Goddess

Goddess #Complete

by Garth Ennis, Phil Winslade (Illustrator)

Meet Rosie Nolan, a London zookeeper. She's a Goddess, one of eight planetary deities, only she doesn't know it just yet. She gets an inkling of her potential when her psychic powers activate accidentally and she causes a geographical rift between England and Scotland. Unfortunately, this somewhat overt display of god-like powers brings all manner of weirdos and sociopaths out of the woodwork, all looking for a piece of Rosie. Join Rosie and her unstable allies Jeff and Mudhawk as they embark on a bloody and apocalyptic quest for enlightenment...and try to evade certifiable maniacs like Constable Dixon and the Butcher Bruvvers. Unmissable!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Comic Book, Dc Comics

256 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1995

About the author

Ennis began his comic-writing career in 1989 with the series Troubled Souls. Appearing in the short-lived but critically-acclaimed British anthology Crisis and illustrated by McCrea, it told the story of a young, apolitical Protestant man caught up by fate in the violence of the Irish 'Troubles'. It spawned a sequel, For a Few Troubles More, a broad Belfast-based comedy featuring two supporting characters from Troubled Souls, Dougie and Ivor, who would later get their own American comics series, Dicks, from Caliber in 1997, and several follow-ups from Avatar.

Another series for Crisis was True Faith, a religious satire inspired by his schooldays, this time drawn by Warren Pleece. Ennis shortly after began to write for Crisis' parent publication, 2000 AD. He quickly graduated on to the title's flagship character, Judge Dredd, taking over from original creator John Wagner for a period of several years.

Ennis' first work on an American comic came in 1991 when he took over DC Comics's horror title Hellblazer, which he wrote until 1994, and for which he currently holds the title for most issues written. Steve Dillon became the regular artist during the second half of Ennis's run.

Ennis' landmark work to date is the 66-issue epic Preacher, which he co-created with artist Steve Dillon. Running from 1995 to 2000, it was a tale of a preacher with supernatural powers, searching (literally) for God who has abandoned his creation.

While Preacher was running, Ennis began a series set in the DC universe called Hitman. Despite being lower profile than Preacher, Hitman ran for 60 issues (plus specials) from 1996 to 2001, veering wildly from violent action to humour to an examination of male friendship under fire.

Other comic projects Ennis wrote during this time period include Goddess, Bloody Mary, Unknown Soldier, and Pride & Joy, all for DC/Vertigo, as well as origin stories for The Darkness for Image Comics and Shadowman for Valiant Comics.

After the end of Hitman, Ennis was lured to Marvel Comics with the promise from Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada that he could write The Punisher as long as he cared to. Instead of largely comical tone of these issues, he decided to make a much more serious series, re-launched under Marvel's MAX imprint.

In 2001 he briefly returned to UK comics to write the epic Helter Skelter for Judge Dredd.

Other comics Ennis has written include War Story (with various artists) for DC; The Pro for Image Comics; The Authority for Wildstorm; Just a Pilgrim for Black Bull Press, and 303, Chronicles of Wormwood (a six issue mini-series about the Antichrist), and a western comic book, Streets of Glory for Avatar Press.

In 2008 Ennis ended his five-year run on Punisher MAX to debut a new Marvel title, War Is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle.

In June 2008, at Wizard World, Philadelphia, Ennis announced several new projects, including a metaseries of war comics called Battlefields from Dynamite made up of mini-series including Night Witches, Dear Billy and Tankies, another Chronicles of Wormwood mini-series and Crossed both at Avatar, a six-issue miniseries about Butcher (from The Boys) and a Punisher project reuniting him with artist Steve Dillon (subsequently specified to be a weekly mini-series entitled Punisher: War Zone, to be released concurrently with the film of the same name).

Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garth_Ennis

Reviews

[JB · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a big Garth Ennis fan. I love his Preacher series! It's my all time favorite. It's simply on of the best things I've ever read in any format.
It has everything, a great premise, a great story, great characters, great art etc.

This book, Goddess is also written by Garth Ennis. You can see and feel Ennis' style in this book. But it is no Preacher. It's a lot lighter. It has the violence, profanity and all the other characteritics that makes a story a Garth Ennis story. But it's not on the same level as Preacher. Fortunately for me, I'm the type of reader who enjoys a book for what it is, without punishing it for not being anything else. It is something in it's own right. And I enjoyed reading this. If you're looking for something "light" (mind you there is a fair share of violence, gore and profanity) to read by Garth Ennis, I recommend you read this. If you want to read something that has a chance to become the best or at least one of the best things you've ever read. Then I recommend you to read Ennis' Preacher.

