Goddess is many things. A road trip, an ecological fable, a comedy, an action story and a romance. It is also early work by Garth Ennis and Phil Winslade, and thus definitely worth a look, although being early work, it does show the rough edges of both writer and artist. This is going to appeal more to those who like Ennis's Punisher than those who liked Preacher, as it is pretty heavy on the satiric side of things, and the characters are intriguing but lack the depth of those found in Preacher, Hellblazer or even Hitman. That said, though, this is a fun-filled and often quite beautiful romp through the world with a woman whose psychic powers can move land masses and blow off heads.
I knew only the vaguest things about Goddess, so I went in with few preconceptions. What I found were Ennis's sort of stock characters, including the strong women, the mad (but likable) bastard hero, the mad (and unlikable) bastard villains, the hapless milksop and the brainless but loyal lieutenants and soldiers. It's hard not to look at this and compare Tulip to Rosie, Mudhawk to Cassidy, Jeff to Detective Soap and Harry Hooks to Herr Starr. It's also hard not to see some of the gags as being painfully blunt and not that funny, including the run-into-the-ground "limpdick" joke early on or the tendency to throw in a lot of blood and guts whenever things tend to get the least bit slow.
On the other hand, the madcap and frenetic pacing of the story, and the unbelievable nature of the characters, help to give Goddess its tone, which is one of unrestrained fun and hysterics. Mudhawk's particularly bloodthirsty brand of animal activism is always good for a laugh, Jeff's total incompetence and cowardice is hard not to like given that we get inside his head the most (he's the narrator) and Rosie is just incredibly resilient, incredibly tough and yet sweet at the heart of it all. Even the villains, from Hooks and his slow descent into insanity to Constable Dixon and his unique mixture of authority figure and sociopath, are a lot of fun. It's hard to find anyone in particular to root for, as everyone is something of a bastard, but the glimmers of Ennis's focus on friendship, loyalty and love are in the bonds between the four main characters at least.
I'm surprised to be saying this, given how oversensitive I thought DC was being, but I can see why Goddess was delayed in light of the events of September 11. Given the comedic tone, some of the more outrageous action sequences would have seemed inappropriate or downright offensive at the time. However, Winslade's visual style, with its absolute realism, is perfect for depicting these wild events. They wouldn't be as funny if done as a cartoon. If we didn't honestly believe that those are honest-to-God jets approaching an honest-to-God floating building, the jokes (and the visceral reaction) just wouldn't work.
Winslade's work on this title is top-notch, and it's saying something that his later work was more impressive than the work on Goddess. While I found the colors to be a little garish, the sheer amount of detail in the work is mind-boggling. Winslade covers a wide variety of settings, a wide variety of characters and an insane number of high-level action sequences. Goddess looks for all the world like a big budget action movie, and it stands alongside The Authority or The Ultimates in terms of sheer scale and power. In addition, Winslade's people are as believable as his settings, and I think a lot of my empathy for the characters comes less from Ennis's characterization and more for Winslade's visual creation of the characters.
So Goddess is a fun read, although it does show the flaws of being an early work. The seeds of later work by these creators are planted here, which is interesting enough, but the story itself is also entertaining and at times even thought-provoking, and well worth a read. In closing I should also state that DC has chosen to up the paper grade for this book, and though it still feels a little flimsy compared to most of the trades Marvel and Crossgen are producing right now, the coated paper stock is a great improvement on the paper they have been using and helps the art reproduce as well as it should.
