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A few months ago he returned from the deep again to stomp on cities and duke it out with monsters across the globe, and if the sell-outs of his first issue weren’t fact enough to make this beloved icon of the science fiction world worth your time, think again. Over the past five issues the team behind IDW’s Godzilla Kingdom of Monsters has given us plenty of reasons to keep coming back issue after issue to watch the new world of Big-G come to life on the page. So why the hell should you be reading the new Godzilla book? I’ll tell you why:
1.) Godzilla just rocks. Film historians say he is one of the most iconic monsters of the atomic age. Stan Lee said he was the largest super hero ever, and in most renditions of the Godzilla universe, he’s also a true anti-hero. IDW’s Godzilla currently is that unstoppable force of nature that Raymond Burr once feared in the ruins of Tokyo. However, as issue 4 and 5 reveal, as monsters are popping up all over the globe, it seems their actual destination is to fight each other, bringing to question if Godzilla will be a villain or anti-hero.
2.) Giant monsters fighting! From the early days of comics to the silver screen, fighting giant creatures or two giant creatures fighting have always been a staple. This book is no different, and as mentioned, in issue 4 the battles between the beasts have started squaring off with Godzilla fighting Anguirus in North America (which was traditionally the first monster he ever fought in his second film, Godzilla Raids Again), and it’s looking like Rodan is heading across Europe to take on Battra (the dark brother of Mothra from the film Godzilla and Mothra: Battle For Earth).
3.) Fed up with current pop culture? Apparently so are writers Powell and Marsh, who waste no time taking shots at Lady Gaga, the Jersey Shore cast, and the like. Is there angst towards these pop-figures that feel right out of the pages of an indie book from SLG or the like? Yes. Are Powell and Marsh so wrong for taking these potshots? In this reviewer’s opinion: nope. In fact, it provides an interesting example of what might happen today in 2011 if a real monster did decide to roll in, and how certain “media figures” would act.
4.) The developing human drama is getting good. The first three issues or so of the series I felt were more heavily aimed at how the governments of the world reacted to the giant monsters, but starting with issue 4 into 5, we totally get to see the suffering human aspect of it. We also get the first human character who we can really connect with , a young army solider who’s a little bitter about both current culture and how the government is handling the situation. Will he perhaps become the leader of this universe’s G-Force as he crosses the ruined American landscape? Only future issues know.
5.) This is the best Godzilla comic book to make it to print. I own all of Dark Horse’s run. I own all of Marvel’s run (and their Devil Dinosaur, too). Both of those comic giants had some great stories to tell. As a long time Godzilla fan, I like IDW’s take the best thus far. We get Godzilla, and for the first time in American comics we get other monsters from his universe like Mothra, Rodan, Ghidorah, and more. The approach of aiming the series at teens and adults mixed in with its commentary on current culture is a great mix, too. They hit all the right beats thus far with the universe. A Godzilla comic like this has been a long time coming for English-speaking Godzilla fans, and now that it’s here, IDW has not let us down and proved it was worth the wait.
So there you go, simply put, it’s not that you should be reading Godzilla Kingdom of Monsters, it’s that you need to be reading it. The fist five issues have been great, and if the set-ups they’ve been giving us are any indicator, we are in for a lot more!
Drew McCabe
drew@comicattack.net