The art in Goddess is beautiful. I'm a big fan of the art style. I will be looking if I can find anything else by Phil Winslade who is the artist. His art, especially his covers reminded me of Glenn Fabry who did the covers for Ennis' Preacher. I love those covers so much I bought a hardcover with every cover in it.

Goddess is a supernatural story with over the top action and gore, caricatural characters. If you're into these kind of stories, if you're a fan of Garth Ennis' work or if you're looking for something different, you can check this out. If not, you can skip it, it's nothing life-changing and you won't miss out on anything exceptional.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great work by Phil Winslade, whose debut is also colored beautifully, by his own self! Ennis' humor is not everyone's. If, like me, you love his stuff, you might like this Vertigo mini-series. I had forgotten it was edited by the late, great Archie Goodwin on loan to the Vertigo imprimatur. When someone finally reprints these in one volume, they should include the text pages featuring author bios and dedications, and, moreover, Archie's goofy self-caricatures as characters in this story.
Highly recommended.

[Devon Munn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of dick jokes; nice little "save the world" plot; aggressively 90's-era artwork. Fun, quick read that doesn't take itself too seriously.

[Nate]

Even Garth Ennis has his duds. Goddess came out just after Preacher started, and there are definite similarities between the two. A regular person gets supernatural powers in a sudden, shocking way, powerful people track her down, there's lots of blood and humor. But Goddess isn't good. The dialogue is by-the-numbers and the characters are underdeveloped. It feels like any number of edgy black comedies from the 90s. Ennis’ writing is really a step below his usual standards, it’s night and day between this and Hellblazer or Preacher. I barely felt anything about the story or characters. No need to seek this out unless you're an Ennis completist (yes, like me).

[Derek · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not much of a story here. Just gratuitous violence performed by a Mary Sue and her gang of misfits, an incoherent plot and an incompetent antagonist. This is long before Garth Ennis came into his own. The artwork is amazing though.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, the issue here is, the story seems kind of like a retread of Preacher, except that Garth didn't actually faf about for 60 issues before just giving up on the central premise entirely.

Mind you, there are some stumbling blocks. Constable Dixon is a character that....just appears outa nowhere, takes most of the series to even catch up with any of the characters and instead just goes on and on to commit mass murder just so no one can pin him on the LAST mass murder he did. He robs a bank and kills everyone inside, then hijacks a plane, kills all the passengers and crew, deliberately lands the plane on a beach to kill as many people as possible for no real reason, all so he could get to Rio....instead of just getting on a plane and flying over. There seems no reason for him to really BE in the story since ultimately when he DOES catch up to Rosie and co he doesn't do anything that the commando squad going after her at the same time in the same area couldn't do. Honestly feels like he's there only to pad out the runtime and have someone to commit gross, violent murders to up the edginess factor.

Also I am rather confused at the end where Rosie decides that she'll use her god powers to abolish all goverments and be the unstoppale dictator of the entire planet, planning to abolish money and cars while she's at it, and Garth for some reason plays this decision COMPLETELY STRAIGHT as if he thinks her doing that is a *good idea*, which gave me Empress Theresa flashbacks. Ultimately it is this end resolution, implying she's going to become the all powerful dictator of Planet Earth and look how gosh darned WONDERFUL that idea is, that made me bump down the rating to 2 stars, I would have otherwise given it three.

[John Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the twisted mind of the man who created Preacher comes a traumatic tale of extreme violence, overexaggerated situations, unbelievable characters set in an atmosphere of complete and utter chaos.
What's not to like?

[Marlan Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typical Garth Ennis stuff: pissed off/pissycharacters (here, mostly Irish, with one very pissed off American FBI agent) and pages upon pages of violence, committed with everything from fists to guns to staplers. You can see how some of these themes and ideas wound up in PREACHER, but this is still a good read in its own right, if not only for the gorgeous Phil Winslade art.

[Anthony O'Connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some early Ennis gear here with some great artwork and a fun story that - at times - plays a little like a very unpolished Preacher. That said, this is clearly the work of an artist still finding his voice and it defo shows. Still fun to be had, mind you. Worth a squiz for completionists.

[Ill D · Rating 1 out of 5]

D U M B

[Solo Neff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un cómic donde es fácil reconocer el estilo de Ennis. Claramente aparecen ideas que más tarde desarrollaría en Predicador. No es lo mejor que he leído de él, pero es entretenido.

[Howell Murray · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some good art, a decent theme when you finally figure it out, and a lot of unexpected twist, but some way over-the-top characters that made it hard at times to take the story seriously.

[Dast Cover · Rating 3 out of 5]

Podrían haber elegido mejor portada.

[Desire Manara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edición en castellano publicado en la Colección Vertigo #223.

[Miss Moneypenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lo que dice la editorial...

“ El ser humano esta convirtiendo el planeta en un estercolero… Rosie una chica comprometida con la naturaleza y un puñado de amigos se embarcan en una aventura salvar el mundo. La historia mas divertida y violenta de Garth Ennis el creador de Predicador”

La critica......


Así es como se nos vende de entrada esta serie como una especie de fábula ecológica para adultos (entendiendo adulto por grado de madurez no por contenido sexual explicito) y aunque el factor ecologico tiene gran peso en la trama igual de importante son los personajes que en ella intervienen.

Por un lado tenemos a Rosie la piedra angular de la historia una chica con gran conciencia medioambiental pero que peca de demasiado idealista que de un dia para otro se da cuenta de que posee poderes que no puede controlar y que son tremendamente destructivos el primero de estos desastres naturales es que Escocia se descuelga de Gran Bretaña. Tal situación no pasa desapercibida por los gobiernos de EEUU y la propia Gran Bretaña que envian a sus mejores hombres respectivamente para que se hagan cargo de la situación (y no de forma precisamente pacifica y discreta)

Por otro lado tenemos a Jeff un don nadie algo propenso al dramatismo al que Rosie salva de un tigre cuando intentaba suicidarse y que es el narrador de la historia. Para completar el elenco encontramos a Mudhawk un antiguo amigo de Rosie defensor a ultranza de los derechos de los animales que no duda en emplear los “medios que sean necesarios” por el bien de la causa y a Sam “Samantha” la exnovia de Mudhawk que se ve metida en esta historia por ayudar a este a escapar de la policía y que por cierto es una mujer de armas tomar.

Estos cuatro personajes se embarcan en un viaje juntos para descubrir el origen del poder de Rosie y como detenerlo, al hecho de que están siendo perseguidos por los servicios secretos de dos países sumamos que no resulta fácil para los protagonistas lidiar con una “bomba natural” como Rosie ya que la ira, la frustración, la excitación puede tener consecuencias fatales a nivel mundial el resultado es una historia trepidante y divertida.

En cuanto al dibujo nos encontramos con un dibujo colorista y dinámico en general y que derocha especial talento en las portadillas y paginas dobles recordándonos a las ilustraciones de Mucha el maestro del art nuveau teniendo en cuenta que la obra que hoy reseñamos es de 1995 su apartado grafico esta a la altura de las circunstancias con ese regusto vintage que gustará a muchos.

En cuanto a la edición estamos ante un integral de “ los de antes” tapas blandas y calidad aceptable lejos de los integrales que edita a día de hoy Norma pero que cumple con su cometido que es lo importante.

¿La recomiendo? Si sin duda mas si es para un regalo ¿Por qué? Pues porque es una obra muy bien estructurada y cerrada no existe duda sobre su final de manera que es un buen regalo para el lector esporádico o simplemente para aquel al que le gustan las historias cerradas.

[#ReadAllTheBooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me a while to appreciate Goddess. The first time I read it, I was ultimately bored. None of the characters were likeable, and the bad guys were almost indistinguishable from the good guys at times. The pacing of the comic book is awkward at times as it'll range from drama to action in less than half a page.

The story begins as Rosie Nolan discovers her powers & seperates Scotland into it's own private island by accident. The story then jumps to several of the other key characters in the story to give us a bit of character development for them. We meet Jeff who's more of a loser, but means well. We also meet the infamous Mudhawk, a eco-terrorist who's more than willing to shed human blood to save an animal's life. We also later meet the villains of the piece, although the only ones that stand out are the incredibly brutal "Butcher Bruvvers", homicidal maniacs with the minds of children. From there Rosie has to travel with her friends in order to stay ahead of people who want her dead or to study her as well as try to discover who or what she exactly is.

Like other reviewers said, none of the characters are that overly likeable & at times the themes seem to be non-existent in favor of gratuitious violence. At times it seems like there's no real difference between the "heroes" and the villains of the piece. Both are more than willing to murder, albeit Rosie does it more to survive. (Mudhawk on the other hand? He seems to do it more for thrills.) In the end I was left with the image that Rosie could become just as harmful as the people who messed up the Earth if she's not careful, which may have been Ennis's whole lesson.


I would have to hesitate on recommending this unless someone's read it first, unless you can get a good deal on it. There's a lot of people who won't like this comic book, even after a few readings to get past all of the over the top gore & violence. Still, there's good reading in the book if you're willing to look for it.

[47Time · Rating 3 out of 5]

This comic isn't up to par with the likes of Preacher or The Boys, but you can see the roots there.

The writer makes fun of everyone: the overconfident Mudhawk, the dushy Jeff, agent Hooks the careless CIA officer that acts like he owns the place, the English police that lack any professionalism. The story jumps all over the place, but I choose to say it's dynamic instead of chaotic. Rosie, the main character's powers aren't well defined or easy to control until near the end. They could be telekinetic, electrical, elemental, teleportational - it's a mess that initially she can't control, until she does a remarkable job of carrying a ship on giant horses made of water and teleports a New York skyscraper in the Arctic Sea. The violent scenes are detailed, brutal, yet funny, as you can expect from Ennis. There are a lot of moments where the good guys are surrounded and escape through sheer luck. The ending explains everything, kills all the bad guys in spectacularly fun and gruesomely detailed ways, but ultimately leaves you feeling little for the characters or the story. I guess it didn't age well.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Garth Ennis' work quite a lot but he's not quite up to scratch with this eight part offering. What really stands out from this comic is the early Winslade artwork. It leaps out from the pages and slaps you round the chops like a tv advert for a popular orange drink. It's not just the depth of the detail (which is deep) but the characters are imprinted onto your mind like flash photography in poor light; every emotion is there on the characters faces through every overblown punch up, shoot out or fumbled love scene. Winslade poured everything he had at the time into every panel on every page, so even though Ennis overcooks the farcical situations and violence with self indulgent glee the comic is still well worth a place on your bookstand.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A neat little fantasy story gets buried by Garth's compulsion to cram as much comedy and over the top violence into the story as he can.
Most of the comedy isn't funny and the violence gets boring after awhile.
He also as a tendency to ignore the main character so he can spotlight a bunch of obnoxious jerks because he thinks they are funny.
Very pretty art though and there are some clever ideas fighting to get out from underneath the dick jokes and random decapitations.
Garth is a talented writer, but he has a very limited range and all his stuff feels the same after awhile.

[Dy · Rating 1 out of 5]

OMG. Made it 50 pages. I read (& like) Warren Ellis, but this was just bloody (literally) awful.

The art... All over the map, horribly inconsistent, and frankly not enjoyable - sad, since I'd had high hopes based on the Mucha-esque work on the title page of the trade.

Honestly, I might have been able to make myself slog through the dreadful dialogue and thin caricatures of characters if the art had been worthwhile, but this was pretty much end-to-end dreck through page 50. At which point I decided life was too short for me to suffer through the remainder of this waste of dead trees.

[Baal Of · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like Garth Ennis, especially his work on Preacher, but this book was clearly formative, before he really honed his writing skills. The characters are wooden, the writing is pretty rough, and as much as I like gore in my films and comics, the violence in this book was so extreme that it turned into parody, losing all power. Add to that a heavy-handed ecological message that was handled with a meat-headed level of intelligence, and what was left was a dissapointed, muddled mess.

[Timo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had totally forgotten, how good this Goddess by Ennis was.
I have read this before and remember liking it, but now I truly loved this. This is a real hidden gem. Everybody who likes Ennis should read this.
Funny, extremely violent and bloody, witty and with the cast of characters to love and loathe. Brilliant.
And the ûber-detailed art by Phil Winslade does not make things worse.
Cool stuff.

[Seizure Romero · Rating 2 out of 5]

Phil Winslade's art is amazing, but Ennis feels like he's trying way too hard to be edgy. This is apparently one of his earlier stories; he has definitely honed his skills over the years, especially in the area of his ever-present over-the-top psychotic bad guy character.

[Marie · Rating 1 out of 5]

No structure what-so-ever. Boring characters, story not developed, this was horrendous. The artwork was way too busy like the artist tried to tie-dye the characters and scenery. Sadly, the violence was the best part of the whole thing and that even sucked.

[Tim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Over the top...ridiculously over the top and gory. Not what I'd expect from the writer of Preacher, in that it's not very inventive...not very stirring. A real disappointment.

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listen to my review on V for Vertigo, Episode 78 at http://vforvertigo.blogspot.com

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

I agree with the message, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. I'm really starting to think that Preacher was a glorious exception, and that Garth Ennis is really just a terrible writer.

[Fugo Feedback]

Ya subí la edición española que compré. Cuando lo lea seguro se gane su correspondiente reseña.

[Nazirah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn't a review per se. Just wanted to find the book. You have no idea how many times I've googled keywords in the hopes finding this book. Now I have, I'm happy. :)