Writer: Donny Cates / Artist: Geoff Shaw / Image Comics
Cates and Shaw are fucking with the strings of readers’ hearts this issue. We got our Wrestlemania main headliner Emmett down in the guts of hell trying to get his daughter back from Balegrim’s custody. There’s a lot of Valofax talking and telling Emmet to take heed to what he’ll see. Valofax let’s us know that like Earth, Hell is made up of many regions and the one they’re currently frequenting lies directly below Texas. Emmet really doesn’t care about the geography lesson right now, he just wants his grandchild back.
What you have to love about this series is how Emmet doesn’t look like your typical hero; if anything this dude looks like Bruce from The Dark Knight Returns — my man is older and heftier, but that bravado and confidence with his hand-to-hand game be leading him into shit he could avoid. Cates is good at showcasing just how human Emmet is as the center of all this mayhem. That we see Emmet susceptible to a low trick on Balegrim’s part makes him all the more relatable.
A great contrast to Emmet’s trip to hell is how his son and daughter in law are still above fighting off hordes of zombies and his son Roy and daughter-in-law Janey share two different views once Roy begins praying. Janey is thinking all religion just got shot to hell once the god of freaking war showed up on their doorstep and swords started talking, while Roy takes it as proof there’s gotta be a god out there watching over this. I like that conversation taking place as they were up to chests in the walking dead.
Shaw draws a hell of an underworld and continues to be a great artist bringing this series to life. Each god has been presented very different and Balegrim looks to be the Hades representative, coming across very callous and above it all in his dealings. This series leaves me interested in seeing more new gods and hopefully some characters or other weapons to help Emmet on his quest.
Reading God Country? Find BNP’s other reviews of the series here.
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