Godland #10 Review

There are few things you can depend upon in comics these days, one of them is Joe Casey and Tom Scioli not holding anything back in an issue of Godland, and it is greatly appreciated. #10 is right in keeping with this standard, set all the way back with the first issue of Godland. There are no less than three fully developed plotlines going on in this issue, and each one of them is both intriguing and action-packed. This is not a book where characters sit around and discuss whether they are going to do something. This is a book where Adam Archer (our hero)’s sisters talk for a bit, before one sister decides to fly out to take care of business by herself, even if her brother has cosmic powers, while all she has is a small plane (leading to her sister to tell her to get her “punk ass” back home).

The “the story so far” page of Godland is even action-packed, as it gets the reader caught up quickly and basically just serves as a quick roster of all the characters involved in the comic, whether it be Neela Archer, one of Adam’s three sisters, who is blasting off on a secret mission that has resulted in a loss of power to the rest of the United States, or Freidrich Nickelhead, the pop culture-obsessed bad guy who is currently in possession of Adam Archer, who had the misfortune of crash landing right in front of Nickelhead’s house in Akron, Ohio (trippy, no?). Nickelhead’s dialogue is always a highlight of the book, and, of course, to this Dylan fan right here, I can say that I highly appreciate the Dylan nods, like in the promo for next issue, which mentions Nickelhead “bringing it all back home.” Nicely done.

Meanwhile, while the rest of America deals with the power less, some mysterious creatures are preparing to attack the army base where Neela’s mission took off from. Nickelhead has an interesting approach to torturing Adam, as it involves both psychological torture and a less refined beat down. Although, while the beatdown was handled quite well, I think the psychological torture was a tad MORE over the top of the top that Godland usually goes over, leaving it to come off as more than a tad bit hokey, especially Scioli’s take on Adam’s tears – Kirby-esque is one thing, but that was just weird looking.

That little bit notwithstanding, the art is handled quite well by Scioli, who, while never departing from his Jack Kirby style of art, manages to keep the book moving forward always, and causing each scene to pack the maximum punch. I especially enjoy the way he depicts the spaceship that appears on the cover of this issue (speaking of the cover, Godland continues to excel with the covers, which made July’s fairly bland cover especially disappointing). Joe Casey deserves equal amount of praise for how the spaceship is handled as well – as he has the spaceship be led into New York City first by clouds dispersed by the giant ship. It makes for a very creepy scenario, which is just what they are going for – and when it actually ARRIVES? Scioli makes sure it has the requisite impact to any New Yorker. Classic stuff.

The combination of nice character touches mixed with an abundance of cool action scenes all combines to produce a comic that I can recommend without reservation.

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