Death of the New Gods #1 Review

DEATH OF THE NEW GODS #1
Written by Jim Starlin
Art by Starlin & Matt Banning

I've made it clear I'm not a big fan of the New Gods. The characters, with the exception of Darkseid, just do not appeal to me. However, I've been curious about their deaths throughout the DC Universe and how it will relate to Final Crisis. With the strength of most of the Countdown tie-ins, I tentatively picked this issue up. While not a bad issue, per se, it, much like any New Gods story I read, did not appeal to me.

I expected this issue to be a primer of sorts for people like me that do not regularly read New Gods related books and, thus, we are treated to a book that basically spends too much time throwing backstory and mounds of history that is severly lacking and just plain too dense to comprehend. The comic just keeps throwing more and more history and character introductions at me that I neither care about nor desire. I'm sure New Gods fans will enjoy the appearances by all their favourite characters, but for me, it was just far too overwhelming and made it a chore to read.

I did, however, enjoy the few scenes that actually dealt with the mystery of who is killing the New Gods. We see that the villain has killed the host of the Black Racer. I got the impression this would kill the Black Racer, but I also felt a subtle hint that it might have been the Black Racer, himself, killing off his host. There's been far too few clues given so far and I might just be grasping at straws here. It's curious to note that he is the only New God that was "killed" in this manner though.

The Barda and Scott Free stuff was nice as well and made the ending that much better, or worse I suppose if you are a Barda fan. I have no idea what was up with Free at the end. Does he have the entire Anti-Life Equation or something? For how much time they spent with history lessons, they refrained from explaining this. Also, when did Darkseid obtain part of the Anti-Life Equation? I had always assumed he was constantly looking for it. Countdown appearances didn't have him with the cape or glowing equation ring - at least I don't recall it, but I'll probably end up going back and checking it out.

Verdict - Check It out for the New Gods mystery. It has some solid scenes, but spends a bit too much time overwhelming you with New Gods backstory, but I expect future issues to be much better if they continue with the deaths. If you are a huge New Gods fan, this is a probably a Must Buy for you.

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