Ryan Browne’s absurdist epic, “God Hates Astronauts”, returns, this time in the form of an in-print series published by Image Comics, publisher of all your favourite comics. Is it just as off-the-wall bonkers as it was in webcomic form? Probably, but read on for our review to find out why you should be reading “God Hates Astronauts”.
Written & Illustrated by Ryan Browne
RYAN BROWNE’S (MANHATTAN PROJECTS, BEDLAM) farcical cult-sensation returns with a new story: perfect for new readers! A NASA funded group of arrogant “super people” must stop a rash of farmers that have been using rocket-powered silos to launch themselves into outer space! As these Astro-Farmers fire themselves all over the galaxy, NASA must utilize their every resource (A guy with a ghost-cow head, a bunch of magic bears, and a Chicago cop with robot arms) to avoid an intergalactic incident!
The only genre that is perhaps more frustrating to talk about than horror is comedy. This is entirely because of the subjectivity of it as a genre and of us as people. While certain things seem almost universally scary on some level (so it’s at least easy to explain why a certain book is scary), talking about comedy without simply ruining the jokes is near impossible. Still, there’s no harm in trying, right?
“God Hates Astronauts” started as a free webcomic written and illustrated by Ryan Browne, which arrived to a certain degree of fanfare. It was something I don’t think the comic world had really seen before; a story that seemed to parody tropes and themes present in the mainstream with an element of farce to the whole thing. It eventually took on a cult level of status before being released as a Kickstarted hardcover, an Image published paperback and now this ongoing continuation that takes place about a year and a half after the events of the webcomic.
For those wondering, no, you don’t have to have read the webcomic to understand what’s going on if you pick up this #1. Browne is smart enough to dedicate a section of the story to basically recapping the events for those who missed out while adding a certain level of flair to keep those who already read it entertained. Though, if you haven’t checked out the original volume of “God Hates Astronauts” and you’re reading this and at least thinking about picking up this issue, do yourself a favour and check out the webcomic. Seriously, it’s still free and is one of the funniest damn comics you’ll ever read — and if you disagree, you have Multiversity’s certified money-back guarantee.
Over the course of the original volume’s run, it was clear to see Ryan Browne’s evolution as both an artist and a writer. While the series originally started as what amounted to a series of pages acting as comedy skits strung together by a common troupe of characters, it eventually evolved to have a narrative arc of its own. That arc is followed up on here rather well, creating a starting point that is familiar to existing fans as well as accessible to new ones and promises to go on to even bigger and even better stories. One of the reasons behind this is that the full 30-ish page issue format allows Browne to experiment with the pacing and timing of his jokes. Each page is not dependent on a joke landing, so Browne has the freedom to build the jokes into the larger narrative of the issue. That larger narrative itself is just as absurd and farcical, if not maybe more so, than you would have hoped so I don’t want to go into detail without spoiling it; suffice it to say that it is definitely a return to form for the series and a strong indication that it has not lost any of its humour or charm in the transition of format.
Perhaps the element of “God Hates Astronauts” that elevates it above just being a funny comic is the art. Ryan Browne is one hell of a talented artist and it shows here. This issue is largely built around a confrontation between the Power Persons 5 (which may still be the best superhero team name ever?) and a group of Astro-Farmers, and Browne makes sure that every action beat hits home perfectly. This isn’t a series where characters stand around riffing anecdotes at one another, this is a comic where astronaut farmers charge through a sea of bears on horseback. It’s ridiculous and a little bit wonderful and Brown illustrates it perfectly with a mix of seriousness and self-aware parody in the style. Browne’s is a style with its basis in well crafted and well structured art that is layered with an exaggeration in character work which brings an almost gross beauty to the comic. Honestly, this comic is built on Ryan Browne’s artwork and it has greatly improved since his time working on the webcomic, and that allows him to bring this absurdest masterpiece to life with grace.
There’s not a lot more I can say about “God Hates Astronauts” as a whole. It’s funny, it’s crass, it’s absurd, it manages to pack more gut-busting laughs into a 30 page comic than some do in an entire series and it’s all tied up in the bow of seeing this series evolve into a one-two punch of being funny and a well-told story. It could very easily have been the case that this was an idea that didn’t translate well when expanded out into a full issue, but, thankfully, the opposite true and it’s mostly thanks to Ryan Browne’s evolution as a story teller. While, yes, this is still the farce that you know and love, there is the beginnings of a genuine and more earnest story being told here, and this first issue is an excellent hook for both new readers and old. If you’re looking for a comic to have you crying with laughter, look no further than “God Hates Astronauts”.
Final Verdict: 9.6 – A seriously strong, seriously funny start to a comic with a promising future.
