As promised in my previous Youtube video, I was talking about utilizing this new website to further broaden my reviews/analysis of various Godzilla related merchandise.
One of those opportunities comes with talking about Godzilla comic books, and as such I'd like to go ahead and review one of the newest issues out there, this being IDW's Godzilla Kingdom of Monsters series, issue #1.
While I was really hoping for this series to succeed, there's really not much good news to report at least based on this first issue. Besides starting off with a bang by having Godzilla rise out of the beach ready to cause terror, the entire issue is one of the quickest reads possible. I was literally done with the issue within 3 to 4 minutes, which is not good news considering the hefty price of $3.99 involved.
What makes it such a quick read is how much dialogue-less pages there are. Many of the pages are filled with large art panels that involve little to no real action. It becomes an almost a splash-page issue of sorts.
And then what little dialogue there is comes with childish bantering from the main characters. In particular there's this one piece of dialogue repeated throughout several scenes that is pure hokey, which is "You've got to be &*^&*%^ kidding me". They even have President Obama state this after realizing the extent of damage Godzilla is causing. I realize the writer was trying to make this a running gag of sorts, but it fails completely.
This is surprising considering that this is written by Erik Powell, noted creator of the comic book "The Goon". While I must state I've never come across any of Erik's work before this, this issue does not provide me much hope in trying out anything else from him. Of course I'm not expecting anything Shakespearean with this issue, but by the same token the issue is a really simple read. Godzilla rises out of the beach, he storms into the nearest city and creates havoc, the military and government leaders take action by dropping a nuclear bomb on him, and that's pretty much it. While all of that reads as being epic the overall feeling was still "meh" within this issue.
I must give credit to Powell though on one thing regarding that nuclear bomb; he finally answered the age-old question of why not simply utilize one against a Godzilla size threat. The surprising results both make sense and give the reader a satisfying answer. ****SPOILER, it gives Godzilla his radioactive breath****
The worst part imo lies with the interior artwork by Phil Hester.
As you can see here it's very simple to look at. Nothing really stands out that makes you want to think that it's kick-ass, like it's almost a rush job of sorts. Granted Hester does provide one really nice shot of Godzilla after having a nuclear bomb dropped on him, but in the world of comic books I've had enough experience to know when something looks rushed.
Who knows it may not have been rushed at all, but the fine details normally missing from a quality job are not there.
So all in all I would have to give this issue 2/5 stars. While I like the fact that it makes Godzilla a force of nature right out of the bat, Powell's initial execution could have been better, and Hester's artwork is also not up to par.
I have though already bought and read the rest of the issues up to issue #5, so I will give my own analysis on them soon.
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