Broken Saints is a bit of an odd beast. A sort of mish-mash of graphic novel, flash animation, and philosophyfest, it originally began all the way back in 2001. Just two years ago, I came across it- I'm not entirely certain how, a sort of dream-like haze shrouds the memory- and immediately dove in. If you haven't yet experienced Broken Saints, you'll want to, and I'm gonna tell you why.

As a nerd who is still recovering from an extreme case of 'weaboo'- the last bits of this horrendous disease having been eradicated many years ago, before they could take root- I have a terrible confession to make: I have never seen Evangelion.



Yes, 'tis the sad truth. I have heard many good things about the show, but unfortunately my time has been devoured by my many other hobbies. I really don't watch that much TV at all, really, save for the nightly news, and I still have the first season of Lost waiting patiently by my DVD player- I never made it further than Disc 3 (another geekly sin).



The reason I bring this up is that many of the qualities I have heard attributed to Evangelion- crazy plot, the juxtaposition of religion and science, the giant robot fights- I could easily apply to Broken Saints. Well, except for the giant robots.



Broken Saints does just fine without the giant robots, though, and more than makes up for it. The story is a tad difficult for me to describe, partly because it's been quite a while since I completed it, but also because it becomes increasingly complex. The story begins with four people from vastly different parts of the globe sharing a hallucination proclaiming the end of the world. As more layers of the story are unveiled, so are further mysteries to complicate matters. Unlike Lost (based on what I have heard about it), it does answer most of its questions in an entertaining fashion, so as not to disappoint viewers or leave them hanging.



As I mentioned earlier, Broken Saints is a mish-mash of various artistic media. The images are digitally painted drawings animated in Flash, but they move very little. Captions and word bubbles pop up frequently, but the only voices are the ones you imagine (unless you pick up the DVD, but that's another story), although there are sound effects and musical themes used to great effect. It's what some have described as a "living graphic novel", which suits me just fine. The writing is splendid, as is the artwork. Although the DVD does have nicer production values (better art, voice acting, etc.) I still prefer the original Flash rendition of the tale- hey, I'm cheap.



If you're looking for something different to read over the summer, this is as perfect as you can get. The episodes range in size, but do grow longer as the story progresses- the 24th chapter and the final installment adds up to 82 minutes total- though the chapters are sub-divided into parts that can be enjoyed in small doses. I would highly recommend Broken Saints to anyone who likes a good story, or is interested in new ways of telling them.

So, here is the website for the original Flash series-

http://bs.brokensaints.com

And enjoy.