I first heard about Pat Murphy’s comic book “Echoes of the Triumphant” when I was on Instagram scrolling through my messaging feed. As I looked at the message, there was a blurb that simply asked if I wanted to give this comic a read. I sent my email and not long after, I was sent a copy of the comic. When I read the comic, I felt that Pat wrote a unique story in which we see the main character Adrian have three different perspectives.
In the first part of the story, he is a rising star in the world of Mixed Martial Arts. He has the world ahead of him as he is on his way to fighting for championship gold. However, all of that changes when the chemical plant in Echo City explodes. The radiation from the explosion kills thousands of people and alters the DNA and appearance of the surviving inhabitants. These survivors also have special abilities and are given the name “Tweaks.”
As a result, the MMA promoters have no use for Adrian and he is force to hang up his MMA career and reinvent himself by going to school for accountancy. Post-radiation Echo City, the economy has somewhat been affected and Adrian along with the non-tweaks has to struggle to find new work. The now former MMA fighter has a jaded perspective at his new life and blames the Tweaks for taking away his purpose which was to fight.
However, another change in perspective occurs when he eventually finds a job as a forensic accountant. At work, he bullies a Tweak only for another Tweak to beat him up. While losing a fight against the Tweak, the same Tweak he bullied uses his ability to heal Adrian. As a result, Adrian makes a vow to be more open-minded and to protect the Tweaks. Adrian begins to find new purpose by using his fighting skills to protect Tweaks and news of his exploits gradually begins to spread. And these exploits reach the ears of Lionheart who appears to be a leader of an underground community of Tweaks.
I’m looking forward to where Pat takes Adrian on his hero’s journey as a protector to the Tweaks. I see this as a story of someone who is becoming an advocate for those who are unfortunate or who have been given a bad hand. I have to say that after reading this comic, the radiation may have not altered Adrian physically but it did alter his character and his morals. In the span of this issue, he went from an entitled MMA fighter climbing the ranks in the world of Mixed Martial Arts to a Robin Hood-esque hero or urban legend among the Tweak community.
The comic book’s art done by comic book artist Jerrod Bezzina is amazing and matches the tone of the story. The reader can see that in the beginning in the story where Adrian is in the MMA fighter looking invincible. The art depicting the radiation spread evokes an ominous theme that the lives of people in Echo City are about to change forever. My favorite panel would have to be where Adrian is healed by the Tweak he bullied earlier and has a change in epiphany.
I speak to Pat Murphy on the latest episode in the Earth-16 Comics Wire Podcast in which we talk about Echoes of the Triumphant which is scheduled to be funded on Kickstarter in March 2021. If you want to support Echoes of the Triumphant, you can go to the Kickstarter page here.
