DF Interview: Kyle Higgins debuts a god squad trapped in a cycle of death and reincarnation in ‘Ordinary Gods’

By Byron Brewer

The Luminary. The Prodigy. The Brute. The Trickster. The Innovator. Five gods from a realm beyond our own, leaders in the "War of Immortals." At least, they were – before they were trapped, sent to a planet made into a prison, forced into an endless cycle of human death and reincarnation.

Christopher is 22. He's got two loving parents and a 12-year-old sister. He works at a paint store. He's in therapy. He's one of the Five. Which means, in order to save everyone he cares about, Christopher will have to reconnect with his past lives and do the unthinkable: become a god again.

For fans of The Old Guard and God Country comes the extra-length first issue of a centuries-spanning action epic, Ordinary Gods, from writer Kyle Higgins (Radiant Black) and artist Felipe Watanabe (The Flash). Wanting to know more, I chatted this one up with author Kyle Higgins.

Byron Brewer: Kyle, what can you tell readers about the genesis of this unique series?

Kyle Higgins: This is one that I’ve been working on for close to ten years now. I think it may have been the first Image series that Eric Stephenson approved. Over the years, though, there have been a lot of changes, especially as I worked to find the right artistic collaborators. And, if I’m being totally honest, I wasn’t really comfortable exploring the material the way I am now. Having done some big event comics and big scale world building on things like Power Rangers, now Radiant Black, etc., I think Ordinary Gods is all the better for it.

Sometimes the best ideas are the ones that won’t leave you alone. Even if it takes close to a decade before you’re ready to put the book out into the world.

BB: Tell us a little about the world you and artist Felipe Watanabe are building here.

Kyle Higgins: There’s a few different “worlds” that play a prominent role in the series. There’s Earth, certainly, and that’s very much modeled to look and reflect the world just outside your window. The thing is, though, much like some of my favorite sci-fi and fantasy, there’s a world just beyond the veil of our own, forces and organizations and coordinated campaigns that 99 percent of people have no idea are even going on. There’s also the fact that Earth is basically a secret cosmic prison, used by this realm of immortals to imprison five of their “Lords” by binding them to reincarnation cycles. So, if Earth is the prison… then life is the prison cells.

Beyond this, we also have the Plane of the Gods. It’s a massive landscape, carved up into thirteen territories, each named after a dominant emotional characteristic, of which the main immortal of that territory represents. Strength. Savagery. Innovation. The realms of Regret and Guilt are neighbors, across a river of despair.

Basically, I’m positing that there’s a reason we all are the way we are. And in some ways, the stories of these multiple worlds are all a part of that answer.

BB: Introduce readers to young Christopher, who he is when we meet him in Ordinary Gods, and the challenges he must face – or thinks he must face – in the series, including, y’know, becoming a god. Again!

Kyle Higgins: Christopher is 22. He works at a paint store. He lives at home. He has a loving family -- parents and a 12-year-old sister named Briana. She’s everything to him. Especially recently, as Christopher has been going through some Big Life Stuff, questioning what it’s all about, why he’s doing any of the things he’s doing.

And all of this is before Christopher comes to learn that he is not only -- supposedly – one of these five trapped gods, but he’s the leader. When everything sparks and members of a Rebellion try to awaken Christopher, his life will literally and figuratively explode. And the only way to possibly save any of the things and people he cares about is to become stronger than he ever thought he could. To become a god again.

BB: Can you tell us anything about the unnamed and assumed big-bad of the piece. Who trapped The Five and sentenced them to their current fates? How is this being preparing for Christopher… if it/he/she is?

Kyle Higgins: Yeah, it’s a little more complicated than that. It’s not so much a “big-bad” as it is an entire cycle and all the systems -- some savage, some bureaucratic – that are working to prevent any sort of true revolution among the immortals.

BB: Kyle, lastly tell us about your collaboration with Felipe. Why is he the right artist for this unusual series?

Kyle Higgins: Oh man, I love working with Felipe so much. He has such a fantastic handle on scope and scale, while also being equally comfortable with quieter scenes and family dynamics. The juxtaposition between the ordinary and the extraordinary is often hard for an artist to navigate, but I think everyone can probably see from the early pages here that Felipe’s equally at home in both worlds. I feel incredibly lucky to be working with him, his agent Joe Prado, and Frank William on colors. We’re really building this all out together, and it’s been fantastic.

Dynamic Forces would like to thank Kyle Higgins for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer our questions. Ordinary Gods #1 from Image Comics is slated to be on sale July 7^th!

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