Kyle Higgins is back with another Image series. On the heels of his February-launched ode to Saturday morning superhero cartoons Radiant Black with Marcelo Costa, Higgins is joined by artist Felipe Watanabe for Ordinary Gods, a tale that spans centuries and has reincarnating deities from another realm. The extra-length first issue lands July 7.
The pitch:
“The Luminary. The Prodigy. The Brute. The Trickster. The Innovator. Five gods from a realm beyond our own, leaders in the “War of Immortals.” At least, they were—before they were trapped, sent to a planet made into a prison, forced into an endless cycle of human death and reincarnation.
Ordinary Gods follows 22-year-old Christopher. He’s got two loving parents and a 12-year-old sister. He works at a paint store. He’s in therapy. He’s one of the Five. Which means, in order to save everyone he cares about, Christopher will have to reconnect with his past lives and do the unthinkable: become a god again.”
And if you didn’t think this series could sound epic enough – how about wraparound variant covers by the likes of Dave Johnson, Nicola Scott, Declan Shalvey, Rod Reis, Tula Lotay, and Dan Panosian – all alongside those of series artist Watanabe? And to sweeten the pot, the colors on these sure to be gorgeous covers are by Eisner winner Matt Wilson.
But it wasn’t easy to bring out into the world. Speaking to Syfywire, Higgins recounts:
“Sometimes an idea is so good, it’s impossible to ignore. Even if it initially seems impossible to crack, you circle back to it time and time again, bringing with you new life experiences and concepts learned from other projects. And even if it takes ten years before you’re ready to announce the book to the world, that’s okay. Because, as Ordinary Gods will be exploring, everything’s connected for a reason. This is a book that I’ve been working on for many years, alongside an incredible cast of artistic partners and collaborators, to try to tell a generational action epic that spans eras, worlds, dimensions and the connections between them all. And that’s just issue one.”
Felipe Watanabe describes how he became enthused by the series pitched to him by Higgins:
“After the first conversation with Kyle about the Ordinary Gods, I already knew I was facing something powerful. And it happened to be a brilliant idea, which took a long way to get to my hands, though right on time to get the best of me. Getting closer to the release of Ordinary Gods just enhances the feeling I have of how amazing it has been being part of the process of creation of such universe, among such talented people, over the past few years. I mean, since the beginning of the story, there were so many cool things, with characters who seemed to be common like us, but who held within themselves the power that was unknown until then.”
Check out a preview of the book below, and look for the first issue to arrive in stores in July.
