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Young Gods & Friends
One of the most eagerly-anticipated graphic novels of the last several years: a lively, character-driven graphic narrative set in a sci-fi/fantasy milieu.While bearing a superficial resemblance to Marvel Comics' The Mighty Thor, a 1960s series by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the story and characters of Young GODS & Friends are sexy, ribald, politically incorrect, and outrageously funny. On the evening prior to a spectacular galaxy-spanning wedding, the reluctant groom, Prince Heros, son of Otan, Ruler of All-Worlds, needs one last adventure before succumbing to life in a marriage of convenience and political intrigue. With his boyhood friend and cousin Strangehands, Heros of All-Worlds sets off across the Abraxus Nebula for a night of innocent adventure, recreating their childhood passion for "dragon chasing." Amusing circumstances dictate that the royally gorgeous yet foul-mouthed spitfire Princess Adastra, older sister of the bride-to-be Celestra of Orgasma, shall be coming along for the dragon ride that, through the mysteries of time and space, lasts considerably longer than just one night. Thus begins this odyssey of three errant gods with entirely mismatched goals and personalities seeking fun across the universe. This volume collects the entirety of the artist's Young GODS stories from the acclaimed Barry Windsor-Smith: STORYTELLER comic book series from the 1990s, including the hotly-anticipated, previously unpublished issues 10 and 11, plus new story material created especially for this edition. BWS: STORYTELLER presented Young GODS, The Paradoxman, and The Freebooters, three fresh, new comics series written and drawn by Windsor-Smith, in a novel format that rotated each monthly series into the lead feature. Widely regarding these entertaining and literate tales as the best comics work of the artist's career, Windsor-Smith's 30-year fan base was crushed when STORYTELLER's schedule came to an abrupt and premature halt with issue 9, in 1997, with BWS claiming lack of support and bad faith on the part of the original publisher. Beginning with Young GODS & Friends in 2003, Fantagraphics is collecting each of BWS:STORYTELLER's titles into separate full-color editions including all of the stories published in issues 1 through 9, and, in the case of Young GODS & Friends, many never-before-published pages, plus background information and behind-the-scenes art.
About the Author:
: Barry Windsor-Smith lives in the Hudson Valley of New York State, where he is currently producing a multi-volume series of autobiographical art books titled Barry Windsor-Smith: OPUS, the first two volumes of which have already been published by Fantagraphics.
192 pages, Hardcover
First published August 31, 2003
About the author
Barry Windsor-Smith
482 books154 followersBarry Windsor-Smith (born Barry Smith) is a British comic book illustrator and painter whose best known work has been produced in the United States. He is known for his work on Marvel Comics' Conan the Barbarian from 1970 to 1973, and for his work on Wolverine – particularly the original Weapon X story arc.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 28, 2022
This book is dedicated to Jack Kirby. BWS, the author, uses black-dots in the background, like Kirby liked to... and the title is Young Gods - and Jack Kirby had a book called New Gods... that's about the only similarities between this story and the legacy of Kirby.
Unlike most Kirby books, this book is boring and tedious. The most noticeable, and likeable, Kirby trait is that his characters always appear in motion - there's an energy in every panel. This book consists mostly of a few characters chatting statically about nothing interesting.
Also, BWS is extremely full of himself. This doesn't help.
Unlike most Kirby books, this book is boring and tedious. The most noticeable, and likeable, Kirby trait is that his characters always appear in motion - there's an energy in every panel. This book consists mostly of a few characters chatting statically about nothing interesting.
Also, BWS is extremely full of himself. This doesn't help.
October 10, 2024
Un delirio visual (Y argumentístico) Las páginas de este tomo son de lo mejor que ha dibujado Barry Windsor-Smith, pena que no pudiera concluir la historia para ver a donde quería llegar.
November 19, 2010
truly disappointing. this opens in a rich and new kind of genre: gods in the modern world, but just as quickly becomes obsessively puerile in a really adolescent way and goes down hill from there. It becomes aimless and disjointed.
