2. God Is Dead #1 by Jonathan Hickman, Mike Costa, and Di Amorim (Avatar)
What if God came back one day and hated everything we'd done with the planet? And what if there were many Gods who also despised us all? From Ancient Greek and Egyptian mythology to the Indian and Mexican religions and the Norse legends - what if they all came back one day and decided to burn our world down to the ground and kill us all? That's basically the story that Jonathan Hickman and Mike Costa have decided to tell with God Is Dead - and it's brilliant! The opening sequence is fantastic as the world goes through 2 weeks of biblical disasters like flooding, storms, and earthquakes on a humungous level before an Old Testament God-lookalike descends to Vatican City and announces that Zeus has returned! Di Amorim's art is absolutely gorgeous and really brings the gods to life on the page, giving them an air of vengeful majesty. Hickman/Costa show how humans react and change in the wake of the gods arriving in a brilliant two page sequence. A newscaster begins assuring people that they will remain objective and professional as the panel zooms in closer and closer until you see just his eyes then begins zooming out to reveal he's completely changed his appearance and begun to spout religious dogma. We see a little of the human resistance, just a handful of free thinkers, but how humanity fights back against omnipotence is going to be a great story to read. Hickman/Costa also decide to take out the usual figurehead of human resistance right away in this first issue in a strangely funny sequence that I won't spoil here. Great art, writing and concept, God Is Dead is the most interesting original series out this week - pick up issue #1 today to worship at the altar of (the appropriately named publishers) Avatar!