Ordinary Gods #1 Review

 Writer: Kyle Higgins

Artist: Felipe Watanabe

Rating: 7 of 8

Ordinary Gods #1

Does familiarity breed contempt? For some, it can be one of the most comforting things in the world; while for others, it can be frustratingly repetitive. Does a story lose it's power because of it, or does it only grow? 

Ordinary Gods tells a very familiar tale, of a young man struggling with his inner demons, as he's thrust onto a path he'd already been walking. It tells the tale of an endless war between two sets of immortal gods, as one fights for conquest and the other for humanity's freedom.

Spanning multiple eras, it's a war that results in just as many deaths, though never any permanent ones - at least for the gods. The issue starts as it means to go on, with a wave of death and destruction unleashed upon a Japanese gang's HQ. As you read it, you think you know what the story is, but before the scene's even over, Higgins pulls the rug out from under you, twisting your perspective of the scene. It's a rather effective bait and switch, that also serves as some early foreshadowing.

After that, Higgins flashes back even further, to a time before the war, when their pantheon was still united. Their realm was divided into thirteen territories, all named after their various gods' ''qualities''. Though most of the imagery here fits, like Sorrow, some doesn't, like Strength, which I think should've been Cunning or Inspiration, due to the imagery used.

Other than that, though, Watanabe's art is remarkably vibrant, with characters' emotions evident by not only their expressions, but also their silence. The action, too, is bursting with that same vibrancy, energy and just as much gore as you might expect. Despite its' familiar tropes and premise, it doesn't lose any of its' effectiveness.