Godhead 2
Author/Artist: Ho Che Anderson
Graytone Artist: Victoria Pumphrey
Letterer: Pol Carpenter
Writer: Fantagraphics Books
Publication Date: January 2023
Cartoonist Ho Che Anderson has now concluded his magnum opus, Godhead, with Godhead 2. This conclusion is out now, practically 5 years after the primary half half printed. It’s maybe essential to notice earlier than going additional that these should not works that stand alone. No, Godhead and now Godhead 2 are very a lot one e book break up in two — neither works with out the opposite, a minimum of not with no heavy diploma of confusion. That mentioned, when taken collectively they’re one of the vital fascinating motion/espionage comics in years.
Sure, Godhead 2 marks the completion of a formidable work. It’s an espionage story constructed upon a basis of rigidity, rigidity between a number of the guiding parts of civilization — faith, science, and the company manipulation of each. Because the e book’s title implies, faith is at its heart. It manifests not solely within the title, however in addition to within the e book’s most putting imagery, the futuristic cityscapes overseen by gigantic and statuesque literal godheads, the overwhelming majority of which appeared within the first quantity.
Which is smart. The primary Godhead had fairly a little bit of setup to take action that Godhead 2 may pay it off now with principally nonstop motion. It’s type of like an inverted Kill Invoice in that manner, with the exposition arising entrance (though the primary half had loads of its personal set items). The second e book, although, delivers a far tenser trip that reads extra shortly, placing many characters (and their values) in play and sending them by means of the ringer to point out us what people are coping with on this planet Anderson has crafted.
In a manner, this second quantity appears like an evolution of the kind of motion comedian you typically see from the direct market, alternating at instances between bursts of machine gun preventing and intensive relationship melodrama. The place it actually transcends, although, is with Anderson’ method to the cartooning, particularly the web page layouts. There’s one two-page unfold specifically on this second e book that lands among the many most kinetic cartooning I’ve ever seen. It makes use of a mixture of automotive chases, gunfire, and character response, with a sweeping establishing shot of the elevated freeway the place it’s all happening, dotted on the latter half with inset panels.
That’s only one instance, however Godhead 2 is dotted with visible storytelling ideas on par with what I’ve described above. The e book is an absolute deal with from a craft perspective, one which makes this 150-page-plus second quantity learn a bit just like the grand finale at a fireworks present — all killer and no filler. When taken together with the heady world-building and philosophical questions raised by the story’s first half (that are addressed once more right here across the edges of the preventing), it’s a strong package deal.
In the end, should you learn Godhead and thought it felt incomplete…I can’t fault you. However now with Godhead 2, Ho Che Anderson has completed the story, delivering a second half that reveals the total scope of his narrative ambitions. When taken collectively, these two elements are a posh treatise on creation, on faith and AI, and on how at this level in civilization, each worship and origination have been overtaken in a way by company buildings. We as a persons are as loyal and indebted to them as we’re or have been to any religion. Plus, there are freeway machine gun fights.
Godhead 2 is an fascinating graphic novel, the kind that makes use of tense visible storytelling to lift extra questions than it does to offer solutions.
Godhead 2 is out now.
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