Review: American Gods - My Ainsel #1

By: Agent Bunnie

Prior to attending San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) this year, we here at Afronauts were taken by the art of the American Gods: My Ainsel #1 exclusive cover by Christian Ward, featuring a stunning Lady Liberty in the essence of Serena Williams. The comic is an extension of the American Gods universe created by author, Neil Geiman, who first wrote the novel that was later adapted into the hit TV series on Starz. The comic series by Dark Horse is actually just another version of the novel. So, if you've already read the book then you know the story already. However, that shouldn't stop you from checking this out and I'm about to tell you why!

My Ainsel is the second part of the graphic novel/comic adaptation. The first series of comics is titled "American Gods: Shadows" and now be found as a complete graphic novel under the title "American Gods Volume 1: Shadows".

Description from the publisher: Shadow Moon gets out of jail only to discover his wife is dead. Defeated, broke, and uncertain where to go from here, he meets the mysterious Mr. Wednesday, who employs him to serve as his bodyguard--thrusting Shadow into a deadly world where ghosts of the past come back from the dead, and a god war is imminent.

Shadow and Wednesday leave the House on the Rock and continue their journey across the country where they set up aliases, meet new gods, and prepare for war. 

This intro into the next phase of the series is great. Usually, I'm not one for any comic labeled #1. In fact, I tend to buy it and wait until I can get the first 3 or so and just read them all at once, because it seems to take quite a while for any comic series to really get into the story. However, Geiman's writing and this comic book translation catches your attention right away, and you want to keep reading. Even if you haven't read the original novel or even the first volume, you will be intrigued by this. On top of that, the scenery artwork is lovely. The character artwork leaves a little to be desired. I can feel that they were trying to go with a  sketch look. A more traditional raw look, rather then a lot of the polished and computerized looking art that we see today. However, especially for the female characters, it is a bit off-putting as they turn out to look a bit aged thus making it hard to believe they're "so young". That minor detail should not derail anyone from starting this series though.

I should add that at the moment you can now pre-order Volume 2 in it's entirety, although you can also pre-order the next issue as well. The choice is yours, but should make one.