Radiant Comics

I’m back from the comic shop this week and I got no new comics but I did get a hard cover collection:

And now for a review of something I’ve read recently.

“Godland: Celestial Edition Volume 2” by Joe Casey and Tom Scioli

It’s been almost three years since I read “Godland” Volume 1 so Volume 2 was a welcome sight. Much like “Invincible” I’ve been reading this series only when it comes out in this oversized hardcover edition. Why? Because I like the format a lot and as much as I still love monthly comics I don’t want to buy “Godland” twice. What format I buy something in also depends a lot on what is the first format I buy it in. That’s usually what I stick with.

“Godland” can best be described as a take on late 1970s to early 1980s Jack Kirby cosmic stories. Except that’s really just its starting point. The plots and characters are clearly inspired by Kirby but they have a uniqueness to them also.

The main character is Adam Archer who was an astronaut on an ill fated trip to Mars. He was the only one to survive and he got cosmic super powers in the deal. He made it back to Earth and lives life as a super hero. This volume starts out by finishing up a story from volume one and then it tells some more.

The villains are really interesting in this book. They’re oddballs and a few of them are recurring characters. The main three villains fight amongst themselves most of the time and have only a passing interest in Adam Archer. That’s one of the things that makes them interesting. They want to get along with their own plans and have no interest in tangling with any super heroes.

Adam Archer also has trouble with his own former commanding general who thinks that having that powerful a super hero running around might be bad for the country. But he’s conflicted because he likes Archer and doesn’t want to jump to conclusions. It’s something we’ve all seen before in super hero comics but it’s handled well.

There are also three alien cosmic guys who call themselves the Triad who have come to Earth to destroy it. What’s interesting is that they went to some barren place in the dessert and built an Earth destroying machine. They weren’t putting on a big show and letting everyone know they were destroying the Earth. They were just doing it. Once again an interesting take on a standard story.

That’s how I’d describe “Godland”. Interesting take. The stories are all pretty straight forward but a lot of little details are thought out differently than normal. It’s a fun-house world of weirdness. The art is very Jack Kirby-esque but crossed with some early 90’s type illustrative noodling. But the noodling is also Kirby-like rather than Jim Lee cross hatching. It’s not as well drawn as Kirby (but really, how could it be?) but it has a lot of imagination in it.

So if you’ve never checked out “Godland” you should. They take their fun seriously.