All right, some technical problems are out of the way and it is time for my (Andrenn) first review here at the Revolution with Jersey Gods #5. Jersey Gods has been a consistent and great series since it’s debut issue. It’s first story arc concludes with this issue and a lot hinges on this issue to set up the status quo of the book and wrap up the opening storyline.
Writer: Glen Brunswick
Artist: Dan McDaid
Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Story: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Art: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: We begin with Neboron in the wake of a powerful asteroid while Fusion and Union continue to try and blast the asteroid. With still no effect they have no choice and must combine with each other. In their combined form, Fusion and Union destroy the asteroid.
Union and Fusion split. Union is weakened. Fusion reveals that he used half of his power to keep up a shield so he would be just fine and that he could have Neboron all to himself. Union is forced to separate, leaving all the Gods of Walker City floating out in space.
We cut back to Zoe and Delia being held captive by the Chinese mafia. Zoe escapes and ends up being being chased through the warehouse by the thugs.
Somehow Barock senses that Zoe is in danger. After a brief talk with Helius, Barock races toward Earth with Helius shouting “Go Barock, go!” (I had the exact same feeling when reading this). We see Barock travel through space. We cut back to Earth with the armed men about to close in on Zoe. Suddenly, Barock bursts through the wall.
Barock starts taking out the men while saying one big hilarious joke about how Zoe and her ‘Earth dating techniques’ are very dangerous. Just as Zoe gets a gun put to her head, Barock takes out the shooter with his gloves and hover board. After trying to explain why he was talking so funny to Zoe, she tells him to shut up and they embrace with a big kiss (Presenting the d’awwww moment of the week).
Rick and Delia have a brief moment together. Barock and Zoe then head for Zoe’s home.
We cut to the next day after Zoe and Barock have had a night of passionate sex. Zoe is complaining about how Barock’s hover board burned her wall. (Just now noticing this, he’s got space boxers? I want those. I bet they never rip.) Zoe tells Barock to get dressed and they soon head out for a news interview set up by Delia. Zoe mentions the Superman movies (my kind of woman) and how brilliant Richard Donner is. Zoe wants Barock to give the same answer to the reporters that Superman gave in the movie about why Superman came to Earth.
Soon Barock is being interviewed and asked why he’s come to Earth. He goes off from what Zoe told him to say and admits that he is here for her and for love.
Helius and Rushmore arrive at Earth to tell Barock that Deltus still runs Cumulus. Much to their surprise, Barock does not seem very upset. After this, Zoe shows them their engagement ring and says that they are getting married. We then cut to Deltus watching the couple from his monitor in space. End of issue.
Commentary
The Good: Jersey Gods #5 nicely wraps up this story arc with a strong issue. Brunswick has told a solid story from start to finish with issues 1 to 5 and has set up the status quo very well for the rest of the series. We wrap up all the sub-plots, but are left with plenty to be continued in the next story arc.
All of the characters are great, but Barock and Zoe are the real stars here. Every scene with these two together is pure gold. They fit so amazingly well together both as characters and as a couple that their romance feels genuine and important. Brunswick took the time to really build their relationship over these 5 months and it paid off with the best issue so far of the young title.
Fusion and Union had some great back and forth and made for 2 interesting characters that I would love to see in the future.
The comedy is never lost in the action. The best example I have to compare it to is Spider-Man in that even when Spider-Man is facing down thousands of gun toting thugs he’s still cracking jokes and keeping it witty and fun to read. While it’s not the same with Jersey Gods exactly, here it’s more like the comedy and action mildly mix but often are separate, but it still works well.
The action and comedy have yet to get in the way of each other. Sometimes in comics it’s easy for the comedy to ruin the action and make it hard to take seriously, or the action is so intense that it ruins the comedy. Brunswick has struck a perfect balance of the two and that is very hard to find.
McDaid’s artwork is it’s usual greatness and he fits the book perfectly well. He does have his problems (that will be covered shortly in The Bad) no doubt, but through most of the issue, McDaid delivers strong work. McDaid excels most at action, but with a story that has emotion in it’s core he delivers well there too.
With the end of the opening story arc, Jersey Gods has a new status quo with Zoe and Barock set to get married and Barock adjusting to life on Earth. Though it took us five issues to get there, it was totally worth it as this issue does a great job of capping off the story and leaving more to be picked up next time.
The Bad: I can’t deny that this issue does have one flaw with the writing. That flaw is that it feels a little bit cramped compared to the prior issues. Up to this point, the story flowed very well and each chapter felt satisfying and left me wanting more. Unfortunately, this issue could not leave on a cliff-hanger. Therefore, Brunswick had to stuff all the left over details of this story arc into the final chapter. The result was a tad frustrating to see since we had five issues to get to this point.
As I mentioned, McDaid’s artwork does have it’s problems. Mostly in the scene of Barock saving Zoe. I do not know if it was just the art in general or the inking was too heavy, but the line work really got out of hand with this issue. This ruined what could have been some very cool shots and panels.
Overall: After five strong issues, Jersey Gods is officially a must have title to anyone who enjoys super hero stories and just all around great comedic action tales. It’s not perfect, but for a brand new title out of nowhere it does incredibly well. Jersey Gods has easily won me over and is one of the best books coming out each month.
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Andrenn