Simply stating that I’m a big GOD OF WAR fan would be a (pun intended) titanic understatement. In summer ’07, I gave an X-Box game to my friend so I could borrow his PS2 and then started an account with Blockbuster JUST so I could rent the second game. After beating the recently released game #3 at my friend’s place, I’m honestly thinking of retiring from gaming altogether, since there’s really no way of topping it, in my eyes. If playing something like UNCHARTED is like playing a movie, then GOD OF WAR III is like playing IMAX.
Needless to say, then, I’d be eager to see more of Kratos’ monster-shredding adventures in comics. And it just so happens that Wildstorm recently started a six-issue GOD OF WAR mini written by comics legend Marv Wolfman and drawn by Italian artist Andrea Sorrentino. Given the amount of bleeding that goes on the game, it’s therefore fitting that Wildstorm’s official blog, the Bleed, would release a behind-the-pages look at Sorrentino’s creative process. We’ve got the pencil sketches below, followed by the finished, fully-rendered page it becomes.
One thing that’s struck me about playing the whole GOW series is that I’ve felt like I’m playing the modern equivalent of a Jack Kirby comic - - almost like an ultra-violent NEW GODS. There isn’t any “Kirby crackle” to be seen nor renderings based on the King's styling, but try telling me Kratos' fights against Titans that are a thousand times his size DON'T remind of you of classic Thor. Hell, I even saw a “making of” featurette for the game showing Stan Lee’s visit to Sony Santa Monica’s studios where he’s just identified as “Legend.” Clearly, there's an comics influence.
Anyway, what do you think about this, oh Olympus-defying Comic Vine community? Does this capture the game’s destructive, indomitable spirit for you? Or does it leave you feeling hollow, like a disemboweled centaur?
-- Tom Pinchuk is the writer of UNIMAGINABLE for Arcana Comics and HYBRID BASTARDS! for Archaia. Watch out for the HYBRID BASTARDS! hardcover collection this April - - available for pre-order now on Amazon.com.