos. Muted and muddy tones from Hi-Fi Design help to augment the dreamlike quality of his panels and make that chasmic, inescapable uncertainty haunting Marcos throughout much of the story palpable. He is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of wicked men; and we are but captives along with him, yearning for for the clarity of sharp lines and warmth of bright, crisp colors. Also, a note about the hardcover edition I was fortunate enough to read: The book itself is gorgeous. Just seeing the oversized, beautifully painted panoramic cover screams “epic” long before you ever open it. It has all the affectations of a thoughtful, high quality collectors edition, and the presentation is spot on in contributing to the stature and authenticity in the storytelling. It the kind of graphic novel that makes you wonder why they all aren’t printed with such reverence. Kudos to the team on design and execution there.

Sons of Chaos is ultimately a story of fathers and sons, in many ways lost boys robbed of empathy and compassion by torturous deprivations inflicted by other broken men. It tells of the ruinous burden of vengeance on the hearts and minds of those imprisoned by it, and it’s poignancy cannot be understated in the world we find ourselves in. As our society becomes more socially and politically disparate, the idea of reconciliation and collaboration must become our most esteemed and aspirational priority. But how does someone lead that conversation when there are those whose most basic sensibilities contravene one’s own right to exist. The Souliotes sought freedom, sought survival, and were continually persecuted for the resilience born in their heritage. As Ali Pasha plots and connives his way into the psyches of all he encounters, men like Kitsos strike bargains and make concessions to stem the bloodshed. By what measure should the oppressed subordinate their own welfare to an openly inimical authority. When the cost is too great, weary hearts cry out for revolution.  

https://sonsofchaos.com/

Christian Davenport
cable201@comicattack.net