Whitechapel - The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

warrenellis — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 08:19:08 -0800

It's done.

Ariana is, I think, still angry with me about the Horrible Thing in the middle.

Thoughts, comments, etc?

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

Ariana — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 18:24:05 -0800

Ariana is, I think, still angry with me about the Horrible Thing in the middle.

Yes. There was a

happy-ever-after good-things-etc* ending

right fucking there and you were all "HA HA FUCK YOU I'M WARREN ELLIS."

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

warrenellis — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 18:35:48 -0800

You appear to be the only person on Whitechapel who's read it, too!

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

Ariana — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 18:50:34 -0800

Or they're all just TOO UPSET TO SAY ANYTHING. (There's no crying here, you know.)

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

scs — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 20:03:50 -0800

Nah, we've all gone down to our local shops to scream "Where's my fucking 'Supergod 5' comic?"

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

stsparky — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 20:57:43 -0800

Some shops didn't sell the book until today. Because of last week's holiday. The LCS claimed they'd play by the rules.

I liked the ending. I liked Jerry and Krishna not fighting. And that is what happens when you try to make sense of grown-ups realizing fighting is stupid.

Thanks for the series.

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

Eric Trautmann — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 20:58:02 -0800

Entertaining run. Some genuinely creepy scenes, lovely dialogue.

Also:

The Cthulhoid horror show in the middle made me smile. Delightfully horrid.

-E

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

Shadow Age — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 21:36:43 -0800

I read it too. I really liked Krishna's version of the world. That was so cool. And the scene with him and Jerry is the one scene from the whole series that's stuck with me the most.

And Dajjal gets the douche bag of the year award- fucking emo supergod.

I really want to know what that "one timeline" is that's not so goddamn boring.

Is there any chance Krishna could have survived and, maybe, saved Jerry?

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

James Cunningham — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 22:49:31 -0800

Awww.... what a lovely ending to such a dark series.

*turns page*

Oh....

"Strange game. The only winning move is not to play."

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

celan — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 01:56:34 -0800

Bleak. Loved it.

I liked that the British Astro-Fungo-Naut Death God survives as default deity after the metafictional Islamo-nihilist Chrono-Angel destroys half the world; Warren's idea of a sentimental ending, I suppose.

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

joe.distort — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 12:20:18 -0800

re-read the whole series last night, and i can say

i was not really wowed by this book until reading all together-dont get me wrong, each issue was good. i just didnt really get the sense of scale until taking it all in at once. the narrator held everything together nicely, grounding it and also playing into the story itself. the flesh Elder God made me grin ear to ear, and then when i realized pieces of it were falling apart, even better. the six billion dollar man thinking for himself at the end was brilliant, as was the kiss from Krishna. and i can honestly say that i didnt expect the ending with morrigan lording over the collapsed europe AT ALL. although i am ashamed to admit that im missing the signifigance of him being the only one left, yet 'fungus only grows on dead things'. theres some part of that im not grasping.

regardless, great book. i felt it ended DRASTICALLY better than Black Summer (which seemed front loaded, in my opinion) and compliments NO HERO as well. holds up pretty fucking well as a whole.

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

Brandon Seifert — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 12:53:46 -0800

God. All the "spoiler" bars in here are killing my eyes. White-text-on-light-blue-highlight? Man.

I loved the Cthulhu bit — and the fact that even a man-made Cthulhu makes people cry and puke. Lots of interesting twists in this one. And, yeah, I'm with Ariana. Got me!

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

Ariana — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 13:23:10 -0800

God. All the "spoiler" bars in here are killing my eyes. White-text-on-light-blue-highlight? Man.

You do know selected text colors are a user-end setting?

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

Brandon Seifert — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 16:31:36 -0800

You do know selected text colors are a user-end setting?

... I'll go look for that in my system settings. Thanks for the tip!

Edit: ... Or maybe it's just my degenerative eye disease. Damn.

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

LordFluffy — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 12:50:38 -0800

Just read the book.

I was reluctant to pick up this series at first because I read Black Summer and felt it was incomplete, read No Hero and felt horrified and didn't know if I was prepared for another X number of issues of a comic that ended with the message that things suck and if you look for heroes or saviors, you're just going to get your balls curb stomped. But as I am one of the many bitches of Warren Ellis, I gave it a go and was really happy that I did.

