Goddess

A mid-90s DC mini-series written by Garth Ennis and beautifully illustrated by Phil Winslade, who handled drawing, inking and colouring himself. It's one of those comics where the art on the inside lives up to the quality of the art on the cover. The story revolves around a young Irish woman called Rosie, who discovers she has godlike powers she cannot fully control, and who is chased by an erratic, murderous CIA agent who wants to cut her open to find out how they work.

Not especially original, and indeed, Ennis spends most of the eight issues having fun in exotic locations and giving Winslade cool things to draw. Only at the end is the mystery behind Rosie's abilities revealed. She is the Goddess of the Earth, one of nine Goddesses, all daughters of the Sun. Her mother urges her to purge herself of the human element, which is polluting her body and mind -- a return to the natural, pre-human balanced order. Rosie rejects such nihilism, instead choosing to use her power to design the world anew.

Ennis leaves the reader with the impression that gentlemen are power-mad psychopaths, and the ladies 'knew what they were talking about' when it comes to ushering in the new world order. Rosie looks forward to being in charge, although she will not use her power too much, to avoid forgetting her humanity. Mudhawk, on the other hand, looks forward to being Colonel, General, President...

Ennis suggests we need an all-powerful benevolent female nature goddess to restore balance to human society and psychology. Read whatever you want into that metaphor, although I'm not especially keen on the notion that women necessarily have a better mind for political and environmental governance. I like Ennis best when he shakes loose of his gender bias, and pays closer attention to the depravities will-to-power is capable of -- like in his Punisher series for Marvel.