Book Review: 'Godspeed' by Deon Rexroat of Anberlin
A sci-fi graphic novel with the band as the main characters
It’s not surprising when creatives have multiple outlets—plenty of actors also play music, plenty of musicians also paint, and so on. And there’s plenty of overlap between music and writing. So it’s no surprise that one of the multi-talented artists entertaining us is Deon Rexroat, bassist for the rock band Anberlin and now the co-writer of a sci-fi graphic novel.
Godspeed, released in April through Sumerian Comics and named for the Anberlin song of the same name, tells the story of two starliners which set out for a luxury resort in space, only for Earth and one of the liners to explode just as they leave. Twenty years later, the passengers and crew of the surviving ship, the titular Godspeed, are the last members of humanity, and they have been assigned roles based on their jobs on Earth. A small group—each named and styled after a member of Anberlin—begins noticing issues like strange communications and medicine shortages, and they set out to find answers, without drawing the attention of those in charge.
Godspeed isn’t just a must-have for Anberlin fans; it’s a genuinely good graphic novel. The subject of space travel in sci-fi is about as old as the genre itself, but as any writer or reader knows, the key to a good story isn’t necessarily inventing something entirely new. It’s molding the familiar into something new. Some beats are familiar and predictable—we know when we learn the team’s messages back to Earth have gone unanswered for years that that’s about to change, and we know when we see a security video about how it’s impossible to escape the ship that that’ll become important later. But it’s not necessarily a predictable story. And like just about all sci-fi, it deals with social and political themes, most notably the privilege of the elite upper classes. At 80 pages, the book is a quick read, with information and events unraveling at a fairly quick pace, perhaps a little too quick, and the ending is open enough that the story could (and should!) easily continue.
Fans of sci-fi in general will enjoy Godspeed—being a fan of the band isn’t a must; it just makes the reading a little more fun. Because the book does have plenty for fans to enjoy. The main characters of Godspeed are the members of the band, including Matty Mullins, who has replaced original frontman Stephen Christian, and without giving too much away, the plot hints at Christian’s departure from the band. The book also has a few Easter eggs, most notably song and album titles, the most obvious of which is, of course, the title of the book itself, and I wish there were more. Still, I had some fun putting together a playlist as I came across them in my reading, and I like to think it makes a good companion piece to the book. The music and lyrics both fit well with the book’s atmosphere and themes.
The art is also wonderful, with a unique style which brings the story to life and immerses readers into its world. Fans of the format will appreciate the final few pages of the book, which compare original drawings to their colorized versions, as well as full color spreads of the band/characters.
The release isn’t the only collaboration between Sumerian Comics and a band—other titles include graphic novels with Interpol, Sleep Token, The Offpsring and more. And longtime Anberlin fans will recall that Rexroat isn’t the first member of the band to release a book. Christian wrote the novel The Orphaned Anythings years ago, which I rerettably have never gotten around to buying and reading. I’ll add it to the list, as it would make an obvious great choice for a post for this newsletter.
Godspeed is on sale now, with different tiers featuring different collectable items.