Broken Frontier

A madman who has dreams beyond this word threatens New York.  It will take a cosmic hero to stop him and Adam Archer is on his way.  But can he save the day?

As Gødland prepares to take a three-month hiatus and the second story arc winds down, logic dictates that writer Joe Casey would be busy tying up loose threads.  Opening up this issue, though, means throwing logic out the window.  From the very beginning of this series, Casey has played by his own set of rules and this issue is no different.  Readers who are expecting the unexpected will not be disappointed.

King Janus, High Priest of the god J’Rhogan, has captured Angie Archer and left Maxim battling the strange being called the Never.  It is here that Janus outlines his plans for meeting J’Rhogan in person.  Those plans involve ripping open the fabric of space and time with a very large bomb.  A very large bomb hovering over the city of New York.  No, this will not be pretty is Adam can’t get there in time.  Meanwhile, Neela Archer finds that she has bypassed the edge of the solar system and is headed into strange new worlds territory.

Leave it to Joe Casey to leave this series hanging on not just one, but two cliffhangers!  His trademark high concept ideas mixed with a fizzy dose of pop (culture and psychology) does not just run through the issue, it gallops.  You can peel back the existential and cultural reference layers of this onion for days but the core here is all about opposites.  J’Rhogan as the opposite side of the coin from Iboga, Maxim and Adam vs. The Never, Janus – the doubled faced Roman god of beginnings and endings (as well as doorways between worlds), creation vs. destruction... its yin and yang all over the place.

Artist Tom Scioli continues his Jack Kirby riff and even, dare I say it, surpasses the King himself.  From the wraparound cover to the wild, alien tech, to the huge explosions, Scioli delivers wide screen visuals.  His work takes a playful, trippy, turn with Neela’s story, turning the art on its head and forcing a new perspective.

If you’ve never tried Gødland, the first story arc has already received the trade treatment and the second arc (which concludes here) will be collected soon.  If you have a taste for the cosmic, if you enjoy the odd and offbeat, if you like your sci-fi with a healthy dose of humor, sarcasm and parody, then Gødland is for you.  Before you open the cover, though, make sure you check your analytical mind at the door.