A few days ago I saw a featured ad for a new comic book launched as a result of a kick-starter project called “Gods of Men”. Usually I don’t respond to featured ads on social media (despite using them a lot myself for this website) but this one instantly hooked me by way of it’s featured image (the same one used for this very review!). I took a chance on the first issue and am very glad I did – so much so that for the first time in a long time I felt the need to review a comic (I read a hell of a lot of weekly comics and don’t think I’ve reviewed any of them in over 4 years).
Gods of Men: Shadow of the Sentinel is something that’s premise instantly appeals to me due to my love for series such as Garth Ennis’ “The Boys” and the Grant Morrison penned DC masterpiece, “JLA: Earth 2” and Marvel’s current event series “Secret Empire” and focuses on a superhuman being known as “The Sentinel” who was once the Earth’s sole hero with “Superman-level” powers who, over time, has become the defacto ruler of Earth following years of being worn down from “fighting the good fight”.
The issue is set years in the future and is focused on “The Sentinel” and his encounter with a government trained team of “powers” called the Justice Force after the Earth’s governments have decided that enough is enough of The Sentinel’s tyrannical rule. Review-wise, the problem I have here is that I don’t particularly want to give too much of the plot away as the series is a kick-starter project (i.e. crowdfunded) so could use all of the support it can get and me spoiling the issue here won’t help drive up sales!
Micheal Phoenix’s writing style and vision for the story and it’s characters is superb and this issue does a very good job of setting up a conflict that I’d very much like to see. The artwork is nothing short of fantastic and showcases the tremendous talent of up-and-coming artist Christian Paris and is complimented nicely by the brilliant work of colourist, Stefano Valentini. The whole issue is made complete by the sterling work of letterer Rob Jones.
All in all I am intrigued to see the how the aforementioned conflict between the Sentinel and the Justice Force plays out and am waiting patiently for issue 2. I would highly recommend this to any fan of modern comics who is looking for something “above the norm”.
Overall Rating: 5 Stars
You can purchase Gods of Men here as well as download a free PDF edition of issue 1. I would, however, recommend going for the physical edition of the comic.
For More information on Gods of Men and it’s creative team, please see the following links:
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