I might have got through it in a passably amused kind of way, but the book is peppered with letter and editorial tidbits from Windsor-Smith, revealing him to be petulant, uber-conceited, and paranoid. I don't know whether the editorial choice was his, but whoever compiled the book did the author no favours. WS comes off as truly delusional and pathetic with his constant whiny assertion that he had been creating grand art and was hamstrung by the evil small-minded publishing industry.
I can't even imagine having read this as a series of monthlies, everything is drawn out to such a tedious degree that months could go by without plot or character moving and nothing terribly amusing or engaging to keep you on the string.
If you read Young Gods and felt ripped off, I might recommend a prose novel, Gods Behaving Badly, by Marie Phillips. a book that fulfills on plot, character, mythological relevance, humour--and it was endearing.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11...
I might have got through it in a passably amused kind of way, but the book is peppered with letter and editorial tidbits from Windsor-Smith, revealing him to be petulant, uber-conceited, and paranoid. I don't know whether the editorial choice was his, but whoever compiled the book did the author no favours. WS comes off as truly delusional and pathetic with his constant whiny assertion that he had been creating grand art and was hamstrung by the evil small-minded publishing industry.
I can't even imagine having read this as a series of monthlies, everything is drawn out to such a tedious degree that months could go by without plot or character moving and nothing terribly amusing or engaging to keep you on the string.
If you read Young Gods and felt ripped off, I might recommend a prose novel, Gods Behaving Badly, by Marie Phillips. a book that fulfills on plot, character, mythological relevance, humour--and it was endearing.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11...
May 3, 2020
Not the best comics by one of the best comic book creators ever. The art is stunning. The story is muddy and confusing.
**NO SPOILERS**
This hardcover edition collects the published and unpublished stories associated with Young Gods from the Barry Windsor-Smith: Storyteller series originally published by Dark Horse Comics. Despite positive critical reviews, the Dark Horse series was abruptly cancelled. This recollects those original and lost issues.
This book does not conclude the story. In fact, there's a lot of ink spilled over why it will never be concluded. This hardcover edition provides some interesting insight and collects all the bits and pieces of unfinished work. It is satisfying in an unsatisfying way.
Overall, however, the narrative never really came together. Artist BWS was doing three story arcs at the same time, including this one. It was an anthology experiment that was brave, brilliant, and astonishing. Unfortunately, it just didn't work.
The character voices in Young Gods were confusing and inconsistent. The story threads chased down ideas that were never solved. If the publisher had let the stories complete, the threads may have come together. But in this format, very little came together. In fact, it is this very publishing reality that makes this such a frustrating read.
Would the stories have come together? Would the characters have connected to the narrative? Possibly. From these pages, it is not clear if they would have. Then again, BWS was one of the genius gems of the medium, so I would have read through to see if he pulled it together in the end. If nothing else, the art would have kept my attention.
So that's it. If you are a BWS completist, you need this. The sketches and unfinished pages are worth the price of the book. The visual storytelling is masterful. The text pieces are quite interesting too.
If you're looking for a story for story's sake, don't bother. It's an incomplete collection that will never conclude.
**NO SPOILERS**
This hardcover edition collects the published and unpublished stories associated with Young Gods from the Barry Windsor-Smith: Storyteller series originally published by Dark Horse Comics. Despite positive critical reviews, the Dark Horse series was abruptly cancelled. This recollects those original and lost issues.
This book does not conclude the story. In fact, there's a lot of ink spilled over why it will never be concluded. This hardcover edition provides some interesting insight and collects all the bits and pieces of unfinished work. It is satisfying in an unsatisfying way.
Overall, however, the narrative never really came together. Artist BWS was doing three story arcs at the same time, including this one. It was an anthology experiment that was brave, brilliant, and astonishing. Unfortunately, it just didn't work.
The character voices in Young Gods were confusing and inconsistent. The story threads chased down ideas that were never solved. If the publisher had let the stories complete, the threads may have come together. But in this format, very little came together. In fact, it is this very publishing reality that makes this such a frustrating read.
Would the stories have come together? Would the characters have connected to the narrative? Possibly. From these pages, it is not clear if they would have. Then again, BWS was one of the genius gems of the medium, so I would have read through to see if he pulled it together in the end. If nothing else, the art would have kept my attention.
So that's it. If you are a BWS completist, you need this. The sketches and unfinished pages are worth the price of the book. The visual storytelling is masterful. The text pieces are quite interesting too.
If you're looking for a story for story's sake, don't bother. It's an incomplete collection that will never conclude.
April 12, 2020
BWS has proved time and time again a master of a medium he doesn't quite fit into. I have been delighted by his work since I first read Machine Man as a 13 year old kid. I had probably read his work in Conan at some time before, but that was the first time I realized that I was reading something special and out of the ordinary. Over the years that followed it was always a treat when something of his came along and it felt almost as somewhat an accident. Alas I missed Storytellers until well after it was cancelled. Collected here, with extras, and in a large size is absolutely stunning and a joy to behold. Lavish, evocative, whimsical and downright gorgeous. The writing is a little hit and miss, but the art is not and when both hit their stride it's near magical. It is tis a bit of a tease I will warn you. Much here gives way to some sadness of what might have been, but it is clearly evident what did see print was lightning in a bottle and captured by the artist in what must have been a maddening bit of inspiration and creativity.
May 1, 2021
Beautifully drawn, but the story stumbles along, and due to the title being cancelled early, it is never finished. This volume presents two unpublished issues of the Storyteller series and a portion of a third. The rating is more for the incredible art than the story
April 7, 2020
Si los cómics de superhéroes fueran así, volvería a leerlos. Imaginación desbordante y ausencia de reglas. Fresco como una lechuga a pesar de lo viejo que es.
June 18, 2012
Brilliant bit of fantasy that reminds me of Jack Kirby's Thor and science fiction comics blended with the witty writing of Fritz Lieber.
On the eve of his arranged wedding the Prince of the gods is getting cold feet, so he, his best friend, Strangehands and the bride's recently returned from exile sister go out for one last adventure.
This 'bachelor party' involves drinking, fighting, comet surfing, dragons and a trip to the end of the universe.
The three leads are great, though Barry seems to favor the recently returned sister and enjoy writing her earth slang and her POV, and she tends to get a bit more screen time.
Nice blend of adventure, humor and larger than life cosmic stuff.
This is my favorite series from BWS's 'storyteller' anthology and I'm so glad that it's all finally been collected.
Shame that various shenanigans behind the scenes sank this series and BWS's attempts to revive it fell through.
I understand him being bitter, but after awhile you wish he'd stop wasting pages whining and either finish the story and it's epilogue or just cut the behind the scenes stories out.
On the eve of his arranged wedding the Prince of the gods is getting cold feet, so he, his best friend, Strangehands and the bride's recently returned from exile sister go out for one last adventure.
This 'bachelor party' involves drinking, fighting, comet surfing, dragons and a trip to the end of the universe.
The three leads are great, though Barry seems to favor the recently returned sister and enjoy writing her earth slang and her POV, and she tends to get a bit more screen time.
Nice blend of adventure, humor and larger than life cosmic stuff.
This is my favorite series from BWS's 'storyteller' anthology and I'm so glad that it's all finally been collected.
Shame that various shenanigans behind the scenes sank this series and BWS's attempts to revive it fell through.
I understand him being bitter, but after awhile you wish he'd stop wasting pages whining and either finish the story and it's epilogue or just cut the behind the scenes stories out.
August 21, 2011
The most entertaining part of this disjointed, incomplete story was reading the author's cry-baby pity party in the forward and afterward as he blames everyone but himself (the American comic book industry as a whole, but especially everyone who works for Dark Horse Comics) for why it failed and why he is unable to finish it. The art is still amazing.
October 11, 2013
Not my favorite of the Storytellers series (that would be the Freebooters), but it's still a great story, beautifully told.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews