AMBFAD (Comic) Book Club

'Godland (Volumes I, II and III)'

My first three legitimate trade collections purchased in umpteen years, Joe Casey/Tom Scioli's 'Godland' is hitting the sweet spot for me right now. A total homage to/revival of the Cosmic Superhero Epic as told by many great comic writers of the 1970s, the writing/illustration of the series is strongly inspired by Jack Kirby's style in his Eternals and Fourth World series.

As Kirby-esque as it is, you end up really not caring it's a near rip off. It's kind of how I feel about Oasis...ripping off major elements of the Beatles, but doing it so well I can't help but enjoy it. To be fair, Casey and Scioli add a more modern take on the subject matter and their own brand of humor to the story as well.

The main character of the series is astronaut Adam Archer. As the sole survivor of an ill-fated journey to Mars, he meets the alien entities known as the Cosmic Fetus Collective (HA!), who transform him into a cosmic being and instruct him in the uses of his new powers. In origin, look and powers...Archer is a total hybrid of the Silver Surfer and The Human Torch.

Four years later. Archer has become a famous superhero, but is distrusted by government and the public (Spiderman anybody?). In another instance of Fantastic 4-ish parity, he military have provided him with a base smack dab in the middle of NYC, Infinity Tower (Baxter Building?), from where Archer and his three sisters, Neela, Angie and Stella, protect the Earth w/ the help of a giant, dog-like alien named Maxim (almost a spitting image of the Inhuman's Lockjaw).

There are some fun villains as well like Basil Cronus, a floating skull in jar on a quest for the ultimate high, Destro-lookalike/former butler Friedrich Nicklehead, mega-dominatrix/torture-artist Discordia and her father the Tormentor. If that ain't enough, how about a floating pyramid from the middle of the earth piloted by a meglomaniacal King Tut-like religious fanatic named King Janus? Crazy, but uber fun stuff.

As I stated, the series has been going since 2005 and i'm catching up via the trade collections released by Image Comics: 'Hello, Cosmic!' (Issues #1-6), 'Another Sunny Delight' (Issues #7-12) and 'Proto-Plastic Party' (Issues #13-18). Volume 4: 'Experimento Afterlife' is slated for release at the end of August.

Unfortunately, the series will be ending with issue #36, a little more than a year away. Kind of an interstellar bummer, but at least they'll leave behind an impressive body of work! Check it out for yourself, true believers!