Comic Info
Comic Name: Divinity II
Publisher: Valiant Comics
Writer: Matt Kindt
Artist: Trevor Hairsine
# of Issues: 4
Release Date: 2016
Divinity II #3 Variant
Reprints Divinity II #1-4 (April 2016-July 2016). Divinity’s return to Earth threatened to tip the scales of power, but the return of Abram’s flight partner Myshka has just done that. Teamed with Russia, Myshka hopes to restore the grander of the Soviet Union and she intends to do it by any means. Unity’s only hope is Divinity who is now their prisoner…but even if Divinity agrees to help, can he stop Myshka’s quest?
Written by Matt Kindt, Divinity II is the follow-up to the critically acclaimed Valiant Comics series Divinity. The collection features art by Trevor Hairsine and was also collected as part of Divinity: The Complete Trilogy.
I liked Divinity a lot. I thought it was a unique blend of science-fiction, “far-out” mysticism, and old Cold War espionage. That storyline combined with solid art, fun covers, and a strange tie to the other characters in the Valiant universe. Divinity II is still a good read, but by focusing on the Cold War aspect of the story, it loses a bit of the wonder that the first collection had.
Divinity II #4
Part of the problem is Myshka. While I admire her devotion to a cause and wonder what a 1960s Soviet would think of the current standing of Russia, I don’t think she’s as interesting as a character as Abram. Her razor vision on restoring Russia serves the purpose of this leg of the story, but the cold uncompassionate character doesn’t breed sympathy.
The Soviets were always the “bogeyman” if you grew up during the Cold War. They were spies and they were going to overthrow us or start a nuclear war that would kill everyone. I’m sure that they thought the same of Americans. Abram was a rounded and human character in the first Divinity storyline. While much of Myshka’s humanity was beaten out of her by “the Doctor”, she feels like every cliché of a Soviet that a Cold War kid would have grown up with. An attempt to humanize her as the story goes on work, but I don’t necessarily believe the change in perspective.
It would be interesting to see how someone who didn’t grow up in the Cold War takes Myshka’s character. While for me, she comes off as a bad stereotype of every USSR agent in every Soviet era movie, to a reader who wasn’t around the “evil” Soviets, they might have a different perspective on the character. Divinity II was followed by Divinity III: Stalinverse.
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