After finishing “God Killer: Walk Among Us” #1 I was truly moved. It’s an existentialist look at the forces weighing down on our modern civilization, a surrealist nightmare lost in a bleak future, and a dizzying read that will burrow into the core of your being.

WRITTEN BY: Matt Pizzolo

ART BY: Anna Muckcracker Weiszczyk

PUBLISHER: Black Mask Studios

PRICE: $3.50

RELEASE: October 29, 2014

Dystopia is a state of mind. “Godkiller” takes place in a future so bleak that many would consider it the epitome of the apocalypse, yet, somehow amidst all of the insanity that preceded this world’s creation, the characters within are the same as us. That is, they’re trying to thrive despite the circumstances of their society.

The rhetoric is different but the rules of oppression are the same. There are people in control, and others barely pushing to survive. Information is still the most valuable commodity on the market and it’s tearing holes right through the world.

Matt Pizzolo follows a handful of people lost in the chaotic shuffle created by a massive wave of death. Each of them have their own sense of agency, and more than anything try to carry out their own selfish needs. It’s summed up in one phrase in the latter half of this debut issue: “I will not serve.” A bold theme that carries as much weight in a world gone to hell, as it does in our own.

Characters rebel to be selfish. They refuse to be part of something, and in doing so begin to identify with a whole new way of existence. But, I’m not sure if they’re there quite there yet. What I do know, is that this issue is a surreal trip throughout, that pulls at you as you read. This isn’t a passive experience, the narrative will challenge you, and perhaps even require a second read, but inside you’ll find certain kind of idealistic anarchy. The narrative is wild and free, one moment you’re dealing with a collection of whores, where the next they’re being torn apart by some demon like deity who speaks in eloquent sadness.

Anna Muckcracker Weiszczyk is a tour de force. Her art is surreal beyond belief, but somehow follows a logical construction on the page. Her color is draining, and adds a certain type of depressing hellfire to the whole affair. Stylistically she’s all over the place without feeling scattered. A page with wild line work and out of focus backdrops can be followed by a clearly paneled and more traditional series of closeups. It’s an unrelenting visual feast.

This book is dense, and certainly not for everyone. I found I had to read it twice and give it a full night of thought before I truly got anything out of it. But, for me I’m tired of reading things and knowing exactly how I should feel by the last page.

This beast of a book, and its importance may be lost on some. But I urge you to check it out, and give it the time that it requires of you. It doesn’t pretend to have any answers and it certainly doesn’t hide its concerns, but it asks questions of you as a reader which is something we should be demanding more of in comics.

This is crucial reading for our consumer generation. Human psychology is a business, and “Godkiller” asks the question: what happens when you stop buying? It simply can’t be ignored.