In Review - ‘Modern Godhood’ - On Kickstarter Now.

Modern Godhood issue 1.

Stories written by Frank Martin and Braiden Cox.

Art by Kieran Squires and Alex Perez

Colours by Matt Van Gorkom, Lorenzo Stello and Rifan.

Cover by Chinedu Campbell.

26 pages - Full Colour.

The Kickstarter is running until the 1st of May and you can find out about it here https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/frankthewriter/modern-godhood-1-a-fantasy-action-one-shot-comic

The Story - ‘Once stripped of his immortality and banished to earth, the Roman God Jupiter ventured on a quest to reclaim his GODHOOD. Now, with his powers restored, he listens for prayers of mortals in need, helping wherever he can. It's a dangerous MODERN world filled with many supernatural threats. Someone has to protect humanity and Lord Jupiter is more than up to the challenge...’

‘This 32 page one-shot is a crossover of RECLAIMING GODHOOD and MODERN TESTAMENT. It contains three never-before-seen short stories of mythological fantasy and action as Jupiter faces new and dangerous threats:

Lady of the Night -  After visiting a brothel run by a mysterious woman named Lilith, Jupiter is convinced someone is in need of his help. On the surface everything appears normal, but looks can be deceiving. 

Mark of the Beast - Jupiter follows an endless trail of prayers for help to a dimension being ravaged by the legendary Beast of Revelation. It's the end of the world. Jupiter vs. the Beast in a slugfest with the fate of humanity at stake.

Judgement - Armageddon has begun! The Horsemen of the Apocalypse ride on. Only Jupiter stands in their way. But which of the Four Horsemen will rise to face him?’

The Review - This came in on a link to the Awesome Comics Podcast for the Kickstarter that is currently running on this first issue. So far I haven’t seen the aforementioned ‘Reclaiming Godhood’. And this is in fact two and a half stories as ‘Judgement’ is dependant on a vote from the pledgers as to who Jupiter faces in combat. That’s quite a neat twist that’s a fun added extra for this Kickstarter campaign.

The cover is one of the better ones to come out of the small press comics world recently and has a great dramatic moment featuring Jupiter and terrors who are just out of reach. When I first saw it I presumed it had been done by Bart Sears or someone with a similar style. The artist wasn’t so far credited in this preview copy I received so I contacted one of the writers and found out it is by Chinedu Campbell who has a couple of books for sale on ComiXology. I’ll keep an eye out for him in the future.

I appreciate that the third story isn’t finished but you can see that this is a pretty solid small press fantasy comic. The always helmeted Jupiter has the profile and stature of a stoic force of nature. It is simply told and with drama and action. It has an adult eye on the myths and there are a couple of funny moments in the ‘Brothel sequence’ in the first story that keep your interest. Some of the figure drawing could do with some work but it’s forgivable due to the obvious fun the creators are having.

I enjoyed the action in ‘Mark of the Beast’ the most of all and it is kept at a brutal pace with a 360 degree view of what is happening. The titular beast is a nice design that puts Jupiter in danger significantly enough for you to wonder at the outcome. It’s got a nicely rounded denouement after such a blockbuster of a battle.

Of all the three stories it was the third that didn’t rock my boat. It is also the one that remains purposely unfinished. The fault for me lays in that most difficult of artistic tasks ....Horses! Maybe this can be rectified by the time the book hits everyone’s mailboxes and inboxes. I suppose that is a regular problem when facing the mythology of The Four ‘Horsemen”.

A small niggle would be that I’m not that keen visually on the font that they have chosen for when Jupiter is speaking. It suffers from being a little unreadable and breaks up the sequential flow. The rest of the lettering is more than competent - I’d say that just with that little point they need to consider alternatives.

Overall this is a fun book and you can tell that the creators are having a blast with the material. Some of the art and the lettering could do with some changes but I’d happily see this as a series.

Many thanks for reading.