Lazarus Planet: Revenge of the Gods #1 review

Across the world, the old gods are rising. Demonic deities loom over the streets of Tokyo. In Cairo, war goddess Sekhmet is siccing cats on people. Somewhere in Iceland Skadi steals the prey of hunters. And in Philadelphia, Apollo is causing chaos by sharing his gift of prophecy.

On Mount Olympus, the new ruler of the Greek gods, Hera, plots with the wizard Shazam.

And it seems he’s right as Hermes brings the news that a shrine has been raised to Skadi to assuage her rage. That’s good news for the gods, who reckon a bit of respect from the mortals will increase their powers. It’s time humans remembered their place in the pecking order…

In Washington DC, Wonder Woman and friends Etta Candy, Wonder Girl and Cheetah Barbara Minerva fear they don’t have the forces to take on the gods of different pantheons.

Suffice to say, Diana’s meeting with Hera doesn’t go well… the Queen of Olympus having apparently murdered her husband Zeus, Diana’s deadbeat deity dad, isn’t a great sign. What’s more, Diana’s mother Hippolyta, recently ascended to the pantheon, is nowhere to be seen.

Back in Washington DC, at the Potomac river, a mysterious figure is fishing.

Intriguing. And that about sums up this opening chapter of a Wonder Woman/Shazam event. The title evokes Eighties crossover War of the Gods, but hopefully this won’t be the editorially bungled mess that was. At the very least, this debut instalment gets it right. Writer G Willow Wilson’s globetrotting opening gives us an idea of the stakes, including a cameo by Billy Batson presaging the arrival of the Big Red Cheese. The gods comes across as suitably scary, especially Hera – think Alexis Carrington in the clouds. And artist Cian Tormey, fresh from his stint on Superman: Son of Kal-El, does a bang up job of capturing her malevolent hauteur, aided by ever-excellent colourist Jordie Bellaire. And I’m dying to know who the mystery person in the hood is… comics being a non-audio medium we don’t even know if it’s a man or woman. Any theories?

Another question – when did the wizard Shazam, now fixed in movie mode and, Wikipedia tells me, going by Mamaragan, which makes him an Aussie – become a bad guy?

Tormey and Bellaire also nail the opening scene, the artist choreographing the burgeoning chaos, Bellaire showing us Apollo’s magic with a touch of pink. All the scenes of no-good gods look great in their own way, including witch queen Hecate, she is seriously freaky. I’m also impressed by the glowing orange hall of Hera, with deities and monsters milling around. And the cats of Cairo are soooo cute.

Pat Brosseau’s letters are just the ticket, neat, accurate and not drawing too much attention to themselves.

A back-up tale by current Wonder Woman writers Michael W Conrad and Becky Cloonan sees the Amazons perturbed by pair of male vloggers who have found Themyscira. It doesn’t end well for the pair. As for Queen Nubia and pals, they receive bad news from a familiar, if unidentified, figure.

The script is tight, while the art by penciller Alitha Martinez and inkers Mark Morales and John Livesay is lovely, especially as coloured by Alex Guimarães – the tutti-frutti skies, in particular, are a delight. And Becca Carey puts thought into the lettering – check out, for example, the way she indicates one panicked vlogger being out of breath.

Guillem March gives us a cracking cover, with a terrifying Wizard and casually evil Hera looming over Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel. The muted colours are perfect.

If you’ve tried the Lazarus Planet books and not been impressed overall, I’d say give this one a try – it’s really rather good.