With help from a clever homeless girl, Sik and Belet locate the container ship Nergal arrived on, only to find that his infection has spread to many more New York residents, turning them into monsters or making them desperately ill. “Size isn’t everything.” Sik’s quips throughout help ground the mythological elements and make him seem more like a modern kid. “I thought Excalibur would have been a bit…bigger?” said Sik.

Throughout, the action is peppered with humorous bits and asides, as when Kasusu claims to have been Excalibur. They’re joined by Gilgamesh, now a pacifist vegan baker living in Central Park, and Kasusu, a sarcastic talking sword. The three team up to defeat Nergal’s evil plans. Turns out, her adopted daughter Belet is the surly ninja who rescued Sik.

With his parents in the hospital and infection spreading, Sik is taken in by Ishtar, the Goddess of Love and War. Only by the timely intervention of a mysterious girl ninja does Sik manage to escape. Rampaging through the deli, they infect Sik’s parents with a gruesome disease, turning them into patients zero. One night, two demons show up demanding something for their boss, Nergal the Plague God, something they think Sik has. Thirteen-year-old Sikander “Sik” Aziz works in his Iraqi refugee parents’ deli and mourns his dead brother Mo. A timely tale for our pandemic season, City of the Plague God draws on lesser-known Mesopotamian mythology to spin its tale of adventure in New York City.

City of the plague god series