G.O.D.S. comes to an end, for now, with issue #8 out this week. Jonathan Hickman and Valerio Schiti have revitalized the realms of science and magic with new cosmic designs, ideas, and characters. The story may come to a close in some respects, but this finale has plenty of exploration and a nice bookended ending.
G.O.D.S. #8 opens 100 years later. A bit confusing, but prepare yourself as time jumping takes place quite a bit in this issue. As the preview shows, this 100-year jump has Doctor Strange looking different and quite old, and Mia is also sporting a superhero costume. It seems Aiko losing her eyes worked, and Mia has reached her full magic potential.
This story touches on three additional points that connect back to previous issues and help give the series a more complete feel. With previous chapters feeling more like one-in-done tales, it’s refreshing to see Wyn come full circle, literally and figuratively. Something that feels like a letdown is the use of Doctor Strange and this possible future since they don’t seem to matter at all. This is all about Wyn.
The main driving force for Wyn’s adventure in this issue is finding out he’s missing a chunk of years. This inspires him to go back to multiple points in history, including his own future, to make sense of things. Along the way, he’s reminded of the deep love he had with Aiko and that maybe their divorce at the start of this series was a mistake.
Dr. Strange is looking different.
Credit: Marvel
The avatar of Order and Chaos plays a role in this issue, which also ties back to another big moment in the series. In this way, this issue feels connected in a complex way, and that enhances the ongoing complexity of all things this series has presented. There’s also a loose end or two outside of Wyn’s journey that puts things to bed so that, at the very least, there aren’t big dangling plots when all things are said and done.
Many will ponder what it was all for with this issue coming to a close. In some ways, this story has been a circle with a beginning, end, and a possible new beginning, with some of its characters killed off. In this way, the story feels complete and can be tabled for a while. Hickman and Schiti have also done a lot of work to seed future stories, however, and we still don’t even know what G.O.D.S. stands for! For another day, hopefully, but I can see many not “getting” what this was for, especially when Marvel teased this was the “other” big idea Hickman had outside of the Krakoan Age. It feels a bit like it failed since it is ending, but we’ll see if Marvel has plans to explore this corner of the universe more someday.
Schiti continues to do marvelous things with the art, with colors by Fer Sifuentes-Sujo and Marte Gracia. One of the coolest things is the depiction of cosmic gods, including Wyn’s master. She has glowing white arms protruding from a red cloak that’s otherworldly and quite cool. Locations continue to be insane in scope and design, which can take your breath away. The simplicity of the final scene helps draw out its importance in a book typically filled to the brim with detail. Overall, the colors are good, but, no disrespect to Sifuentes-Sujo, the book feels a bit darker and less vibrant in the colors department.
G.O.D.S. #8 is an apt ending for its main character, Wyn, as the series closes the door on an idea machine that expanded our minds in the realms of science and magic. Whether you found it too confusing, or not as satisfying as Marvel seemed to promise, you can’t deny it has added to the conversation of Marvel cosmic.
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