Goddess (TPB)

The Rundown

Rosie Nolan was an average red-haired Irish girl, until one day off the coast of Scotland and from out of nowhere, she manifests an immense display of powerful energy and tears a large chunk of Scotland in a coast to coast split. Suddenly, on the run from the authorities she hooks up with her old friend Mudhawk, an extreme animal rights activist, Sam, his ex-girlfriend & Jeff, an innocent bystander who got mixed up in the chaos. With her instincts telling her to go north, she’ll need all the help she can get, because hot on her tail is Hooks, an obsessed bastard of a C.I.A. agent & George Dixon, a polite, but sadistic British constable with his 2 murderous associates known as the Butcher Brothers.

The Team

Written by Garth Ennis (Preacher, Hitman, The Boys) & illustrated by Phil Winslade (Wonder Woman : Amazonia, Nevada). Originally published as Goddess #1-#8 by DC/Vertigo.

The Pros

Aside from his work on Crossed, this has got to be Garth Ennis’ craziest & funniest work ever. Preacher is by far my all time favourite comic book series, anyone who knows me, knows this and if you ever ask them they’ll tell you. Goddess is my second favourite Ennis comic. Ennis has written a violently over the top & insane story with very colourful characters in some of the most wildest & hilarious situations I’ve ever read.

I originally bought this series as individual comics years ago and foolishly sold them along with countless of boxes filled with comics. A decision I’ve come to regret and I’ve been kicking myself in the nuts ever since. So I’ve recently purchased this tpb and it was like reading the story for the very first time. This book made me laugh out loud, which is a rare thing for me. My wife wondered what the hell I was reading. Garth Ennis is a genius at snappy dialogue and has a knack for great storytelling with original & larger than life characters.

Phil Winslade has an incredible attention to detail the likes I’ve never seen before. The characters facial expressions speak a thousand words, with feelings of bewilderment, anger, fear, pain or discouragement, like when a co-pilot of a fighter jet makes a face at the reader, mocking the pilot’s redundant dialogue. That’s just one of the wonderful and often graphic sketches you’ll find. Like illustrator Glen Fabry did for the Preacher covers, Winslade drew all 8 covers of Goddess with vivid painted covers all reprinted in one terrific trade.

The Cons

To this day, Garth Ennis is one of my favourite writers, but I wish he’d come back to his roots. The Boys is fine series, but for now, the magic is gone. Grant it, Goddess is not as serious as Crossed, but also not as ludicrous as The Boys. It lies somewhere in between.

The Outcome

At the time when I first read this series, I was also collecting Preacher and I thought to myself, this is a great time to be reading comics. If you’ve never read any of Ennis’ work, this would be a great start (then go read Preacher). If you’re a fan of Ennis’ work than you probably already own this book, if not, you owe it to yourself to add it to your collection.