Valiant’s Britannia gets a gladiatorial sequel

The Arena will rock as Antonius Axia is back in the sequel to Valiant Comics’ Britannia.

Britannia is back

Well, it’s sort of back. Actually, Britannia itself doesn’t seem to be playing a part in this sequel to the original mini-series at all. But even without the Roman state that would become the British isles, Peter Milligan and Juan José Ryp sound like they’re set to tell one hell of a horror sequel.

Fifty thousand Romans stand on their feet, watching from the rafters of the coliseum with captured breath as Achillia, a gladiator unlike any that Rome has seen before, faces incredible odds – one lone warrior against five of Rome’s greatest. Such is the tradition, when a female gladiator enters the fray. When the carnage is complete, the coliseum roars its approval as Achillia stands victorious. Now, only one match away from winning her freedom, she has begun to gain renown. The women of Rome, suppressed by their husbands and fathers, have noticed. The men of Rome, husbands and fathers to a growing horde of women entertaining ideas of independence, have noticed as well.

On the other side of Rome, a strange mystery swirls through the Palatine Hill. In the dead of night, down winding alleys, Rome’s elite swear that they see visions of a blood-soaked Apollo walking the city…visions that are driving them mad. Even more are becoming sick with weird fever god-dreams. Panic ensues in the city. The Chief Vestal, Rubria, is arrested by Emperor Nero and threatened with crucifixion unless the deadly curse that’s fallen on Rome is lifted. She asks Antonius Axia, hero of Britannia and Rome’s only detective, for help. She offers only one clue…the gladiator Achillia.

Gladiator-fuled sequel

To be honest, I was sold already, but that preview sounds like Britannia 2 could be just as awesome as the original. And that’d take quite a bit by the way, since that original series was gloriously soaked in horror, with action aplenty. Not to mention ‘mystery’, as at its heart, Britannia is something of a detective story.

One thing that was sort of lacking in that former tale though, was the Roman pantheon. The gods of Rome were included in every aspect of life in the Empire, so it’s only right that they’d pop up eventually. And to that end, here we are.

With Apollo seemingly in a central role, there are tons of different courses that Britannia: We who are about to die could take. Whatever happens to central character Antonius Axia though, you can be all but assured that it’s going to be a wild rind.

Catch the first of four issues of Britannia: We who are about to die, when it hits stores on April 26th.