By Anna Bailey — The only way I can describe what I was feeling the first time I read through Land of the Living Gods #1 is just a string of exclamation points. (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Isaac Mogajane, the writer of Land of the Living Gods, is a South African director of the Johannesburg-based film production company Diprente, and this is his first go at comics, but by no means can you tell. Everything about this issue is cinematic, especially the opening.

We see feet first, then full-body, and then what the feet are running from.

Land of the Living Gods #1 is set in deserted Johannesburg after the fall of the world. Naledi, a teenage girl, seems to live of faith and faith, alone. She cares for her sick mother, barters with whoever is left in the deserted city for food and supplies, and has a magical plant named Buyo.

There are ancestral spirit ghosts that pop up from time-to-time to help Naledi stay safe and when she’s out on supply runs she expects these idlozi to keep her mother safe, but as always, things never really go as planned.

During this specific supply run, Naledi is out getting a DT battery from Ntate Malusi and after the trade, he offers a reading. The ancestors speak through him directly to Naledi, saying:

“Why do you not reach for your destiny? Your world breathes its last breath while you hide yourself in a dead city. [...] You must bring hope back from the Land of the Living Gods! You must do this, or you must die. [...] Find them for the sake of the living and the dead.”

Now, if I heard such a claim thrown at me, I’d be frozen in fear…Naledi, on the other hand, runs to her mother. Her now dead mother.

The idlozi didn’t protect her mother and Naledi is alone, scared and unsure. It gets worse, though, because it always does. Naledi is albino and people pay big money for albino bodies, and a lonely teenage girl is an easy target.

Mogajane and Santtos do such an amazing job at telling a clear and concise story without taking up a lot of room on the page. The format and the art are so clean and easy to understand, while the writing moves the story along without a hiccup – no doubt from Mogajane’s film background.

So while “end of the world” stories can feel too real these days, Land of the Living Gods #1 has a special magic about it that makes like a bedtime story (there’s an expression non-human sidekick!).

Overall: Land of the Living Gods #1 is the exact post-apocalyptic read I didn’t know that I’ve needed since I Am Legend. 10/10

REVIEW: Land of the Living Gods #1

Land of the Living Gods #1
Writer: Isaac Mogajane
Artist: Santtos
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Publisher: Aftershock Comics
It is said that when the world dies, the spirits of the first people will return to witness the last days of humanity. Well, the spirits have arrived, and the end is here. But not everyone has given up hope. Naledi, a teenage girl living in the deserted city once called Johannesburg, has always believed that there is a land, hidden away in time where the gods still live. And where there are gods, there are miracles. Perhaps even miracles that are big enough to save our dying planet. And so, after a lifetime of isolation, Naledi will head out into the unknown with little to hold onto but her faith – and her magical pet plant, Buyo. A fairy tale for the times in which we find ourselves, brought to life by South African writer and producer Isaac Mogajane (Matwetwe, Catching Feelings) and Brazilian artist Santtos (Night Shift), LAND OF THE LIVING GODS will introduce you to a world of wonder and cruelty, beauty and perseverance – and will leave you profoundly changed.
Price: $4.99
Read It Digitally: Land of the Living Gods #1

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Anna Bailey is an email marketer that exclusively watches horror films. You can follow her on Twitter at @annuh_bailey to see all her favorites.