Psi-Lords: Gods in Cages Review: All in the Eyes

If you’ve ever played Dungeons and Dragons, then you know about the Dungeon-Master. He or she manipulates the adventure. You may curse them, hate them, plan their death, but at least there’s safety in knowing who controls the game. In the end you may die a painful or senseless death, your party may actually pull off a mission without killing each other or themselves, but the Dungeon-Master holds all the answers. Now what happens when everyone in your party is a god and the Dungeon-Master is offed before the game begins?

Issue one of ‘Psi-Lords’ maybe the answer to the question of is the Dungeon-Master even necessary. If you’re told that as a god you can get yourself out of a situation you have no idea how you got trapped in, do you trust it? If nothing else it may be comforting to know that those intense anger issues and the lava shooting from your eyeballs may not cause permanent damage after all. Still, if being a god means following the voices inside your head, how do you trust it? Are you a god being manipulated or a living in a self-induced, psychotic nightmare? Writer Fred Van Lente’s first issue gets rid of the usual tropes of getting a group of superheroes together. Instead they’re all level 10 characters who individually could carry their own series. Yet, you want to see this band work out a difficult predicament. There’s also something soothing about seeing people secure in their abilities. A bald, dark-skinned woman is questioning the voice in her head. She’s known to the reader as intelligent and a loner. Beacon needs info and she’s not taking this omniscient voice’s words as gospel.

Then there’s a close-up on her eyes. Deep, dark, haunting and most importantly realistic. They’re the eyes of someone strong and capable. As a reader of comic-books the visual can and should be at the forefront. Renato Guedes et al’s artwork showcases the realism of how all the characters are drawn which pulls you into the narrative. You’re transported into a narrative where you could meet these people on the street. Yet, these are individuals who would never deem to look your way. You’ll definitely notice them, but they won’t be aware of your existence. In a way that’s how gods are.

The subtitle of this inaugural issue is ‘Gods in Cages.’ And these four don’t have time to unpack what’s happened when they are met with greater challenges. The second installment ‘The Sargasso of Space’ suggests more tribulations for Artisan, Beacon, Hazard and Tank as they are tasked with figuring everything from how they ended up where they are to who are the Psi-Lords. Sargasso, known as a mass of floating vegetation does not conjure up answers. And this situation may not bode well for this foursome possibly being referred to seaweed or air-bladders. How do you get from being a caged god to floating seaweed? Leave it to Fred Van Lente to help you figure it out.