Over the weekend, I had the chance to hit a Hastings sale and a comic shop the next town over; so I was able to replenish my stock of comics for blogging. Like this issue! From 2009, Secret Invasion Aftermath: Beta Ray Bill--the Green of Eden #1, written by Kieron Gillen, pencils by Dan Brereton, inks by Stefano Gaudiano, Mark Pennington, and Scott Hanna.
As the title implies, this was set just after Secret Invasion and just before the next Bill series, Godhunter. Bill saves the space station of some friendly robots, then meets a religious group in need of help. They were trying to set up a new faith, after their civilization and old religion failed, and Bill realizes they are actually Skrulls. Moreover, they had actually seen Bill in action before, fighting the Skrull invasion force; and they had thought maybe he would be a good new god to worship. Especially since Bill didn't have any people to take care of: the Korbinites had settled a new homeworld, only to be eaten by Galactus.
Meanwhile, Skrull hard-liners are still after the would-be Bill-worshipers, and attack with an irregular Super-Skrull, a cobbled-together copy of the Warriors Three-in-one. Bill defeats him, but refuses to kill him, and the Bill-worshipers take the Super in as their own, saying Bill may not be their god, but their god works through him. Somewhat confused, and heartsick, Bill heads back to earth in search of peace.
It occurs to me I'm not really sure what Bill's current status is. This isn't a bad issue, although Brereton's pencils are usually a little stronger than this one; and I can't say if that was on him, the multiple inkers, or the colors.
Didn't know about Galactus eating Ray's people until now. Damn that's messed up. Poor guy. When did that happen, cause I know in the early 00's he teamed up with Galactus a bunch of his former heralds during the Annihilation event and I think after it too, so that must've been awkward as fuck.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right about the different inkers making Brereton's art weaker, plus he his stuff's usually painted, so it could be a case of that too. Still looks really solid art and story-wise.