Thursday, May 22, 2014

A UNIVERSE-SPANNING EPIC OF COSMIC ECSTASY IN GØDLAND

Joe Casey and Tom Scioli conclude their consciousness-probing saga

Endowed with supernatural powers after an encounter with celestial beings on the first-ever manned mission to Mars, Adam Archer is the only human being in existence to glimpse universal enlightenment. In GØDLAND, Joe Casey’s and Tom’s Scioli’s trippy, psychedelic spin on the Kirby tradition, Archer has returned to Earth and, along with his four sisters, protects it from threats from the cosmos. The final volume of the series, GØDLAND VOLUME 6: GØØDBYE DIVINE, will answer the question posed from the beginning: Can he truly become one with the Universe?
“From a macro-story/allegorical point of view, Adam Archer is us. His evolution is our evolution, humanity's evolution,” said writer Casey in an interview with Comic Book Resources. “And, yeah, he not an ‘everyman’ ... he's special from the moment you meet him in issue #1… He's got unique abilities, he's got some psychological damage, he's got loads of personal issues. I think that describes a lot of people, y'know? So, taking that character as a surrogate for all of us, we could show a particular type of human evolution — an emotional one — the kind that I can personally relate to.”
Throughout the series, Archer has battled robot zombies, villains in search of the ultimate high, the sadist Discordia, and sibling rivalry. He has encountered a god-like being called Iboga and been guided by a wise dog-like alien named Maxim. But throughout it all, it’s unclear if, as a human, Archer has the potential to achieve what his brush with infinity makes possible.
The job of illustrating such a far-ranging and idiosyncratic work falls into capable hands with Scioli, whose bold character designs, celestial landscapes, and eye-popping color bring the vast universe of the co-creators' shared imagination to life.
GØDLAND VOLUME 6: GØØDBYE DIVINE will be in comic book stores on June 11 and bookstores on June 24. A new printing of the Eisner-Award-nominated hardcover GØDLAND: THE CELESTIAL EDITION VOLUME 1, which collects issues #1-12 of the series will be in stores the following week, and THE CELESTIAL EDITION VOLUME 2, collecting #13-24 is also available.

GØDLAND VOLUME 6: GOODBYE DIVINE
by Joe Casey and Tom Scioli

  • ISBN 978-1-60706-620-0
  • 260 pages, full color, paperback
  • $19.99
  • In comic book stores June 11, in bookstores June 24
  • Collects issues #31-36 of GØDLAND and the GØDLAND FINALE one-shot

Praise for GØDLAND:

“Joe Casey and Tom Scioli are publishing a tribute to Jack Kirby and Steve Englehart, without mimicking the greatness set forth by those creators. At the same time, this book doesn’t slavishly plod forward solely as tribute, but it offers a story that is odd, fun, and amazing. Scioli’s art is so Kirbyriffic that neophytes to the world of comics might easily mistake this work of some of Kirby’s, albeit less refined than his, and significantly more playful. Like those comics of old… Gødland is pulsating with cosmic energy that strains to pop from the page.
– Chad Nevett, Comics Book Resources
“The concepts and scope of Gødland is big in the way that the universe is big. There are huge alien machines of war the size of mountains putting the island of Manhattan in grave danger. Gods responsible for all life in the universe are behind the scenes of this story, and it’s no mere chemical spill or experiment gone wrong that leads to Adam Archer’s power. There’s a sense of grandiosity to Gødland and it’s almost so unfamiliar to me that I don’t know what I’m looking at. There was a time when this was actually commonplace in comics, but I’m pretty sure that was before I was alive. There’s a little bit of ‘it’s so old it’s new’ going on with this, but it’s doing it in a new way. It’s a big new way.”
– Josh Flanagan, iFanboy
“...this book was a real watershed book for Image and non-Big Two comics in general in that it had an aesthetic and a viewpoint that built on past comics in an additive and not just imitative way. By drawing on Jack Kirby’s cosmic period for inspiration, Casey and Scioli provided the kind of conceptual art that was usually the realm of more indie comics, giving Image comics creators a whole new field to play in.”
– Heidi MacDonald, The Beat

Previous Volumes of GØDLAND:

  • GØDLAND VOLUME 1: HELLO, COSMIC! TP (issues #1-6, 1 ISBN 978-1-58240-632-9)
  • GØDLAND VOLUME 2: ANOTHER SUNNY DELIGHT TP (issues #7-12, ISBN 978-1-58240-632-9)
  • GØDLAND VOLUME 3: PROTO-PLASTIC PARTY TP (issues #13-18, ISBN 978-1-58240-736-4)
  • GØDLAND VOLUME 4: AMPLIFIED NOW TP (issues #19-24, 978-1-58240-912-8)
  • GØDLAND VOLUME 5: FAR BEYOND THE BANG TP (issues #25-30, 978-1-60706-256-1)
  • GØDLAND CELESTIAL EDITION VOLUME 1 HC (issues #1-12, ISBN 978-1-58240-832-3)
  • GØDLAND CELESTIAL EDITION VOLUME 2 HC (issues #13-24, 978-1-60706-252-3)
ABOUT IMAGE COMICS
Image Comics is a comic book and graphic novel publisher founded in 1992 by a collective of best-selling artists. Image has since gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. Image currently has five partners: Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino. It consists of five major houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline, Skybound and Image Central. Image publishes comics and graphic novels in nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable. It offers science fiction, fantasy, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. For more information, visit www.imagecomics.com.

No comments: