God Country

The least given away about this year’s 6-issue miniseries from Image comics, God Country, the better. It’s not the most complicated of plots, but it is emotionally rich and poignant, and a large part of the reading enjoyment comes from how well these beats unfold for the reader. I’d be happy enough to say that the story opens with Roy Quinlan, father to a young family, having moved back to West Texas to be with his father Emmett, who has recently been widowed, and is now suffering from severe senile dementia. In the first issue, a massive tornado rips through the nearby town, and as it makes it’s way to the Quinlan family farm, it becomes clear that something otherworldly is contained within!

Third party narrative voices are not often employed in contemporary American comics; a good (relatively) recent example would be Frank Miller’s classic 300, and writer Donny Cates uses the device to similar effect on God Country. The hard-boiled Texan narration enriches the events, lending lyricism and urgency to the drama, without the need for awkward expository dialogue. It also highlights that this story, much like 300, is a tale of tales; a celebration of oral storytelling. In my head, I couldn’t help but hear Sam Elliot’s voice from the Big Lebowski as I read it.

The art by Geoff Shaw is scratchy and dense, but is beautiful to look at. He captures landscapes and action with equal power, while the ‘acting’ of his characters is incredibly natural and emotive. When the fantastical elements do arrive, there’s a stylised Silver-Age Kirby/Marvel influence; and the juxtaposition of these against the real-life tragedies of the Quinlan family are where the comic resonates most. By the end of issue six, Cates’ script and Shaw’s art are perfectly in-sync, and they achieve an emotional pay-off which is about as powerful as any I’ve ever read in comics.

Anyone looking for more insight into the workings of this epic can see a fairly spoilerific interview with Donny Cates here.