Comic Related: Bill Gladman's Life in Four Colors

Life In Four Colors: Series Review
No Gods: Issues #1-6
Written by Dustin Carson
Illustrated by Armando Abeleda

I’m going back in time and space once more to the weekend that just passed. Specifically early Saturday morning this past October 4th…..Mid-Ohio Con. Columbus Ohio. About 10:30 am.

I’m in the Comic Related booth….going over the program with my daughter, planning out the day and Chuck comes over and hands me a small pile of about six comics.

“Hey Bill, I was talking to this writer over in the commons….names Dustin Carson. He has this series….a six issue story. I told him we would review the book on the site, but I’m going to be pretty busy for a….while. I thought you might want to check them out. I think there’re right up your alley.”

I flipped through the books….the first of which had a simple pitch black cover….another in the pile had that same type as cover as well. The title caught my eye right away.

“This is the entire series?” I asked.

“All six issues….you interested?”

With a name like “No Gods” how could I not be interested?

After the day ended and I ended up in my Westerville hotel room…I was unpacking my bag of goodies….and ran across the books….I packed my bag with what I needed for the next day at the con and tossed the books onto the desk with my car keys and lose change . I spent an hour or so sorting out signed books and what I still wanted to get signed. I was tired….but not quite ready to call it a night. It had been a busy weekend…and I haven’t really had the time to do much reading. I flipped through the first couple of issues of No Gods.

Liked the art…and it looked like a well paced story….despite the fact that it had a lot going on. I committed myself to reading the story…all six issues…one sitting, back to back.

The first book started out innocently enough with a scene of what on the surface appeared to be a normal American family of three….the parents were discussing the fact schools were closed…and you expected it to be due to a snow day.

Wrong.

What David sees when he opens that curtain is not a snow-swept winter street. It’s the first indication that this book is going to cover some uncharted ground.

And I was literally in for one Hell of a ride.

The next few pages was a mix of dark social commentary, slanted adult humor, violence and sex….and I was more than just a little stunned.

Chuck thought this book was “Up my alley?” What did I ever do to make him think I was into reading stuff like this?

I continued on…..Dustin’s story seemed to go into several different directions. He literally threw everything at me. Bits and pieces of back story that I have to admit….just didn’t seem to be connected in any way.

Super-heroes….but not your ordinary caped crusaders…oh no…anything but ordinary. And that wasn’t all. There’s the 11th clone of Jesus Christ, aliens, a writer who writes horror stories scarred in more ways than one by the tragic events that occurred years ago while on his honeymoon with his new wife.

Even the Easter Bunny makes an appearance. I kid you not.

Three issues into this thing….and I almost called it quits….the first two issues just didn’t seem to be going in any general direction….red-neck hunting accidents…telepathic conversations with God….a battle in the desert between the Jesus clone and this world’s version of the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, and the military.

But…I was going to see it through.

Issue four was another simple black cover book. Dustin would later send an e-mail apologizing for what he considered to be amateur looking covers for the books. He mentioned that artist Armando Abeleda was working on new covers….and the book would soon be re-issued. But to be honest…I had no problem with the covers…which also ran photostat grey tone covers on scenes from the story.

I thought the black covers were very brooding….and the photosat covers…very unique. Just like the story inside. Both covers fit the mood the story inside established and a very visual testimony to the fact that this was a very independent book. So Dustin…don’t sweat the covers.

As for the story inside…it was starting to solidify and actually hold my interest. After issue four…I couldn’t wait to jump into issue five. The story started to breathe….all the various elements started to converge.

I started to wonder about how much of this story Chuck really knew about…because five issues into this thing….I could see where certain aspects of the Watchmen, The Authority, and Loaded Bible was creeping into the story….and that was most definitely up my alley.

With elements from those books…mixed with Dustin and Armando’s own stylized storytelling…I was beginning to go from skeptic…to believer. I was beginning to like this book. Dustin threw in a ghost….and started to make the writer in the story (John) more and more important to the tale’s outcome.

The “Savior” meets his fate….but like the one that came before still has a role to play. Finally everything comes together in issue six….in all places a cemetery.

The fate of the world now lay in John’s hands. Mankind needed to be warned of the things yet to come. And John decides the best way to do that is to hide God’s message …in the pages of a comic book called …No Gods.

Wow. Dustin Carson really pulled out all the stops to bring every crazy element of this story together to a very decisive ending that made perfect sense and left you wanting more.

I only have two problems with the No Gods series. One….and keep in mind this is just a personal opinion. I think this story would have worked better as a collected graphic novel instead of six individual books. I know there are probably several reasons why Dustin wanted to go this route….but I feel the story does bog down a little towards the end of issue two and most of three. And if I almost stopped reading the book at the time…others may go ahead it call it quits at the same spot. Dustin does a great job of pulling everything together later on…but some readers may not come back after issue three to see how things end.

If this story was one collected book…I feel less people would put it down at that point and keep going to the conclusion. And be rewarded for doing so by one of the best endings I’ve read in a comic series for some time. If he wants to use more dynamic covers…done by Armando…use them on this collected volume.

Two. I was disappointed that Dustin wasn’t at Mid-Ohio Sunday… I wanted to get the books signed.

If you’re looking for a very imaginative story… that entertains, makes you think, and actually disturbs you to some degree I would suggest you read No Gods.

I’m hoping there’s more to come.

Until next time…see you in the funny papers.

Bill Gladman - Bill is a writer and illustrator and currently working on several different projects including the first issue of an ongoing comic book series (Prodigy), an illustrated fantasy novel (The Book of Noheim), and the first of four illustrated science fiction/fantasy novels (Jack the Rabbit, Living Legend of the Purple Plains) as well as a light-hearted on going mini-comic (Three Wise Men). Bill also pens a column for Comic Related and will be doing a mix of regional convention coverage.