Dystopia is a state of mind. Remember that. Now forget everything you know, the world is a dangerous and insane place, one that makes something like stealing an organ for your dying sister an exercise in excess, and one where bleeding out doesn’t mean your dying. “Godkiller: Walk Among Us” #2 is another strange and appealing chapter of a series I can’t possibly walk away from.
WRITTEN BY: Matt Pizzolo
ART BY: Anna Muckcracker Weiszczyk
PUBLISHER: Black Mask Studios
PRICE: $3.50
RELEASE: November 19, 2014
If Issue 1 read like a wild fever dream, then issue #2 reads like the focused descent of that dream into hell. The imagery is all the same; just the way you come to interact with it starts to change. It lures you in with an air of sexuality, something to appeal to your urges, and just as you get close it rips your throat out.
Tommy is met with the ugly truth of the world around him this month. No matter how noble his cause, everyone is out for themselves here. Everyone is pushing for their own sliver of hope, be it an organ, an orgasm, or a good old-fashioned blood-orgy murder – which kind of reads like a beautiful combination of the three.
At the halfway point, something happens that should change everything. We’re given a glimpse of humanity in the character of Halfpipe. Not quite the hooker with a heart of gold, but the archetype fits albeit loosely. She does her best to offer some mercy to Tommy. The result is the descent into certain hell.
Pizzolo captures the idea of being mortally wounded in a way unlike I’ve ever read. Tommy’s inner monologue is uncanny and dreadful. It’s relatable and worse yet, it’s something that is painful to read. You’re never quite sure what is happening to him, and as you push to the final page you see that he may just be in over his head.
Anna Muckcracker Weiszczyk is still a sight to behold. Her style is highly emotive and visceral. It’ll push you to the brink of insanity and still beckons you to dive deeper into her playground. She has the ability to shift between focused laser like pencils and to a wild sketchy style between panels. It’s commanding, and evokes a certain sense of dread in combination with her colors.
The issue’s fervor doesn’t really let up until the final page. But just as you think you’ve lost all idea of what is going on, Pizzolo literally and figurative hits you over the head with the final words: “Nothing Is True.” Which oddly enough couldn’t be more true in the medium of comics. Anything is possible and the more subversive to our current understanding of life and society the better.
While “Godkiller: Walk Among Us” #2 is much more focused than issue #1, it’s not any less provocative. It throws us headfirst into an ugly world and pushes us to think about what we would do when confronted with such insanity. Chances are we’d all jump at the opportunity, we’d get in line with insanity, God knows I’d love to harvest some organs myself.