3 out of 5

Here’s how this works: God Hates Astronauts vol. 2… the current ongoing (?) series from Image, definitely made me want to read volume 1.  But had I read volume 1 prior to 2’s release… it’s possible I wouldn’t be reading it.  So, y’know, that’s life.  However, I do suspect the book would’ve garnered at least a glance on the shelf, and it’s then possible that it’s charms would’ve grabbed me the same way they did before I knew it was a volume 2… which maybe makes this preamble totes unnecessary, y’all.

So as Chris Burnham’s glowing intro to this trade makes clear, GHA is unabashedly GHA.  It has elements of nonsense humor you’ve witnessed elsewhere, and some of the ‘cheek’ that’s been popularized by webcomic style yuks from Chip Zdarsky or Ryan North, but Browne’s particular blend of Naked Gun-style character innocence (for all of the character’s boozing, sexing and swearing, they have that lovable unawareness of a Frank Drebbin), Looney Tunes-ish anamorphism (no one’s really questioning that these animals are walking and talking), and… sound effects, are absolutely blended into something entirely unique.  However, there’s inevitably a scope issue here, even though the plot swings about to encompass zombie boxers and space crabs and ghost cows, due to the way the comic progressed… over the course of six years.  As Browne details in an appreciated history of the comic, he shopped an issue around for a while with no interest, before several years of experience passed and suddenly webcomicing helped him to see it to fruition of a full three issues.  Thus there’s an art gap between issue one and two (not a bad one; Browne was a quality artist to start with, his skills just sharpened with time) and the feeling that things are being tacked on to make the story larger.  And maybe it was all planned out from the start, but GHA volume 2 starts big (and with actual astronauts), whereas GHA 1 is really about Star Fighter and Starrior’s breakup / makeup and all that nonsense and havoc that surrounds that.  When you do get glimpses of the larger world, it’s hilariously exciting, but it’s just dotted about to bring this introductory story to its conclusion.  And as part of that made-up-as-it-goes feeling, part of the tactic is to just add misery after misery to Star Fighter’s life for a bit, which makes him an even more miserable ‘person’ when he becomes Star Grass.  It still has that dash of innocence, but still, the story here leans a bit more toward mean spiritedness at times than the insane and genius nonsense that’s been fueling volume 2, which has also helped to smooth out Browne’s humor such that the jokes roll at a comfortable pace and don’t get as repetitive as they do within this volume, something that could also be attributed to the artist just getting better with age.

Blah blah blah?  Indeed.  Regardless, I think this is an excellent companion to what’s coming out now, and it’s absolutely jam-packed with extras: two 24-hour comics that preceded / tie into the series, a billion two-pages “origin” stories drawn by guest artists, a slew of pinups, and some behind-the-scenes type stuff which is a gas.  I’d actually recommend doing as I did and laugh your butt of to volume 2, then going back to read this to see how Ryan’s skills have evolved.