Young Gods and Friends [Hardcover]

Barry Windsor-Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2003

One of the most eagerly-anticipated graphic novels of the last several years: a lively, character-driven graphic narrative set in a sci-fi/fantasy milieu. While bearing a superficial resemblance to Marvel Comics' The Mighty Thor, a 1960s series by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the story and characters of Young GODS & Friends are sexy, ribald, politically incorrect, and outrageously funny. On the evening prior to a spectacular galaxy-spanning wedding, the reluctant groom, Prince Heros, son of Otan, Ruler of All-Worlds, needs one last adventure before succumbing to life in a marriage of convenience and political intrigue. With his boyhood friend and cousin Strangehands, Heros of All-Worlds sets off across the Abraxus Nebula for a night of innocent adventure, recreating their childhood passion for "dragon chasing." Amusing circumstances dictate that the royally gorgeous yet foul-mouthed spitfire Princess Adastra, older sister of the bride-to-be Celestra of Orgasma, shall be coming along for the dragon ride that, through the mysteries of time and space, lasts considerably longer than just one night. Thus begins this odyssey of three errant gods with entirely mismatched goals and personalities seeking fun across the universe.

This volume collects the entirety of the artist's Young GODS stories from the acclaimed Barry Windsor-Smith: STORYTELLER comic book series from the 1990s, including the hotly-anticipated, previously unpublished issues 10 and 11, plus new story material created especially for this edition. BWS: STORYTELLER presented Young GODS, The Paradoxman, and The Freebooters, three fresh, new comics series written and drawn by Windsor-Smith, in a novel format that rotated each monthly series into the lead feature. Widely regarding these entertaining and literate tales as the best comics work of the artist's career, Windsor-Smith's 30-year fan base was crushed when STORYTELLER's schedule came to an abrupt and premature halt with issue 9, in 1997, with BWS claiming lack of support and bad faith on the part of the original publisher. Beginning with Young GODS & Friends in 2003, Fantagraphics is collecting each of BWS:STORYTELLER's titles into separate full-color editions including all of the stories published in issues 1 through 9, and, in the case of Young GODS & Friends, many never-before-published pages, plus background information and behind-the-scenes art.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Windsor-Smith became a comics superstar in the 1970s with his work on Marvel's Conan. In the mid-'90s he launched Storyteller, an ambitious, tabloid-size magazine featuring three ongoing series. But it was discontinued after nine issues, with the series barely begun. This first of three volumes reprinting the truncated storylines re-launches a saga inspired by comics legend Jack Kirby's Thor. The night before young Prince Heros' wedding, he sets off for a final night of space-spanning adventure with his boyhood friend and fellow deity, Strangehands. Along the way, the godlings encounter the beauteous but foul-mouthed Princess Adastra, older sister of the bride-to-be. Windsor-Smith leavens the inherent pretentiousness of this tale of self-important deities by spoofing their mock-Shakespearian speech; the irreverent Adastra, in particular, brings the outer-space proceedings down to earth. Meanwhile, his idealized, Pre-Raphaelite-influenced figures and expansive panels, and the book's oversized format, befit the grandiose, space-spanning plot. Recent lavish collections of Windsor-Smith's paintings and drawings, such as Opus (1999), pleased a large audience that will relish seeing his truncated comics work collected, too. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Barry Windsor-Smith lives in the Hudson Valley of New York State, where he is currently producing a multi-volume series of autobiographical art books titled Barry Windsor-Smith: OPUS, the first two volumes of which have already been published by Fantagraphics.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Fantagraphics Books (September 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560974915
• ISBN-13: 978-1560974918
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 8.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,349,899 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The complete uncompleted "Young GODS" by BWS, January 28, 2004

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Young Gods and Friends (Hardcover)

Barry Windsor-Smith is my favorite "comic book artist," but his style is such that you have to put those words in quotations because we are talking about somebody who's artistic inspirations are as much Rossetti and the Pre-Raphaelites as Jack Kirby. To reduce this story to a single cute sentence, "Young GODS and Friends" is about deities who owe as much to the stories of Olympians and Germanic god as they do Kirby's "New Gods," placed in a rather Shakespearean situation, and confronted with a female member, Adastra, who has been spending way too much time on Earth. As he announces near the end of Chapter 1, she is back among the gods because "My sister's getting hitched to some schmuck named Prince Hero." Actually, it is Prince Heros, and there begins the tale.

