Marvel's G.O.D.S. Discuss Home and Work Life Balance
Jonathan Hickman delivers a new section of the Marvel universe with new characters and a new gods. Amid gods and heroes, Hickman includes ideas about the home and work life balance.
Jonathan Hickman has written an impressive catalogue of stories covering nearly twenty years. In his latest offering, the mysterious mini-series G.O.D.S. (at present we don’t even know what the acronym means), Hickman is delivering some home truths about love and work.
Wyn has been married to Aiko for 6 years, but he has neglected to tell her that he is the Avatar for The-Powers-That-Be, a job that requires him to maintain the balance of order in the universe, but also makes him immortal.
Aiko has now been recruited as a Centivar for The-Natural-Order-Of-Things. It was a process based on offering her a number of ideas to make her curious and see how far she was willing to go. It appears she was very curious and now she being offered the job as Centivar 97 (Centivars are more of a team than the lone Avatar of The-Powers-That-Be).
Unfortunately for Wyn and Aiko, The-Natural-Order-Of-Things and The-Powers-That-Be are opposed to each other in every way and have been engaged in an ongoing war. If she takes the job, she will need to divorce Wyn.
Wyn offers some hopeful suggestions about them continuing their marriage while keeping their marriage a secret from their prospective gods. But he knows it wouldn’t be possible. As Aiko tells him, their timeline is forever and they only need to be found out once. “The odds are bad.”
Hickman is drawing on a very real and very immediate concern in our lives. The balance between work and romance. The conversation between Wyn and Aiko highlights some interest ideas and reveals some difficult problems.
Firstly, Wyn is already the Avatar of The-Powers-That-Be. He is the only one and is unable to leave his job. Wyn’s inability to leave his job reflects the current state of our social and economic structure being run by a minority of individuals who are unable and unwilling to relinquish their power, because who would?
Secondly, Aiko has a choice. She could remain married to Wyn and decline the offer to be a Centivar. In doing so, she will give up immortality and, as she says, what “what I was born to do at a level I could never have imagined before now”. Aiko would be giving up the opportunity to “discover the universe and ponder the meaning of everything”. It’s not really a choice. Just as Wyn in a position of established power isn’t going to give it up, the opportunity to achieve, do and discover is impossible to give up.
Thirdly, the answer is both easy and incredibly difficult. The system makes it clear, you can’t have everything. At the same time, we want everything. In the comic, Aiko makes the decision we expect her to make and she delivers it with very definite action (no spoilers here, the comic worth picking up).
The relation between Wyn and Aiko is a modern variation of the Montagues and Capulets. Previously it was families and social factions making romantic relationships difficult. Now, our work lives and personal aspirations cause us to face difficult choices. Hickman is making a clear statement about the most likely outcome. As much as we want and need romance and relationship, work is likely to be the one aspect of our lives we prioritize. Even if we have a relationship and a career, just think about it, we spend more quality time with our job than we do with our significant other.
Does love really stand a chance?
Ok, now for a little spoiler. If you don’t want to spoil any element of G.O.D.S. #1, look away now.
Don’t say you weren’t warned.
At the end of the story, the Babylon level threat is avert (you knew it was going to happen) by Wyn who saved the universe and everyone in it. In a conversation with Doctor Strange, Wyn is lamenting the futility of it all. He even suggests a lack of faith.
Then Aiko calls out to him, kisses him and thanks him for saving her. At which point, he admits that maybe he is wrong. Maybe he does have faith.
Jobs might be depressing, they might get the better of our relationships, they might dominate our time and attention. But it only takes a bit of romance, the smallest measure of an enriching relationship to push us back on track.
Check out Jonathan Hickman’s G.O.D.S. #1 for the relationship between Wyn and Aiko. A review of the comic can be found on this very Substack.
Let us know what you think about love and work and G.O.D.S.
Pick up your copy of Jonathan Hickman’s G.O.D.S. #1 (this is a paid affiliate link and as an Amazon Associate I will earn a small income from qualifying purchases, but won’t cost you any more).