Godkiller: Tomorrow's Ashes #2

Godkiller: Tomorrow’s Ashes #2

Black Mask Studios 2021

Written by Matteo Pizzolo

Illustrated by Anna Muckcracker

Lettered by Jim Campbell

“The embodiment of what Black Mask is all about as a publisher: Bold, visceral storytelling unconcerned with being pinned down in one genre or category.” (-Syfy Wire) While being vivisected by The Republic, Tommy astrally projects into Outer City to search for Halfpipe--but instead he meets Bones, a fierce witch who reveals a new peril.

This is some crazy messed up stuff right here and quite honestly I wouldn’t have it any other way. It is a trippy little series where it doesn’t really fit into a specific niche and that leads to some truly unpredictable situations and circumstances which is a surefire way to keep the reader on their toes. I love this because it means you actually have to read the book, pay attention to what’s happening and cannot skim through it and still get a cursory understanding of what is happening. This is as cerebral as it is out there and with this kind of outside the box thinking and anything goes attitude it really does it’s absolute best to keep you looking around every corner.

I am a huge fan of the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter continue to flesh these characters out beautifully. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story we are pulled deeper and deeper into this the more we learn the more we want to learn.

I like the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow and evolve. With him heading off to that place and everything in that room or area happening is where we see the depth, dimension and complexity to this story start to come into play. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is achieved incredibly well. There really is a great flow to the way that this is being told that takes us through the sequence of events exceptionally well.

Now I cannot tell if this is computer generated artwork or not, though I’m leaning towards they are. I say this not only because of the linework and how that feels but also how we see the imagery in the monitors that reinforce this for me. I would really like to see more backgrounds being utilised throughout the book. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a solid eye for storytelling. Now the scene in the bar or whatever that place is, seeing backgrounds would clarify this, is where we see some fantastic moments occur. The colour work is well rendered. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work are nice to see.

​

There are some really interesting things happening here and whether or not he was pulled to that bar because of the eyes remains to be seen. How he does manage to get away from the place he’s at is also rather interesting and what occurs when the main doctor leaves the area is somewhat shocking in what we see taking place. It should be considered erotic and sexually charged and boy howdy is it ever. This book is all kinds of “what’s going on” and it’s so well done that you want to experience more of this. With some dangerously interesting writing & characterisation and some dynamic interiors to create this tour de farce.