Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Supergod #5 of 5
Avatar Comics
Ellis & Gastonny
Warren Ellis' look at physical gods created by man concludes with this issue. While an entertaining read it has some obvious portions of the book that don't quite click or, in some cases, seem overused. The drawback of the book is its heavy reliance on one character's narrative. It's very difficult to completely submerge in a story being told in this manner. When you line this story up with Ellis's Black Summer and No Hero this runs a distance behind but is still worth picking up.
This issue brings about the final confrontation between the remaining super powers. Krishna and Maitreya take up the bulk of the issue with their confrontation but the other three: Jerry Craven, Dajjal and Morrigan Lugus play a role as well. It's hard to describe the confrontation as a "battle" because that probably conjures up images of Superman punching General Zod. In this book it seems more psychological with deadly results. The alliances and friction among the five seem totally random whereas you might think religious ideologies and/or national alliances might persevere. After all, if countries construct these monsters and attempt to program them you might think they would instill the concept of friend and foe.
This is part of the problem I have getting fully into this series and this issue in particular. The comic is narrated by one person. He speaks about events in great detail, usually saying something along the lines of 'we knew that this was going on.' However, it's not entirely clear how he knew this. Or are we to think he is assuming and just adding what he wants to believe as truth in his description of events? It's certainly not a deal breaker but it does nag at me a little bit.
The issue's artwork excels as usual. This is one of the few issues that contain great spaces of no dialogue in it. The art spells out the events on those pages very nicely. However, it also delivers some fairly haunting images that you might come to expect in an Avatar comic. The book has top notch art from Gastonny once again.
Warren Ellis creator owned properties are usually good and this is no exception. While this comic book is heavy on the science fiction it does not dive too deep into the science explanation of things which I am thankful for. The book doesn't quite connect up the nation created "gods" with any sort of actual religious basis that I could tell. It's more like the superhuman arms race is nothing more than a Frankenstein race. It works for an entertaining read though and it worth picking up.
3.5 out of 5 Geek Goggles
