God Country #5 Review

Writer: Donny Cates / Artist: Geoff Shaw / Image Comics

The origin of Valofax’s is our introduction to this issue, which means you know shits about to get real. We’re taken back to Valofax’s creation by Attum (The God of Kings), who forged the sword in a sun and doomed billions of lives. There’s levels of fucked up but that’s taking the entire buffet right there. Valofax is the heirloom to Attum’s children and his entire legacy but you can’t out last time. Attum’s own realm was starting to crumble and we see that the kingdom of these gods is all being kept from going into a black hole together by Attum’s own power constantly.

[quote_simple]”A lineage on the brink of annihilation,
held in a place of constant pain. By a dying old man refusing to let go.”[/quote_simple] That bar echoes through this series as Emmet Quinlan is a different type of old man but refusing to let go of what’s brought him back from his personal hell of Alzheimer’s. This leaves Attum desperate as fucking. He’s lost one son to Emmet but is refusing to let his sword go without a fight. Attum sends Aristus back to Earth to face off against Emmet, this time dressed in God’s armor (and the golden hammer from Super Smash Bros: Melee).

Now, when I say god’s armor I mean that in the literal sense, like on the “Emperor’s Soundtrack” when Lupe Fiasco said, “God place me in ya armor, I prescribe no partners.” The armor that Aristus is rocking like a three piece suit right now is the armor Lupe was talking about. Yeah, it’s fight night in Texas, y’all. There’s so much I want to say about this fight and how Shaw putt his foot in the ass of these visuals. This is the comic book version of the OK coral right now. We got a gorgeous landscape and well placed Michael Bay explosion plus, a Kakashi Rakiri reference to Naruto that I really want to believe Cates purposely put in this issue as an easter egg (so I’m going to believe it).

My only comment, which is minuscule, is how short the fight is, and that we see it more from an outside looking in perspective but I say that only because I fuck heavy with hand to hand combat. I’d like to physically see Emmet with the detailed swordplay, however, we know he has one final boss battle coming up so it makes sense for all the stops to be pulled out against Attum.

The fight detail is really me just putting this series under a microscope to try and find something [anything] to critique as God Country has been and still is nothing but perfection. God Country is peak unique storytelling with god tier art. If you want to get someone into comic books then God Country is the series you hand them. I’m so mad this is a mini-series but it makes sense, man, it makes sense. If you’re not up on God Country by now then your bringing dishonor to all that you hold dear in whatever fandom you rep.

9.8 Shook Gawds out of 10

Reading God Country? Find BNP’s other reviews of the series here.

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