If you think of the scale of it, it's more horrifying than many other books because, well, bodycount and the world pretty much dying. But the way the series ended, I felt like it was in some regards the more hopeful than the series I was comparing it against.

Perhaps because even though the "Horrible Thing" happened in the middle and we know that life is ending as we know it, something is coming after and the narrator feels that it can be swayed to the better somehow.

I felt like if this were told a slightly different way, it could have been a five year run. As with most mini-series, there are people that I was sad I didn't really get to know. I did feel like I knew (and liked) the narrator, though and it was his framing of the story that really sold it for me. I'm glad I read this.

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

Styphax — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 16:45:41 -0800

Loved it. This was actually the 1st creator owned work I ever dared to pick up (Supergod #1 that is) So it was nice to see the series end. I got the feeling that Warren feels all warm and fuzzy about Superheroes. I hope that's what he was trying to convey.

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

Gilgurth — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 20:24:05 -0800

I really dug this series, myself. The running commentary on various nations was pretty good, in regards to what they build, why, how, and what they miss. I'm curious what the one timeline was, myself, and since it's already seen it, does that negate the lack of boredom? Lack of Japaneese supergod also made me laugh. I wish it was longer/bigger, in some respects, but, I also know that might entail not seeing the last issue before the 2012 apocalypse.

I, for one, welcome our new space fungus, monkey hating overlords.

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

SilentObjector — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 00:17:03 -0800

Guh, why can't I find this issue in my LCS? I'm dying, here.

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

roadscum — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 14:16:25 -0800

Yes, i can see Ms Osbourne's point there but then again, let's face it, he is Warren Ellis.

The ending seemed strangely familiar, then i remembered something i read in Paul Stamets Ted talk:

Now we’ve had several extinction events, and as we march forward, 65 million years ago — most of you know about it — we had an asteroid impact. The earth was struck by an asteroid, a huge amount of debris was jettisoned into the atmosphere. Sunlight was cut off, and fungi inherited the earth.

I am left wondering what the good Mr Ellis was listening to while writing the last few pages...

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

celan — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 14:55:11 -0800

I am left wondering what the good Mr Ellis was listening to while writing the last few pages...

Paul Stamets notwithstanding...I would guess that Mr. Ellis had a head cold at the time.

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

SilentObjector — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 19:51:51 -0800

Found it.

...Jesus H. Morrigan, Ellis. Way to knock that one out of the park. Depressing as hell, though.

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

Mercer Finn — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 01:59:41 -0800

Warren has given me nightmares. Again.

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

texture — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 04:29:06 -0800

Really enjoyed the scope and scale of this one. Managed to be a very serious discussion of ecophagy, a ridiculous giant monster battle, and an iconoclastic refutation of statehood and religion, all at the same time. A mad, psychedelic apocalypse. I thought the way that events slipped from human control so quickly was powerful and realistic. Probably one of the scariest 'post-human' stories I have ever read. Would have commented earlier but the snow meant my LCS only just got this. Seeing as everyone else is comparing them... I thought 'Black Summer' was the strongest of the three... But 'Supergod' had its own particular charm. Also, Cthulhu appearance = win.

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

Casey Moore — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 18:04:09 -0800

Jesus that was depressing but pretty damn great.

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

Ken Miller — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 09:20:44 -0800

Very good stuff (spoilers) and, as a Brit, I was secretly happy that the British Fungus God kinda won out in the end - even if we humans lost. I like the fact that Morrigan Lugus became a supermassive mycelial network - kinda like the real giant fungus in Utah.

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

mouton — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 06:40:50 -0800

The timelines that he found boring were probably all the happy hindu utopia ones. So he eliminated that possibility. Asshole.

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

Shadow Age — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 11:52:49 -0800

After thinking about it for a few weeks I think the only timeline that isn't boring is one in which Morrigan Lugus doesn't win. Think about it- if you're a god why would you want to hang out with a bunch of dead mushroom people?

Two questions still bug the hell out of me!

First, if Krishna could create matter faster than Malak could destroy it could he not have created a shield before being ripped apart by Dajjal's exploding power core?

