Godkiller: Walk Among Us #1

by Matt Pizzolo, Anna Muckcracker Wieszczyk & Brian Giberson

One of the greatest joys about being a comic reader is randomly picking up a first issue and just experiencing it without any expectations. Especially when you pick up something you may have never been familiar with or that might not be something you would normally read. Sure, there is always the chance that you won’t enjoy it, but that one time you do hit gold, makes it all worth it.

Black Mask Studios released the first issue of Godkiller: Walk Among Us this week. This is a series that will seem brand new to most readers, but has actually been a labor of both love and hate by writer Matt Pizzolo. Godkiller has been around in many different iterations, the most popular is a motion comic starring the voices of Lance Hendriksen, Danielle Harris and Davey Havok. This could make Godkiller seem unapproachable for new readers, but that is not the case. This story is in fact the same one from the motion comic, so new readers won’t be lost and old fans will already be familiar material, but can finally have it in physical comic form.

This first issue runs about fifty pages so you get a lot of story right off the bat. The issue seems to sort of be split into two parts. The first half followed an old investigator named Mulciber working a missing merchandise job. The back half is about an orphan boy, Tommy, who is trying to save his sick sister in a shady orphanage. Tommy’s story seemed to be a little more easy to follow than Mulciber’s. With Godkiller set in this world of nuclear terror and a heavy feeling of anarchy, seeing the world through Tommy’s younger eyes is easier to follow than the seasoned Mulciber. Both stories do connect and together they do start to build a larger plot by the end of the issue. This was a very interesting start to Godkiller and there still feels like there is much more yet to be revealed.

The art in Godkiller really set a bleak tone and captured the chaotic mood of the story. Wieszczyk has a messy and gloomy art style that most people will probably compare to Ben Templesmith (who did a cover for this issue). Her bombastic art is sometimes paired with photo graphics for things like background purposes. Some readers may normally have an aversion to art that also combines some realistic photos, yet it’s used very subtly and helps enhance Godkiller‘s hectic feel. Godkiller‘s style of art will not be for everyone, but it is the perfect art for this type of story.

Now even though this series may have some history to its story, when you read this debut issue of Godkiller with fresh eyes, it’s still a great debut for a comic. It’s both familiar and different, which is a big part of Godkiller‘s allure. This book doesn’t try to cater to everyone, so it is definitely an acquired taste. If you want a series that feels like anarchy and looks bleak and rusty, Godkiller is worth picking up.