Gødland: Another
Sunny Delight and Gødland:
Proto-Plastic Party, the second and third volumes of the series didn’t
convert met to the church of all things cosmic as I was expecting and (let’s be
honest) hoping they would. While the first volume felt a bit disjointed, I
still enjoyed it. Casey and Scioli did a pretty good job introducing several
characters and locations. They also introduced the superhero and cosmic
elements of the series which the creators combined together while also keeping
them separated. The problem with volumes 2 and 3 is that the story doesn’t seem
to really progress much beyond what was introduced in the first volume. Part of
that problem is that what was so strongly foreshadowed in the first volume
actually happens in the second volume which isn’t bad in and of itself, but I’m
certain it’s a contributing factor to while I feel that book is starting to
spin its wheels. The other reason I think I feel this way is that Casey and
Scioli still seem to be setting up their characters and plots. Three volumes
in, your comic book shouldn’t feel like it’s still setting up the story.
The problem isn’t that there aren’t any new developments.
On the contrary, if you look at the individual plot points, things are moving
forward at a pretty constant pace. The problem is that very few of the stories
are connected together. Another Sunny
Delight delivers immediately on the promises of the first volume. Adam
Archer is the first cosmic being of planet Earth which makes him the herald of
Earth’s cosmic awakening. The space dog, Maxim, had informed Adam that this
would strike the interest of other beings in the universe. Book Seven (every
issue is called a book) is an alien attack on New York and Adam goes around
stopping the threat. This is a good example of how Gødland is a mixture of superhero and cosmic comics. Adam Archer is
mostly a superhero and his origin story took place on Mars. The story continues
with an exploration of Casey and Scioli’s cosmic mythology: Iboga the god
creator. Iboga is the universe and, in turn, the universe is Iboga. It’s one of
my favourite issues of the comic so far. The rest of Adam’s stories in the
second and also during the third volumes consist of his reactionary defense of
New York which are written as superheroic battle scene with a cosmic twist or
two.
There are other plotlines going on though. While Adam is
the clearly the main protagonist, there are plenty of other protagonists and
more than a few antagonists to go around. The various storylines can be
organized into three categories: 1) Alien threats to the planet (including Ed,
Suprah and Eeg-oh’s machinations); 2) the three supervillains, Friedrich
Nickelhead, the Tormentor and Basil Cronus, bickering amongst each other and
trying to do . . . something, and 3) the Archer family having adventures out in
space and fighting aliens while trying to keep the US military off their backs.
The second and third volumes are good but I can’t help but feel a bit let down.
It could all be because of my high expectations for the series (I blame you,
Internet!). It’s got plenty of action and for a moment I thought the comic was
picking up speed but I think Casey and Scioli are juggling more storylines than
they can successfully handle at the same time. I generally love when a comic
has multiple different storylines all happening at the same time but the
different storylines are progressing at different speeds yet all of them remain
slow except for Adam’s which is beginning to be repetitive (but it will
probably just serve as preparation for his evolutionary leap into a fully
fledge cosmic being).
Casey includes other things in Gødland that I simply fail to understand. There are many references
to awful reality TV shows. So many that I think Casey is intentionally making
references to what I would consider terrible television. I’m completely unable
to tell you why though. I do not understand it’s importance to the story or to
the themes being developed in the series so far. If anything it just seems to
intentionally date the entire project in the later part of the last decade.
That’s problematic because it took the creators roughly seven years to complete
the 36 issues long series. References made in the earlier issues give a
different cultural snapshot than references in later issues would give,
presuming that Casey continues with his references.
Another element of my frustration is that I feel as
though both of these creators could offer more. While Joe Casey’s body of work
is generally hit and miss with me, I’ve read some fantastic comics written by
him (Wildcats 3.0, Automatic Kafka and Butcher Baker, the Righteous Maker, and Officer Downe to name some of my favourites). As for Tom Scioli,
his art is inconsistent. He seems to up his game when he has something truly
spectacular to illustrate. A good example of this is book eight titled “Origin
of the Universe”. It’s not only one of the visual highlights of the comic so
far, Casey also scripts the crap out of it.
While the pastiche in volume one was more obvious seen in
the art, Casey steps up to the plate with his dialogue and narration, providing
plenty of Kirby-esque writing. Some of it sounds absolutely ludicrous but it
works well in conveying the tone of the series. The second volume also
specified exactly what the tone will be by upping the humour factor above what
was showcased in the first volume. I’m looking forward to seeing the multiples
plot threads collide. I feel like this comic needs more conflict. There’s action
and drama a plenty; characters regularly fence with words but it’s mostly
threats and posturing. Casey and Scioli might be using Jack Kirby’s body of
work and the comics of other notable creators of their youths but it’s limited
to style. The contents of Gødland
fail to reflect the energy and bombast of the average Kirby comic. So far Gødland is more of an interesting comic
to read than a really great one but hopefully the following volumes can improve
on what’s happened in the preceding volumes. 
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