The New Gods #6 Review

Written by: Ram V
Art by: Evan Cagle (The Arrival), Filipe Andrade (The Race)
Colors by: Francesco Segala, Filipe Andrade
Letters by: Tom Napolitano
Cover art by: Nimit Malavia (cover A)
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: May 21, 2025

The New Gods #6, by DC Comics on 5/21/25, gives readers a short history of Lightray as the hero travels to his final destination in the Afterlife. However, the Darkness’s rule-breaking may change those plans.

Is The New Gods #6 Good?

Recap

When we last left the collection of deities in The New Gods #5, Karok the Scavenger arrived in New Genesis to destroy everyone. After a tense battle that resulted in the death (maybe) of Lightray, Highfather and his New Gods entered an escape ship that teleported to Earth. Meanwhile, Scott and Barda fought Orion to a stalemate to protect the child when Superman arrived to tip the balance of power against Orion.

Plot Synopsis

In The New Gods #6, the Black Racer, who is the embodiment of Death, shepherds Lightray to the Source after the hero’s death in the battle against Karok. Racer explains that they must travel through a liminal space to reach their final destination. The Darkness, which infected the Old Ones eons ago, hungers to consume all life and light, but it cannot enter the liminal space. Suddenly, Black Racer is attacked by the Darkness against all the rules.

Black Racer eventually breaks free and leads the Darkness in a blistering chase through the liminal space, protecting Lightray’s soul as he runs. Eventually, Black Racer reaches the Source to deliver Lightray’s soul, but he tells the Source that he must return Lightray to fight what’s coming, or the Black Racer will take matters into his own hands.

Meanwhile, Highfather recounts how tenacious Solis, aka Lightray, was as a boy. He was born without powers and was therefore considered not to be a god. When Solis and Orion encountered a group of soldiers from Apokalips, Solis was nearly killed in the fight. He willed himself to live, manifesting his light powers to become Lightray and prove his father wrong about his inadequacy.

On Earth, Superman gives Orion a chance to stand down while the Justice League rescues the ship that suddenly fell through a portal in the sky. The issue ends with the League quickly working to slow the ship from New Genesis down.

First Impressions

Yeah, we’re pretty close to tapping out on this series. Ram V’s self-important vanity project lacks focus and is more concerned with high-brow world-building than giving the reader a reason to care. Everything about this issue screams, “Look how smart this is,” while forgetting that “smart” writing is no substitute for engaging the audience.

How’s the Art?

The art is a weirdly mixed bag. It’s unclear who decided to have guest artists on every issue for the non-Earth parts of the story, but it’s a jarring choice. If you’ve got Evan Cagle, use Evan Cagle. Instead, we have Filipe Andrade’s suggestive, colored pencil sketch style. It’s not necessarily bad. It just doesn’t fit, and Andrade’s style is too soft to deliver the impact of the moments depicted.

What’s great about The New Gods #6?

If you’re interested in the history of Lightray and what happens to New Gods when they die, this might be an interesting issue for you. If nothing else, Ram V presents a tale that bristles with grandness and majesty (perhaps too much at times) to give the New Gods a story befitting their name.

What’s not great about The New Gods #6?

What’s not great is everything else. In typical Ram V fashion, the basics of a story are either underdeveloped or wholly absent, crowded out by Ram V’s unwavering belief in the awesomeness of his narration. Who is the focal character? What do they want? What’s stopping them from getting it? What happens if they succeed or fail?

If you can’t clearly answer these questions after issue #6, the writer has failed in his primary function. Everything else is arrogance, and the continually dropping sales rankings for this title reflect that.

About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.

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Final Thoughts

The New Gods #6 gives readers a unique, novel visualization of what happens to New Gods when they die as Highfather and the New Genesis refugees escape to Earth. Ram V’s script is more concerned with high-brow world-building, neglecting the basic foundations of a story worth reading, and the art is a mixed bag.

3/10

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