DIVINITY #1 Review

Divinity #1 begins as a very grounded, very real, space adventure which is well on it’s way in to a space, time, sci-fi fantasy of God-like proportions.

The official description from Valiant:

At the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union – determined to win the Space Race at any cost – green lit a dangerously advanced mission. They sent a man farther into the cosmos than anyone has gone before or since. Lost in the stars, he encountered something unknown. Something that… changed him. Long thought lost and erased from the history books, he has suddenly returned, crash-landing in the Australian Outback. Earth is about to meet a new god. And he’s a communist. How long can it be before the first confrontation between mankind and DIVINITY begins?

It’s obvious from the beginning and simply the title of the book that Divinity #1 is a sci-fi fantasy but starts off in the very meager, yet challenging, upbringing of an abandoned, adopted and finally orphaned, Abram Adams, in cold-war Russia. He’s the perfect candidate for an ambitious Russian space program to win the space race by sending a manned mission to literally the edge of reality. Matt Kindt has scripted a very matter of fact story with touches of the epic scope that is sure to ensue. Sci-fi stories are intimidating to me as a reader and I was pleasantly surprised how Kindt navigates the reader along without making them feel stupid or overwhelmed by huge abstract concepts. Not that the story is simple but it’s easy to follow and that’s half the battle especially considering what Kindt has coming.

The second plot involves a present day outdoor adventurer, David Camp, and his sudden and radically altered sense of being when he encounters Adams, who has crash landed in Australia. After his 30 years in space has created a whole new creation who is actually more diety than man. Kindt has placed Adams and Camp on a collision course and from here on out things will change for both but more drastically for the latter.

The pace of the book is phenomenal with what starts off as a simple origin and quickly turns on it’s head with the introduction of Camp. The fact that Kindt chose to have Adams as Russian during the cold-war and now as a powerful new god is a truly unique perspective. And the twist Kindt adds just prior to Adams going into space really kicks up the intensity and possible bumps in the road after he crashes back to earth.

Trevor Hairsine‘s work is great. A lot of this particular issue is very pedestrian and Hairsine has the knack to make even the mundane feels interesting visually. Once the epic sci-fi starts to take over, Hairsine, will match it with equal intensity and visually arresting images.

The cold-war meets new God and Divinity #1 is a keeper. It’s fairly simple why a book like this is so good and Kindt makes this mini-series one worth keeping up on. Sci-fi can be tough but this is easily one of my favorite new entries for Valiant this year and keeps reminding comic book fans why they need to dive in to the Valiant Universe. Good comics are in abundance right now and Valiant is putting out a good portion of them and Divinity will be one of the best so far.