Godstorm: Age of Darkness One-Shot

Ascension is over and The Being has been defeated, but at what cost?  With Zeus gone, the first family of Olympus has never been at such a loss and now his reborn son Julian is on the run as a result of his part in Ascension.  However, when an enemy he thought dead returns, Julian must sacrifice his anonymity in order to stop the threat before things get out of hand.  Godstorm: Age of Darkness is a brand new one-shot by writer Pat Shand.

Zeus has been taken down!  Despite the fact that The Being has been dealt with, Zeus just couldn’t handle what The Being was dishing out.  With his father gone, Julian is now in hiding.  Although he was working undercover, Julian had to prove himself to The Being in order to gain his trust and that meant Julian had to get his hands dirty.  He helped The Being deal out justice and wipe out any non-believers.  Naturally, this didn’t bode well with the populace, so even after he revealed that he had been trying to undermine The Being the whole time, his crimes could not be forgiven.  So now, Julian keeps a low profile and helps out those in need as inconspicuously as possible, all the while missing his father.  Essentially this is a story about loss.  The loss of a brother and the loss of a father.  A story of how a god is supposed to cope with the loss of another.  None of them thought that Zeus would fall, how could they know?  But with what transpired, the gods now have a right to be a little uneasy.  It’s Julian though, that seems to be unsure of how to process this void.  As the re-born Zagreus, one would think that there would be slaughter and bloodshed as far as the eye could see over this loss, but since Zeus uttered the words, “I believe in you”, a calm has washed over Julian.  He’s finally at peace with himself and as a result, mourns Zeus in a much more reserved manner.  He has no need to lash out anymore, because Julian knows that his father believed in him.  The repercussions of the fall of a god will be felt throughout the Grimm Universe for quite some time.

With this issue, I felt that it bridges the gap nicely between Ascension and the upcoming Godstorm mini-series.  We get to see the aftermath of the battle between Julian and The Being, but there really wasn’t a lot that happened in this issue, or at least nothing that I can freely share without any spoilers.  It’s always a pleasure to read something by Pat Shand and the interiors were pretty sharp.  However, in the end it just felt like filler until the next big event comes about.  Don’t get me wrong though, it will help to make sense of what’s to come, so don’t count this issue out.  I definitely recommend grabbing this one to continue on the Godstorm storyline.

Alone and confused, Julian must now make his way through life without the support of his father, Zeus.  But, with threats new and old, popping up will Julian be able to stem the tides of evil, or be lost in a sea of melancholy?  Find out in the new Godstorm: Age of Darkness one-shot, a good way to jolt you into the new Age of Darkness.  For more info on where to find this issue, visit the Zenescope website, or the Zenescope Facebook page.

Geek-o-Rama received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts, comments and opinions are those of the individual reviewer.