The Goddamned #2
Jason Aaron, r.m. Guera,, Giulia Brusco, Jared K. Fletcher
Image $3.99
I really wish this review was just me giggling inappropriately. Granted it would be the vaguest review, it would also be my cutest. Or creepiest I guess, depending on your perspective. Either way I should start doing video reviews for this blog.
The Goddamned #2 is more of the same insanity as issue 1 was, which is the breed of bonkers I love from my comics. This issue is split between Jason Aaron & r.m. Guera’s take on Noah and his clan, and Kain, who stumbles across the distraught mother trope. There’s a lot for me to like in there 20 pages, even though it kind of stinks that the first female character we’re introduced to is a damsel in distress of sorts.
Noah was introduced in the final pages of issue 1, and this issue sees him a little more fleshed out. Aaron and Guera’s Garth Ennis influence shines here, as we see Noah portrayed as a righteous religious man who fully believes in carry out God’s work, just in the most violent of manners. He’s a fascinating character, and given his history, I’m excited to see his story play out. A shame the same can’t be said for said female characte,r who doesn’t even get a name this issue.
While I’m less than pleased with how the book’s only female character is handled in the Kain portion of the book, I love what Guera and Aaron do with the character in this issue. While Kain throws down with a new tribe of foes, Aaron recalls the various methods Kain has tried killing himself. It walks to the line between ridiculous and tragic, because we feel for Kain in a way, but he’s also the dude solely responsible for the way the world is. I do appreciate Aaron and Guera finally giving the readers a reason to get behind Kain as a lead, and how they manage to let the reader know how bad the world is strictly from dialogue and visual cues.
Aside from the great narration and dialogue from Aaron, we get some fantastic stuff from the art team of this issue. Jared K Fletcher‘s choice of fonts really give the book a Prince Valiant/ old timey look, which I dig for a biblical action book. It pairs well with the colors 
used by Giulia Brusco, which give the book a nice painted look. And of course r.m. Guera is fantastic. I like the various body type he uses for the book’s cast, especially when so many fantasy type stories only stick or two or 3. He really does a fantastic job of creating a sick and twisted world, while drawing some fine dinosaurs, and uses dark black inks to invokes shadows in some interesting wats. He also shines when it comes to drawing the action pieces in this issue, creating some really brutal art that hard too look directly art, but gorgeous in it’s own way none the less.
The Goddamned is pretty much everything I wanted from the team who gave us Scalped. It’s a violent fantasy book with a killer hook, and small but intriguing cast. Given what we know about the Bible & the Old Testament, we have a rough idea on how this whole thing is going to play out, but it’s fascinating none the less. Guera and Aaron managed to create a captivating narrative quickly, and with Brusco and Fletcher, and visual style that blend European style comics with some Games of Thrones level violence. It’s a book I can’t recommend enough if you want something a little more brutal from Image.
