Zenescope - Omnibusted #62: Godstorm
a.k.a. The Omnibuster.
Normally, when I'd review a miniseries like this that has lore behind it, the post would include reprints of my old reviews as well (particularly with things like Myths & Legends). But in cases like my Dream Eater Saga reviews, some characters and IPs had so much lore behind them that I merely linked to my relevant reviews instead. Godstorm is one of these latter cases. So, here we go!
- Grimm Fairy Tales #54: The Grateful Beasts (first appearance of Ares, and Greco-Roman deities, in general, in the Grimm Universe)
- Goddess (first appearance of Venus, and the final Short Story)
- Grimm Fairy Tales #58-62: Mother Nature (Druanna, a.k.a. the Titan Gaia, is introduced for the first time)
- Grimm Fairy Tales #68: The Immortals (first bit of lore on the Greco-Roman pantheon in the Grimm Universe)
- Myths & Legends: The Gathering (origin story of the sun Titan Helios in the Grimm Universe, Venus claims the Beast)
- Grimm Fairy Tales 2012 Annual and Grimm Universe: Angel One-Shot (Introduction of modern Zeus, Hades, Ares, Neptune, and Angel/Hecate)
- Myths & Legends: The Summoning (Helios unleashed)
- Grimm Universe #1: Eye Of the Storm (Neptune tries to destroy the world with aquatic Titans from Pandora's Box, which ends up with Hades)
If I listed everything with Venus in it, I'd be as late with this as I was with my second part of the Dressrosa Arc review on Monday. But I'm not down for that again, so new content it is!
Godstorm Volume One
The zero issue doesn't have much going on besides expanding on modern Zeus (Gregor Brontios) as a businessman and prolific artist looking back on his...distant relationships with his Falseblood children; in particular, Hecate, Perseus, Hercules, and Zagreus (whom he once threw off a cliff like a troublesome Mishima baby).
When high-class drug dealer and nightclub owner Eugene Sharp moves in on minor New Jersey dealer Tony Santinello's turf, Tony's childhood friend and enforcer, Julian, evens the odds at the cost of one of Tony's underlings being shot. And the two have kind of a Lenny & George-meet-the Babbitt brothers dynamic (minus the insensitive portrayals of spectral intelligence, of course) that starts to get on Julian's nerves after one "loving" insult too many. It all comes to a head when Sharp attacks Julian out of desperation and stabs him (subtle), leading to Julian choking Sharp...and electrocuting him dead and skinless with his bare hands.
Unfortunately, Venus and a mysterious partner with red eyes and jagged speech bubbles sense the awakening of Julian's power.
Julian tries to tell Tony about his powers and Sharp's death, only to get bitch-slapped for it. Shortly after, Venus arrives, disguising herself amongst a gaggle of "new talent" (read: hookers) at an exhibition of Tony's...expanded business model, and the sadistic Jersey scumbag further humiliates Julian, soon leading to our focal muscle man electrocuting Tony's eyes out of his mouth and teaming up with Venus, who is only identifiable by her speech font because this series' art style is simple, ugly, jagged ass.
And that's the only thing of critical note I've had to say, or probably will have to say, about this story because I've already done my research thing on the gods in previous posts, and this story is shaping up to be the most "goon doesn't want to be a goon, so he becomes a villain by being tricked into being a goon for a villain" thing of all time. Usually, I have something of note to say, but it just feels like I've been recapping the plot so far...because I have.
Mythological Zagreus, you might recall, is a minor basket of spiders to figure out, so it's no wonder Zenescope just went with the "son of Zeus with Zeus powers" oversimplification here. Even his name, Julian, is a reference to Zeus' Roman name, from which we get the month of July, words like "jovial" and "juvenile," and the name of one of the most famous Roman emperors of all time, Julius Caesar (who, ironically, met his end in a similar way to the Western son of God, Jesus Christ).
Anyway, Julian's fight with Neptune starts unlocking his memories in a more fractured way than Heather Angelos/Hecate/Angel got from Zeus, so he's still a bit on the unhinged side and ends up "killing" Neptune (it's the full-body, lighting coming out of every orifice kind of shock that he gave Tony and Sharp, but Neptune still has his skin, and Julian doesn't even bother to confirm the kill before dumping the god of the sea into the ocean, which is kind of like chopping Godzilla into pieces and throwing them into a nuclear reactor; they're going to come back) while Venus is dragged back home for some scolding by her mysterious partner because she tried to kill Neptune when Zagreus was supposed to.
So now, it's time to face Zeus himself as the finale approaches.
Zeus starts things off by undoing Venus' glamour (which amounts to a change of clothes and some magic concealer to hide the Two-Face-esque burn scar that Helios gave her, because Venus is too vain to disguise herself as anyone else and too slutty to wear much of anything), but Julian doesn't care what she looks like (and frankly, with how shitty the art style is in regard to any detail, her facial burn scars barely registered with me, so the reading audience probably won't care, either). She showed him what power felt like and gave him permission to be himself (which is two people because of the reincarnation/past life memories thing that has been happening with Zeus' children so far), so he decided to be himself by giving in to his deadbeat daddy issues from both of his lives and being who Venus wants him to be, but it's his choice, because Saturday morning cartoon villain mind games make sense and I'm not bored enough yet.
In fact, I've been finding it very hard to believe up to this point that Pat Shand wrote this. Again, the art style drags the reading experience into the pits of tartar sauce (my high school mythology teacher mistakenly told us it got its name from Tartarus because it tastes like hell—it doesn't, and it isn't), but given how shallow and predictable the writing has been thus far (I suppose the zero issue is the exception, as it does give Zeus a brief but dramatic character exploration that demonstrates a rich history with minimal exposition, and Venus' shadowy accomplice provides a decent mystery throughout these following issues, but the rest has just been a boilerplate Zenescope villain origin story stretched beyond its means), I haven't felt the kind of magic here that something like The Game (we will see a Game of a very different kind shortly), Quest, or Robyn Hood had going for it.
Then Julian goes full Zagreus, and the gravitas of his combined history as both men comes to the fore. His hatred for Zeus (while predictable and petty as villain motivations go) leaps off the page, as does Zeus' complicated but unconditional love for him. Even in the Johnson/Sawyer art style, their brawl (culminating in Zagreus flipping the Mishima reference on Zeus and throwing his words of condemnation back in his face) is mythic and brutal to behold (but not as brutal as something I'll talk about shortly).
I also like how it isn't Zeus who beats sense into him, it's Heather. They've both been villains in the past. They're both cynical (at the very least) about having Zeus in their lives. But she's proof that people can change (especially given the convoluted lore they're both based on), and that she's great at Rock, Paper, Scissors, Hammer, Lightning.
The flashback explaining why Venus hates Zeus (the woman everyone wants to sleep with for some reason, spurned by the man who has slept with everyone else) is surprising, sad, and kind of hilarious. But before present Zeus can put an end to the eternal she-cuck, Venus is "rescued" by her mystery partner. And if you remember the shape, color, and font of their speech bubbles (I compared them to the bonus material, and it's a match) from Eye Of the Storm, it's...The Being! And he seems to be a proponent of life imitating art, because he rips off her arms! Decades later, this is the one image from this miniseries that I remember vividly. I also vaguely remember that she doesn't die from this immediately (and what happens to her later). I did not, however, remember (or realize the first time around) that The Being suggested he was behind The Gathering, Bad Girls, The Summoning, Angel, the 2012 Annual, and Eye Of the Storm. That was a cool reveal, and will have some big implications in Unleashed and beyond.
But the story isn't over yet because we get a nice, literally bookending epilogue (not that one) between Zeus, Neptune (I told you he'd get better), and Heather, where both men choose to let the past stay in the past (specifically, Zagreus murdering Salicia) and hope for a brighter future, and Zeus lets Heather into his hall of art.
I think I've made my thoughts and feelings clear on Godstorm, so let's end the review with a reminder of what I said in Cover Charge #3: Grimm Fairy Tales (FROM June 8, 2014): "I wasn't sure what to expect from this arc, but it didn't have that 'gotta read it!' factor that even The Library had going for it. A decent set-up for the Unleashed cycle, and at least Venus got her arms ripped off. I'm ready for my close-up, Ms. De Milo."
So, yeah; nailed it. My feelings haven't changed. I still want you all to Stay Tuned for my Goj-Year-ra on GMK, and please continue to support me and what I do by Becoming A Ticketholder (you haven't yet), leaving a comment at the bottom of this post and any others you have opinions about, helping out my ad revenue as you read because being someone's goon unfortunately pays better than being yourself in this economy, and follow me on BlueSky, Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and LinkedIn to like what you see and receive the latest news on my content.
25
Omnibuster,
Out!
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