The Pull List – American Gods: My Ainsel #1
If you are like us, and have been waiting for production of American Gods season 2 to get started, nothing better to fill that void than getting a taste of the comic version of the American Gods novel. The first series was released in 2015, spanning 12+ issues and releasing around the time the TV show was aired. The graphic novel first follows Neil Gainman’s original works, while the TV show tosses around a few locations and characters differently. While the TV show has the visual flair given by Bryan Fuller, fulfilling that visual eye candy that I missed from the Hannibal TV show, the graphic novel drips with Neil Gaiman descriptive and clever word play.
American Gods My Ainsel is the next chapter of Shadow and Wednesday adventure. For those new to American Gods, Shadow is theft that was released out of jail hoping to see his wife, but on the day of his release, his wife was killed in a accident. Alone with no money, Shadow was offered a job to be a driver for Mr. Wednesday, a mysterious man of charm, wealth and scams. Mr. Wednesday tasks Shadow to accompany him on a road trip, that turns out to be a conformations between representation of different entities living in America. Shadow is forced into a war between a division of gods planning to rule the world, with old gods and new gods battling for favor from the humans that will be worshiping them.
My Ainsel is takes place after the events that has left a declaration of war in place between the forces of Mr. Wednesday and the new gods looking to challenge him. Shadow and Mr. Wednesday leave to go on a recruitment drive for new gods and hide themselves from the other gods by scamming and lying their way across America.
The first issue of this new chapter is a decent drop in point if you have mainly have knowledge about the series from the TV show. Fans from the comic or novels will have no trouble reading this issues and the next, and will continue to enjoy the works of the super team of Gaiman, Russell and Hampton. The artwork provided by Scott Hampton have a very natural sketch looks that blends pencil colors, hand made shading and lighting. The visuals are short and simple, allowing to flow through the panels effortlessly. The plot and direction of the comic version is slower than the TV show, but I watched the TV series so every line by Mr. Wednesday was read in the voice of Ian McShane in my head, and it matches perfectly. P. Craig Russell takes the time to expand all the aspects of Shadow’s adventure, turning a simple lunch and bus ride becomes multiple cutaways and tripping spirit visit with a buffalo man.
Any fan of will enjoy this entry, this captures the same spirit of the original novels, and gives us more supplements for the TV show. It’s probably one of the few reasons why I haven’t started banging on the Starz headquarter doors yet, other than the legal reasons. New readers that have dropped in the series can also find the complete first part of the comics series already collected and released this year.