God of War: Fallen God #4

God of War: Fallen God #4

by Chris Roberson, Gabriele Dell'Otto (Cover Art), Tony Parker (Artist)

For as long as he has been the Ghost of Sparta, Kratos has been a tool of violence for others. In a desperate attempt to reclaim control of his future and find peace, he fled far from the lands of his ancestors only to find himself exactly where it was foretold he would be. How does one escape the torment of predestination? Does Kratos rail against the inevitable or once again embrace fury to fell his foes though it means he will be forever damned? What will be the fate of this fallen god?

Genres: Comics, Fantasy

22 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 9, 2021

About the author

Chris Roberson is the co-creator with artist Michael Allred of iZombie, the basis of the hit CW television series, and the writer of several New York Times best-selling Cinderella miniseries set in the world of Bill Willingham’s Fables. He is also the co-creator of Edison Rex with artist Dennis Culver, and the co-writer of Hellboy and the B.P.R.D, Witchfinder, Rise of the Black Flame, and other titles set in the world of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy. In addition to his numerous comics projects, Roberson has written more than a dozen novels and three dozen short stories. He lives with a teenager, two cats, and far too many books in Portland, Oregon.

Reviews

[Ruadhri O'Neill · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pointless

Pointless series of comics where kratos' is reminded of destiny constantly. Nothing new added to the story and never thought I would say this but this is my least favourite piece in the mythos.

[Melanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I openly admit that this one-star rating is slightly unfair because it's not JUST about this issue. It's about this issue and every single one that came before it. Nothing about this series was insightful or even that interesting. While the first two issues showed promise, the fact that this issue and issue three were LITERALLY just recycling the same conflict that was in the first two made things irritatingly repetitive (not to mention, it's the same conflict from the LAST God of War tie-in comic, just with a giant hippo instead of berserkers and not even a GLIMPSE of Faye as a treat). It was just four issues where the only thing that was accomplished was two giant monsters getting killed and Kratos accepting that his life is never going to change and this is my hell now, I guess. He's basically right back where he started except he's more accepting of it now. Not exactly what I was hoping for when I paid sixteen cumulative US dollars for a story about what Kratos was doing before he hit Midgard.

That last point actually sums up my biggest issue with the finale of this series, and the other reason I rated it one star. While the whole series has felt disjointed from the 2018 game, the conclusion that "Your life can never change, your mistakes will always define you, and you cannot become a different person" is ABSOLUTELY antithetical to the thesis statement of that game. It's possible they were leaning more towards the feel of the original games, which WERE much grimmer and could conceivably vibe with that conclusion, but the 2018 game is the most recent one and freshest on my mind, so to have the most recent tie-in material effectively spit in its face is...weird and off-putting. If I knew this was part of a wider series that would show how Kratos came to believe he could change, MAYBE I'd accept this as a depression slump, but as far as I know it isn't, so I feel my point stands. (It doesn't help that from what I remember, the last tie-in comic was similarly "I am just my rage blah blah blah" in vibes, so that DEFINITELY says this isn't the start of a character arc.)

I'm hoping this is just differing interpretations and not a sign of things to come in The Game That May Or May Not Be Ragnarok because if GoW5 does me dirty like this, I'm going to be mad. It'd be insulting to build up a character's redemption arc so beautifully and perfectly and then tear it down next game, and while it's not AS INSULTING that the tie-in materials seem to think it's not possible despite what the actual canon says...it's still pretty damn insulting.

Anyways, time to start a new GoW4 playthrough I guess. (¬_¬") (¬_¬")

[Mega · Rating 3 out of 5]

You know, I'm pretty sure Kratos isn't the kind of person who says "dog my heels", no matter what kind of time period he is from. Just doesn't seem like it would in well with his vocabulary of screams. Either way though, looks like we finally got this story done with, and we found out that Kratos will forever be haunted by his past and his actions for all of eternity............... which we already knew. Glad we wasted all our time on this!

Issue #4