The Krakoa era alumni fully unveil their new series ‘G.O.D.S.’, set to reshape the Marvel Comics Universe.
A few years ago, Jonathan Hickman (Fantastic Four, Avengers, X-MEN) returned to Marvel after a brief sojourn to develop his independent works. With him he brought two pitches. The first would become House of X (and the entire X-MEN relaunch that came with it). The second, at the time, Marvel passed on. Later, due to many factors, he left the X office. And with that, the latter pitch went into production. On Wednseday, that pitch was unveiled as G.O.D.S., a series in which he, along with Valerio Schiti (Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Man, S.W.O.R.D) on art, will explore the connections between science and magic within the Marvel Universe.
After what feels like an eternity of teases at conventions with a vague tagline and accompanying design sheets by Schiti, the other day it received a full announcement. Described by Schiti as a “reinvention” (something Hickman is no stranger to), the series will involve everything up to the Living Tribunal himself. The scale of the series is clearly massive, with Hickman saying it grows steadily as the plot thickens. The first issue will hit the stands at some point this fall, though Marvel didn’t place an exact date. Between now and then there will be a preview in the Avengers/X-MEN free comic book day issue releasing on May 6th. You can of course expect coverage of this preview upon its release, so stay tuned. (Editor’s note: In the meantime you can watch the G.O.D.S. trailer below!)
My thoughts:
As this news is a few days old, I thought it best to bundle in a brief opinion piece to make up for it. Personally I’ve been following this series since it was first teased with that cryptic tagline asking “What happens when the powers that be meet the natural order of things?”, and I had accepted that a full reveal would probably not happen until the release of the aforementioned Avengers/X-MEN issue. So I was surprised to wake up to an unveiling with little fanfare.
Obviously, Hickman is the elephant in the room here, he’s why I’m interested at least. He’s made a name for himself through reinvention and for grand, decade long storytelling. Just about everything he wrote before his break from Marvel converged into Secret Wars. Similarly, under him, Krakoa likely would have been a decade long slow-burn collapse. So with this announced just after Ultimate Invasion, there are questions to be asked about whether they’re connected. And potentially if they’re just the start of something larger. That’s probably not going to be answered for a while, but I wouldn’t be shocked if the events occurring there spur this godly conflict.
As to Schiti, I can confidently say I’m excited to see his art. I loved his work on S.W.O.R.D, and it was the saving grace of Judgement Day. The latter proved to me that he can absolutely draw to the scale a story like this would require. His art was immense, with gorgeous depictions of the man-made Celestial that was pivotal to the story. The idea that he’s now on an ongoing with art to that scale sounds absolutely incredible.
Again, while there’s very little to go off right now, my excitement for this series is immeasurable. I was excited earlier by just sketches and a tagline, so a title and synopsis feels massive.
Editor’s note: Marvel fan? Check out Jairin Ervin’s thoughts on the latest Daredevil: Born Again MCU series developments here.
