So it seems that almost anything can be made into a comic book these days and the two major contributors to this would be online web comics and digital comics. Being fed up with the Big Two (Marvel and DC) and pretty much super heroes in general I have been keeping an eye out for anything else to fill up my time. I found one based off an app game (which I have not yet played) and upon reading what it was about I felt like giving it a try. And well, it was certainly different to anything else I have read. I decided to review the first four together as this was originally intended as a mini-series, only to now have more. So I may continue to buy and review them.
The comic was Pocket God, based off the game of the same name. It follows a small group of immortal people that live on a small island, known as pygmies. These little men, all men (maybe so they don’t get told off for violence against women, I don’t know), worship their gods but are always killed and tortured by all sorts of things, only to be brought back to life later. For example: sharks with lasers and exploding meteorites. One of them, Ooga, is displeased with their existence and tries to convince everyone that no matter what they do to try and please, the gods will always torture them.
Oh and there is some crystal that is apparently the source of their immortality and it gets knocked from its pedestal (which it isn’t supposed to) and the color starts draining. According to the little pygmies, when all the color is gone they lose their immortality (cue bad music).
So the little guys leave their peaceful island because according to legend, if they put the gem back on its original pedestal, then its powers will be restored and they will regain their immortality. The adventure is pretty whacky and some of the characters die in funny ways. When Ooga finally confronts the gods its pretty funny as they have names like “pygmysmasher1989”, they say they are bored and waiting for updates and say if the tribe dies they’ll become a Wikipedia page. Obviously a point at us. I mean duh the whole point of the game is messing with these guys lives.
The story was written by Jason M. Burns and I did enjoy it. Interesting to make a story out of nothing and giving the characters life. So they were a little two dimensional but look at his source material. He is able to make serious things like death seem lighthearted and non serious. Kind of the point of Pocket God I guess. His pace is consistent throughout the four issues and there is barely a dull moment.
Rolando “Rolo” Mallada on pencils and Paul Little on inks and colors. These two did a good job, giving it a nice cartoony feel with bright colors. I don’t mind this approach with comics, its becoming a more popular trend. This isn’t to say the artwork is simplistic in nature because it isn’t. The inking is done well too.
All in all it actually wasn’t that bad a read and was a good change from the very thing I’m trying to escape. If you are bored or a fan of the game or both, give it a try. You’ll find it entertaining. I will continue to read this series, it is cheap.
Score: 3/5
Publisher: Ape Entertainment