Ordinary Gods #4

Ordinary Gods #4

Image Comics 2021

Written by Kyle Higgins & Joe Clark

Illustrated by Felipe Watanabe

Coloured by Frank William

Lettered by Clayton Cowles

In Paris, the search for the Trickster continues. The awakened gods are closer than they’ve ever been to reuniting the Five—but what if the Trickster finds them first?

There are a few things of note that happen within the issue. I am not going to spell them out but I will hit upon one of them. With the search for the Trickster in full swing we see a pair of lovers who are also thieves and it is believed one of them is the trickster, but is it who they think he is or is it in reality his lover the unassuming man who seems much more low key? There are claims for both but I really think what the guys do with this seems a lot more like misdirection, sleight of hand if you will, which is much more what I feel the Trickster would do and therefore I think the gang is on the trail of the wrong lover. I could be totally wrong but when you read this issue, and you should be reading this issue and the series. Throw in the flashback and well it just becomes increasingly more endearing and the gravity of what’s been done is even more pronounced.

I’m loving the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter really does wonders in continuing to bring out their ever growing personalities. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story the more we want to see and learn.

I appreciate the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. How these layers open up avenues to be explored is utterly delightful and how we see them add depth, dimension and complexity to the story is immaculately rendered. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is expertly achieved.

The interiors here are exceptionally well rendered. The linework is exquisitely laid down and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level & quality in the attention to detail is mind blowing in its scope. How we see backgrounds utilised throughout to enhance and expand the moments as well as how they work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkable eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a brilliant eye for how colour works.

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I am very much enjoying how we see this coming to life. There are so many different moving parts that play such large roles in how this is unfolding and they all work like the mechanisms in a clock which runs smoothly. How we see each of these working together and separate at the same time is pretty genius if I may say so. Also I previously mentioned the male lovers and they are going to play a larger role in this than I might have thought and honestly this is something that thrills me to no end. This is so incredibly well written and with such amazing characterisation and these brilliant interiors that take us on one fantastical journey.