Second, if the trio of astronauts is really still alive inside Morrigan Lugus, somehow, what happens when they absorb their family and friends? Could Morrigan Lugus' personality change?

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

johnjones — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 06:45:17 -0800

After thinking about it for a few weeks I think the only timeline that isn't boring is one in which Morrigan Lugus doesn't win. Think about it- if you're a god why would you want to hang out with a bunch of dead mushroom people?

In my view, the only "non-boring" timeline is one in which Krishna no longer exists. Based on the developments toward the middle of issue 5, it seemed clear that Krishna was going to create a full-on peace-on-earth, goodwill-toward-men paradise on earth. And Paradise, to something like Dajjal, would be extremely dull. Also, what makes you so sure that all those people are completely dead? Maybe they're still alive within the mushroom network. Alive and screaming...

First, if Krishna could create matter faster than Malak could destroy it could he not have created a shield before being ripped apart by Dajjal's exploding power core?

He probably could have, if he'd had a few more picoseconds in which to act. Alas, he did not.

Second, if the trio of astronauts is really still alive inside Morrigan Lugus, somehow, what happens when they absorb their family and friends? Could Morrigan Lugus' personality change?

For answers to these and other burning questions, stay tuned for Ellis Warren's Supergod II, coming soon to a parallel dimension near you...

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

warrenellis — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 08:33:51 -0800

First, if Krishna could create matter faster than Malak could destroy it could he not have created a shield before being ripped apart by Dajjal's exploding power core?

Apparently not.

Second, if the trio of astronauts is really still alive inside Morrigan Lugus, somehow, what happens when they absorb their family and friends? Could Morrigan Lugus' personality change?

Big If there.

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

VertigoJones — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 14:36:17 -0800

I think the key is that Dajjal knows it will work, as he sees the whole spectrum of possibility before him.

The outcome of the meeting between Krisha and Jerry was totally unexpected, threw me for quite a loop, and I have to say, I loved it. Jerry's "life" looks like a nightmare from the moment he's introduced.

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

icelandbob — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 15:12:03 -0800

i finished reading that last chapter last night.

It filled me with a mixture of sadness, bleakness, depression and a slow shiver down my spine at mankind's general futility of purpose. Lovely feelings i'M sure....

IMO the gods who came out the worst out of this were the so called "New Gods" i.e. Jerry Craven (evangelical Christianity) and that Russian machine guy (stalinist capitalism) as they were totally outclassed by the real "old" gods of Krishna, Malak, Morrigan Lugus. They seemed to be limited by the complete lack of scope and imagination of their creators.

Overall i think this is one of Warrens best limited series work he's done in years. The scope of ideas, the art, the total lack of sentimentality regarding "oh the humans will find a way to get out of this" ending in most comics was both refreshing and downright scary....

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

Darthmoga — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 14:08:38 -0800

While I was flipping through the preview, I noticed the depiction of Islamabad... which isn't exactly structured that way lol. Just minor peeve from your resident Islamabadi.
You coulda asked me to take some pictures for you, warren.

Looking forward to actually reading this in a month or two.

somewhat related

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

warrenellis — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 07:28:34 -0800

"You coulda asked me to take some pictures for you, warren."

I hate to break this to you, but I don't draw the comics.

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

Darthmoga — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 23:34:38 -0800

True enough.

I'm here for whenever you need reference for Pakistan. I even have reference if you want to depict its destruction. Cheers.

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

nigredo — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 01:01:26 -0800

Supergod was one of io9's best SF comics of 2010.

The SUPERGOD #5 Thread

Travis Hedge Coke — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 17:22:45 -0700

Just reread Supergod and it hangs together better than I'd remembered. The ending isn't unnecessarily nihilistic (as some reviews had it), but pretty on-target for the point of the comic.

With the Planetary and Transmetropolitan critical books (coming) out, I can't help but wonder if there's more mileage in letting people use the Black Summer/No Hero/Supergod alternate-perspectives (or however you'd call it) as an excuse to run off the rails with extrapolation, interpolation and thoughts on the subjects they raise and knock about. Anthology of people talking about the ideas or executions at their personal preference, or just one dense essay, not to say again what the comics said or considered or alluded to, but to extend the conversation.

Not exactly gonna have the media-tie-in power of the Transmet book, though, I figure.