The mind trip that is G.O.D.S. returns this week to explore the fallout of an attack by Oblivion. It’s the kind of comic that requires you to pay attention to its growing cast of characters, their roles, and how they play off each other. This fourth issue tells two tales, one in slow time intercut with a backstory that reveals a mystery from a previous issue. A complex weaving of cosmic supernatural, you’ll see G.O.D.S. #4 is all about time.
G.O.D.S. #4 opens where we left off in G.O.D.S. #3. A red-headed girl is going to shoot a gun, Oblivion seemingly lets fly a weapon that will kill everything, and Stephen acts as quickly as possible. There’s an interesting juxtaposition between Wyn and Doctor Strange going on. For them, milliseconds take place. For Olivion, we see their entire lives and how they got to this moment. Along the way we learn about Skinner boxes.
This issue works in large part due to Valerio Schiti pulling off a very tricky thing in a comic—the slowdown of time. Over the course of the issue, we see just a few milliseconds more of Dr. Strange and Wyn’s act, and it replays in a way that’s confusing at first but clear as day by the end. It’s a neat way to show how little time there was before stopping the end of all things while also raising the stakes. can Wyn get to his target in time? You have to keep reading to find out. Schiti conveys this well with wavy lines around panels as if the comic itself is vibrating.
What’s in the box?!
Credit: Marvel
Meanwhile, writer Jonathan Hickman is exploring what Oblivion is all about via a human he manipulates from an early age. A god like this is a tactician who has all the time in the world to get what they want, and this entire issue serves as their final master plan. Everything that leads up to it humanizes their victim while toying with the idea of Skinner boxes. It’s the very large idea of cosmic gods zipped down to a micro level that’s easy to understand, like a Skinner box experiment.
Space is also explored in the second half of this issue. Much more so in an epic double-page splash to end the comic, but the series as a whole has been good at showing small things with very large interiors. Spectacle is on full display in a variety of ways and it’s always visually stunning.
The creature design is incredible in this issue as well. Not just Oblivion and how he can change shape, but what he turns into. The acting is point as well, with more character work on Wyn. We see the pain in his eyes when he sees his ex, for instance, and he comes off as quite cool and confident in an earned sort of way.
Lighting is always strong as well via colors by Marte Gracia. There’s an interesting play of shadow in the Skinner box, for instance, and Gracia does a lot to convey impossible beings.
G.O.D.S. #4 takes a side step away from world-building to explore an interaction that takes place in a very small space of time, maximizing the spectacle. In the very same issue, we see an exploration of an impossible amount of space. The nature of time and the universe are on full display in this existential action adventure that is excitingly impossible to predict.
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