Godland…

A Review of the collected hardback book from Image…

I have just recently finished reading Godland the Celestial Edition One, and I have to say it’s absolutely Fantastic. It is drawn in the Kirby style and is written and sounds like some thing the “King” and a certain Mr. Stan Lee may have written in the 1960’s.

The word is cosmic and the scope of the stories is epic in proportion. The writer and artist team of Joe Casey and Tom Scioli take us on a whirlwind journey across the timeless cosmos, where we encounter along with the hero, Adam Archer (double letter name – just like the early DC’s and Marvel’s used) new alien races and a psychedelic cacophony of imaginative ideas and concepts.

It took me back to the seventies with Jack Kirby’s New Gods books and the cosmic storytelling of such stalwarts as Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin and the like.

There is more than a passing nod to the works of Kirby, but not just in the form of a pastiche of style, in both writing and artwork, but in using Kirby almost like he himself is the genre. The language used harps back to another time in the past, yet seems more modern in this day and age, because of its freshness amongst the angst ridden plots and characters in much of today’s American comic books.

Like the late Mike Wieringo, John Byrne Joe Madureira and the like of today’s comic book creators and as I have said earlier the seminal works of Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin the word out there is FUN!!!

The pace is just like Jack’s, fast and furious and concepts are thrown into the mix at a frantic pace…just how I like them.

The art is also fun to look at and drawn in a very nice Kirby-esque style. Full of action, great pacing and accompanied by great and bright colouring that enhances rather than detracts from the line art, it really is great to look at.

I, for one, hope to continue to see more of this collaboration between the writer/artist team of Joe Casey and Tom Scioli, respectively and cannot wait for the next collected edition of the Godland series

If there is a small negative for me it’s the fact that once or twice there is a little swearing thrown in, which I don’t think is necessary – the book is worthy of a read without pandering to today’s seeming need to do so. I don’t think Jack would have needed to, and to be honest this story is so good…it doesn’t either.

If you fancy a cracking read and being taken to another place – after all isn’t that what comics are meant to be – Total Escapism? – then do yourself a favour and pick up a copy today.

You’ll be glad you did…

Until next time have fun!

Tim Perkins…
August 22nd 2007