The Tithe #6 - A Review

Tensions continue to mount around the country, as random citizens begin attacking Muslims in the wake of a bombing that totaled St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. The violence hits home for FBI Agent Dwayne Campbell, whose daughter converted to Islam years earlier and is arrested after helping defend a local store owner from bigots. But things are about to get worse as a second bombing destroys the largest Mormon church in San Diego and a terrorist group known as the Brotherhood of The Islamic Crescent takes credit for it.

There's just one problem. Apart from a series of YouTube videos, The Brotherhood of The Islamic Crescent doesn't exist!  There's no other evidence of them in the physical world or the virtual one. And the trail of Muslim teens in America leading from the boy who supposedly plotted the first bombing doesn't lead to any hard evidence - only more suspicion.


Matt Hawkins' writing continues to impress. As before, Hawkins takes care to depict his characters as three-dimensional beings who are not inherently flawed or gifted.  Agent Campbell is perhaps the best example of this, being comparable to Henry Drummond from Inherit The Wind - a man of principle who does his job in spite of his beliefs, who does not view people as enemies just because they disagree with him. Not only do we see Campbell reconciling his personal faith with those who have apparently turned to violence to express theirs but we also see him trying to mediate between his Muslim daughter and Christian wife.


The artwork by Phillip Sevy and Rahsan Ekedal proves the equal of Hawkins' writing. There is little in the way of action in The Tithe but the visuals remain interesting as the point-of-view varies from panel to panel.  This helps to maintain visual interest even when most of the story is made up of conversations between talking heads.