When it comes to most people’s past, we are riddled with regrets over events or behaviors we would like to take back. I constantly look back to see what I could have done better. I regret how I treated many people, those who deserved it and those that didn’t. In my life, I also wished I had accomplished more. That I had done more at this point. I also realize even if I had, it would not be enough.

The mere acceptance of one’s station in life, is not where most aspire to. Rarely do individuals settle with being unremarkable. It reminds me of something my mother would say, about people who were difficult to me, “this is as good as it gets for them, know you are going places they won’t.” I am not sure where I am heading, I just hope I am going the right direction, as most people do. One person whose guilt has wrought his and his family’s life suddenly has his own creation become something worse than he expected in Prentis Rollins‘ The Furnace.

We meet Walton Honderich, whose groundbreaking work as a young ingénue made him who he was but its use has him regretting the future it may lay for his daughter and her generation. We are taken back in time, 26 years before he became a father and world-renowned scientist, to where him and his friend Marc, create security software that would have wide-reaching implications. As he creates the “GARD”, which holds prisoners without no hope of escape. As he recounts this history to his daughter, she asks questions that he never anticipated he had to answer, but also gets to how the creation lead his friend, Mac, down a dark path.

Overall, the graphic novel is a gripping tale of past sins and how they comes to haunt us all, but those with larger consequences, it can crush them. The story by Rollins is tense, dark and edgy. The art by Rollins is beautiful and vibrant, and dark where it is needed. Altogether, it’s a tale of redemption that shows readers no matter how bad the situation, life has a funny way of showing you there is hope

Story: Prentis Rollins Art: Prentis Rollins
Story: 8.0 Art: 8.0 Overall: 8.0 Recommendation: Buy