Sometimes you have to go through God.
Creative Staff:
Story: Christopher Sebela
Art: Ben Hennessy
Colors: Triona Farrell
Letterer: Jim Campbell
What They Say:
One sunny day in the land of Kerethim, God falls dead from the sky. The impact sends out shockwaves that draw in royal families at war, shadowy creatures of the dark, and armies of the dispossessed, all coming to lay claim to parts of God’s body. Into this power struggle wanders Zanzi Vuiline, a soldier and berserker trying to get home from a years-long war. Forced to fight her way through the strange landscapes in and on God’s corpse, from the soles of its feet through the top of its head, Zanzi will acquire a mysterious traveling companion on her own pilgrimage.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With a good run of various fantasy-style series over the last few years, it’s been great to have so many of them after a long drought. Godfell comes from Christopher Sebela, a writer I’ve enjoyed with various projects over the years, and he sets up an interesting layout and concept here with a world thrown for a loop. Ben Hennessy does a solid job of capturing the weariness of a lot of the characters and the different types of people involved in a wide-ranging war like this while also some of the desolation. There are some neat layouts throughout this as well that work quite well with the narration. All of which is also expertly colored by Triona Farrell, who has done so many strong works over the years.
The general idea is one where we have what’s presumably a continent known as Kerethim where there are various wars going on for the past few years, and long, involving places like the Kingdom of Rule and the Dominion among others. Everything took a wild turn in the last few years when what’s being called god has fallen amid the land. This is quite the giant humanoid – though I don’t think the artwork quite captures the scale of it in the wide shot that we do get. The idea is that the landing of this dead being has resonated and literally reverberated across the land and it has changed a lot of things in all sorts of ways. The interesting part is that you have various kingdoms working to secure as much of the god as possible and they’re essentially strip mining it as well, which we see a touch of along the way.
Within this we’re introduced to Zanzi, a hardened warrior who has reached her limit. With the war supposedly ending for who she’s employed by, she’s ready to head back home after several years away and doing unimaginable things to survive. The problem is that the son of the king has now come by to say that the war is changing and that it’s not yet time to call it the end, and that the fight continues. Suffice it to say, she’s done and heading back to her family, which has her quietly leaving in the middle of the night. The journey is what we’re getting here, as we get nods to her past along the way and the things she’s dealt with, done in a pretty stoic and quiet way. What will help open her up a bit is that, through the usual circumstances, she finds herself in the company of Neth, a young woman who has done her best to survive in the last few years after her village was destroyed. The two are traveling together, a standard concept, but since Zanzi wants to get back fast, they’re going to go through the god instead of taking an extra month to go around.
In Summary:
Godfell takes a pretty standard setup and adds a pretty interesting twist to it with the falling of god. I’m curious to see if we’ll get actual answers in regard to it, but like a lot of the characters here, it’s a thing that has simply happened and to be taken advantage of. The story is largely told through Zanzi’s point of view as she works to wrap up her job and head home from the war and it’s a lot of information and foundation setting going on. It’s engaging and I’m even fine with the kind of simple way that Neth gets brought in and added to the journey because there aren’t a lot of ways to really do it in a compact and economical way. So doing that just gets us to the main story quicker and that’s why we’re here. It’s got a lot of details to sink your teeth into and think about and some solid characters with the first couple we’re focusing on. Solid writing, strong art, and great color design sets this as a title to definitely keep an eye on.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Vault Comics
Release Date: February 22nd, 2023
MSRP: $3.99
