CREDIT: RYAN BROWNE
Its illustrations are fun, but the content of God Hates Astronauts leaves little to be desired.

2/5

NEW WESTMINSTER — When I first heard of God Hates Astronauts, I expected it to be a lot like Axe Cop – ridiculous and full of hilarity. Though the two are similar in that they take a very random approach to humour with unique ideas and characters, God Hates Astronauts lacks the childish sense of delight within its writing that makes the random nature of the plot cohesive and enjoyable.

Written and illustrated by Ryan Browne, God Hates Astronauts is about a superhero team that works for NASA. But rather than wasting all their time saving the world, the self-absorbed superheroes prefer to focus on their libidos, bizarre super villains, and loitering aliens. The narrative is all over the place and tends to focus on one situation at a time rather than any overarching plot. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as plenty of graphic novels and comic books do this, especially in the comedic genre.

What makes this narrative less successful is that a lot of the jokes are based on gendered humour, meant to parody the sexism of the 1950’s. But the parody isn’t reflected enough in the other aspects of the book, such as the villains or setting, so the humour falls flat and just comes off as sexist.

The art, also done by Browne, is very classical with defined lines and heavy inks, but is coloured in a more modern way with smooth tones. Aesthetically it’s a good combination, and his balance between cartoon and realism make the art extremely dynamic.

All in all, I appreciate this book for its fun art style, but I can’t recommend it.