Godshaper #1 – Review

Story By: Simon Spurrier
Art By: Jonas Goonface
Published By: Boom! 

 

Godshaper is another comic with a nod to the dystopian trope; what would happen if something mankind relied on was taken away, how would they live? The concept of everyone having their own god was an interesting take on how mankind survived in this era. Everyone has their own religion, being they pray to their god, it provides money (in the form of beads), clothing, and status. The more they pray, the more powerful their god are; it gave me a pause for thought, are they praying just to survive or are they praying for selfish gain? In the story you find both.

In Godshaper, the world has not had access to electricity since 1958. Everything just stopped and most people depends on these “gods”, it is a personal deity like figure drawn almost like a ghost. Gods are also used to trade for goods and services; they used these “gods” as commerce to replace things like money and power both figuratively and literally. But there are some that do not have “gods”. One one of these people goes by the name of Ennay.  

Ennay travels from city to city, reshaping gods to conform to what their person wants them to look like. The bigger gods are, the better. But Ennay is followed by Bud, a “god” that is not connected to any human. He is a companion of sorts to Ennay and is a man without something to worship. They encounter Smudge, a veteran of a battle called the “Sarawak push”. Wounded in battle she ends up guarding a rations armor in DC when high-bead supplies were stolen, Smudge was blamed and dishonorably discharged. Branded a black marketeer, she was kick out of the army.

The art reminds me of The Wild Thornberrys and Duckman; the lines are loose and the colors are vibrant in places then dull in others. For instance, there is a page where Ennay is making his way through a crowd to have a rendezvous in the bathroom. As he makes his way through the crowd, he is drawn in motion with vibrant colors, the crowds are just outlined in two solid colors. The layout of the panel placement is great, when there are no words there is still action.