"Sorry, my fault."
Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #1
IDW Publishing (March 2011)
WRITER: Eric Powell & Tracy Marsh PENCILER: Phil Hester INKER: Bruce McCorkindale COLORIST: Ronda Pattison LETTERER/CREATIVE CONSULTANT: Chris Mowry ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Bobby Curnow ASSISTANT EDITOR: Carlos Guzman EDITOR: Chris Ryall
Two kids are playing on a beach of dead fish when Godzilla arrives. This appears to be his first appearance in this continuity as nobody seems to know what it is and try to drop a nuke on him, which only gives him fire breath (yes, I will comment on that). Even President Obama doesn’t know what to make about the monster as it begins its assault on Tokyo.
What they got right: Starting from scratch is the way to go. The Toho reboots always keep the first movie in their canon and ignore the rest so starting from the beginning is a good idea. The art is well done, especially Godzilla.
What they got wrong: Two problems. One is that things go a little too fast. Godzilla shows up immediately on the beach and—BOOM in a village and—BOOM the airplanes attack and—BOOM they toss a nuke at him and—BOOM he’s in Tokyo. For all the complaints about stories that take too long, this one doesn’t take enough time and you don’t really get the full impact of a giant radioactive monster attacking Japan. Speaking of which, Godzilla is supposed to be a creation of radioactivity. Granted, since this is a new continuity they wouldn’t know that, but a nuclear bomb now only gives him his nuclear breath, not his giant form. (And a bonus fanboy nitpick: in most other Godzilla stories Japan is reluctant to use nuclear weapons, but here it’s the second thing they try.) OK, one more. “You have to be @#$##% kidding me.” This was fine once, but three times, including Obama? Why would all those people say that?
Also of note: I saw one review that claimed Godzilla eats the kids as if he did it on purpose. I, however, see it as Godzilla not even noticing they were on the part of the beach in his mouth. I would ask, however, why he came up that close to the beach.
Recommendation: They’ve got the attack part down, but they need to slow down a bit to give Godzilla time to be truly menacing. It’s still a good comic, so I do recommend it to G-Fans.
Yes, it does lose points for killing two kids.
Tomorrow’s Comic> Doctor Who V2 #3
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