What you have collected in "Young GODS and Friends" are all of the chapters of the early stages of the saga that were published in "BWS: Storyteller," up to the point where BWS suddenly stopped working when the title was cancelled by Dark Horse Comics: the second to last page is almost completely inked, but not colored, and the final page is still mostly rough pencils. Also included are: "The Pizza Story," which serves as prelude introducing Adastra on Earth dealing with one of her worshippers while trying to deliver pizzas; a series of aborted attempts at reviving the Destiny story line; "The Party," a collection of vignettes; and assorted fragments, one of which would constitute an alternative version of a key scene in "The Pizza Story." The result is the complete uncompleted "Young GODS" (The "Adastra in Africa" story published separated was originally intended for Storm of the X-Men, so I count it separately).

I had the first six episodes of "BWS: Storyteller," so it was nice to see what I had missed in being unable to track down the rest of the published issues. Original fans of the series might be disappointed in that this collection does not complete the Young GODS saga, but this was the beginning of a much longer story and BWS was laying down the initial threads of the story (for example, look at the first dozen issues of "Cerebus" and see how you could ever have anticipated the "High Society" storyline). What we have here is the beginning of something and while it is getting interesting it is not yet to the point where we are clearly on to something great.

The idea of "BWS: Storyteller" is the most important one here, because Barry Windsor-Smith's emphasis is clearly on the writing. "BWS: Storyteller" featured "The Freebooters" and "The Paradoxman" in addition to the "Young GODS," and coming up with 32-pages each month was a bit of a strain at times. For those of us who remember being disappointed when the new issue of "Conan the Barbarian" was a reprint or drawn by Gil Kane because young Barry Smith had missed another deadline, there are some pages here that show us what things would have looked like if he had rushed. Of course, "rushed" BWS is still better than what most mere mortals can do, and there are some stunning panels, usually full-page or full-spread, that serve as reminders of what this guy can do as an artist. "Young GODS and Friends" gives us an idea of what he can do as a writer.

Of course, after reading this you have to wonder if companion volumes for "The Freebooters" and "The Paradoxman." Be aware that "Young GODS and Friends" is oversized, so the reproduced pages are the same size as "BWS: Storyteller," the difference being that this is a hardcover collection. So if they come up with companion volumes we can use them to sandwich our original "BWS: Storyteller" comics between.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Three-And-A-Half Stars for Windsor-Smith, January 27, 2004

By 

James Sadler (Plano, TX United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Young Gods and Friends (Hardcover)

A few years ago, when I was still collecting comics, I was lucky enough to purchase most of the run of Barry Windsor-Smith: STORYTELLER. BWS: STORYTELLER presented The Young Gods, The Paradoxman, and The Freebooters, three original series written and drawn by Windsor-Smith. I had been a Windsor-Smith since his days as Barry Smith at Marvel comics. I once even owned his infamous debut in the Uncanny X-Men (let's just say his art has come a long, long way from those days).

BSW:STORYTELLER collected several ongoing series by Windsor-Smith, including one known as the "Young Gods." On it's surface it seemed highly derivative of Jack Kirby's "Thor" for Marvel, as well as his "New Gods" and "The Forever People of Supertown" for DC. But that was part of the trick to it all, at least I think it was. You were suppose to think Kirby and then watch as Windsor-Smith put his own little twists on the whole concept of beings who were considered gods.

These were gods who were, as one editorial put it: "sexy, ribald, politically incorrect, and outrageously funny."

The story begins on the eve of the wedding of Prince Heros, a somewhat reluctant groom, who decides he needs to go off carousing one more time before he is forced to settle down. He and his cousin, Strangehands, set out for a little adventure engaging in "dragon chasing." Also along for the ride is the lovely but foul-mouthed Princess Adastra, sister of the bride-to-be. Things don't go quite as planned, of course.

Unfortunately, the series was never completed in its original run. But, this volume collects issues one through 9 plus the previously unpublished issues 10 and 11. It also adds new material created for this edition. Windsor-Smith is not for everyone's tastes, but if you are a fan, this is a must have for your collection.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Unfinished and not that good to start with, May 15, 2008

By 

Kid Kyoto (United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Young Gods and Friends (Hardcover)

I remember this book when it was a monthly comic and it looked interesting. I snatched it up when the collection was printed but was sorely disappointed.

The story is unfinished. Worse than that, the book is padded with pages and pages of the author complaining about the publisher.

The story itself, about a race of gods interacting with humans is not even that interesting, certainly not as good as the creator seems to think it is in his pages and pages of complaints.