Good Omens (1990)
Good Omens is a 1990 end of the world book written by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
An angel and a demon have grown rather fond of Earth over six thousand years, and neither is keen to see it end. But Agnes Nutter's seventeenth-century prophecies point to a specific Saturday for Armageddon, the Four Bikers of the Apocalypse are gathering, and the newborn Antichrist has gone missing after a mix-up at a hospital. Aziraphale the fussy angel and Crowley the fast-living demon set out to avert the whole affair, aided by a witch, a witchfinder, and a boy who has no idea what he is. Pratchett and Gaiman play the end of days for laughs.
Quick answers
What is Good Omens about?
An angel and a demon have grown rather fond of Earth over six thousand years, and neither is keen to see it end. But Agnes Nutter's seventeenth-century prophecies point to a specific Saturday for Armageddon, the Four Bikers of the Apocalypse are gathering, and the newborn Antichrist has gone missing after a mix-up at a hospital. Aziraphale the fussy angel and Crowley the fast-living demon set out to avert the whole affair, aided by a witch, a witchfinder, and a boy who has no idea what he is. Pratchett and Gaiman play the end of days for laughs.
When was Good Omens published?
Good Omens was published in 1990.
Who made Good Omens?
Good Omens was written by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
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A few thoughts on Good Omens
Fans should watch the 2019 Good Omens series, where Michael Sheen and David Tennant give the angel and demon double act its screen form. Kevin Smith's Dogma runs a similar irreverent theology, with fallen angels loose on Earth and the fate of creation in ordinary hands. For a nastier cousin, Preacher pushes the same heaven-and-hell mischief toward the profane.
Supernatural beings trying to live an ordinary life without blowing their cover
Aziraphale and Crowley have gone soft on Earth after six thousand years and would rather stall the apocalypse than lose their comfortable routines. Lucifer, The Daily Life of the Immortal King, Noragami and Preacher all put divine or demonic power inside people quietly hiding how much they can actually do, for comedy as often as danger.
Apocalypse played as farce, with Armageddon more inconvenience than tragedy
Pratchett and Gaiman treat the end of the world as a scheduling problem two reluctant conspirators would rather dodge than fight. Dogma, Reaper Man, Scrooged and Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 3 all take doomsday seriously enough to build a plot around it, then undercut the dread with jokes, odd bureaucracy and characters more annoyed than afraid.