2 Years Later, Marvel’s Most Controversial New Series Has Vanished Without Answering Anything (Even Its Mysterious Title)

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Marvel’s collaboration with writer Jonathan Hickman has been incredibly successful in recent years. Starting in the late 2000s, Hickman quickly became a key writer for the company, crafting stories for its most popular teams – the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, and the X-Men – and solo titles featuring characters like Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Doctor Doom. He’s a rare talent who consistently delivers exceptional work, and his name on a comic usually means strong sales. However, that assumption was challenged two years ago with one of Marvel’s most enigmatic projects: G.O.D.S.

Following his work on the groundbreaking Krakoa era of X-Men, writer Jonathan Hickman reunited with artist Valerio Schiti for G.O.D.S. The series was hyped as a major shake-up of Marvel’s cosmic landscape, promising a new group of incredibly powerful beings. While some expected a story similar in scope to The Sandman, G.O.D.S. turned out to be far more enigmatic – so much so that its true meaning remains unclear even now.

G.O.D.S. Is Hickman At His Most Inscrutable

Jonathan Hickman is renowned for his exceptional work on titles like Avengers and Fantastic Four, particularly his ability to blend science fiction with superhero narratives. From his early days at Image Comics, he’s been known for his sci-fi leanings, so when Marvel announced a new series focusing on the cosmic side of the universe from him, fans were thrilled. Marvel’s cosmic characters are legendary, and the prospect of Hickman tackling them was incredibly exciting. He consistently brought ambitious concepts to his stories, and his series G.O.D.S. promised to be something truly unique.

The comic series G.O.D.S. featured Wyn, a representative of powerful, abstract magical entities, facing a conflict with The-Natural-Order-of-Things, which embodied science. This conflict began when a being named Cubisk Core stole a powerful artifact. The series introduced a new group of characters representing these opposing forces – magic and science – and their battle to prevent the destruction of reality. Doctor Strange played a key role as a central figure. Over eight issues, writer Jonathan Hickman developed these characters and their conflict, exploring philosophical questions about humanity and existence through the lens of this war between magic and science.

G.O.D.S. felt more suited to a graphic novel format than a monthly comic book. While interesting, it was a very demanding read, introducing completely new characters and a complex mythology within the Marvel Universe. It was notoriously difficult to follow, requiring readers to immediately revisit previous issues to understand what was happening, and even then, confusion was common. The high price of the first issue ($9.99) added to the challenge. Although fans were eager for more of Jonathan Hickman’s work after his run on X-Men, G.O.D.S. placed a significant burden on them.

I was really excited about G.O.D.S. – it had some of Marvel’s top talent working on it! But honestly, I think Marvel kind of set it up to fail. They charged ten bucks for the first issue of a brand new story, and that’s a lot to ask, even for a big name like Hickman. It felt like they were taking a risk on a cosmic story when those haven’t really done well since the Annihilation days, and unfortunately, it didn’t seem to pay off. People just weren’t willing to spend that much on a new book, even one that promised to shake up the gods of the Marvel Universe.

G.O.D.S. Is Hickman’s Most Ambitious Failure

Despite a strong creative team with Jonathan Hickman and Marco Schiti, the comic G.O.D.S. surprisingly struggled to find an audience. It focused on a lesser-known part of the Marvel Universe and wasn’t a typical, straightforward superhero story, which Marvel usually publishes. The high price likely also deterred some readers. Strangely, the final issue felt incomplete, resolving the initial storyline but leaving many questions unanswered, including the meaning of the title’s acronym.

Even with top creators, not every comic book series succeeds, and G.O.D.S. is a good example of that. While it had a lot of promise, it quickly became clear that Jonathan Hickman wasn’t aiming for a straightforward, self-contained story. He envisioned a sprawling, ambitious narrative that would dramatically reshape the Marvel Universe, introducing strange new characters and concepts. In my opinion, the story might have worked better if it had been framed as a Doctor Strange series. Ultimately, G.O.D.S. demonstrates that even the most talented writers can’t guarantee success.

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2025-10-21 01:43