Searching for Roland Emmerich.
Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #4
IDW Publishing (June 2011)
WRITERS: Eric Powell & Tracy Marsh PENCILER: Phil Hester INKER: Bruce McCorkindale COLORIST: Ronda Pattison LETTERER: Neil Uyetake EDITORS: Carlos Guzman & Chris Ryall CREATIVE CONSULTANT: Chris Mowry COVER “A” (shown): Eric Powell (art) and Dave Stewart (colors) COVER “B”: Jeff Zornow RETAILER INCENTIVE COVER: Matt Frank Oddly, the last two covers feature Mothra, who isn’t in this comic.
A soldier home from war is sickened not only by today’s pop culture and attitudes but their reactions to the monster attacks. Although when he has the chance to be a better man by rescuing a group of pop culture icons, he lets them die. Back at the story worth caring about (sorry, but I have to call it), the evil twins use Batra and their powers to begin a takeover of France while Godzilla and Angurius meet in LA to do battle.
What they got right: Our first monster vs. monster battle and when the soldier subplot doesn’t get in the way it’s a great fight. Also, the evil twins start acting like little girls, just evil ones who want to be queens of France.
What they got wrong: In the letter column co-editor Chris Ryall says that all the human reaction stuff is meant to add a light moment to a dark story. This I have no problem with, and there actually is a scene here that I would nominate for “Best Scene of This Week’s Reviews”. However, this is also supposed to “paint a pretty accurate picture of how we seem to deal with crisis and emergencies”. Considering 9/11, Katrina, and our reaction to various tsunamis the past few years (not just Japan), that seem a bit cynical. Also, we have a “hero” who comments about the state of our pop culture, the political/cultural satire I’ve been complaining about since issue 2 along with the bad stereotypes, that seems to be a sounding post for the author or authors. But then [spoiler]he lets the cast of not-the-Jersey Shore get blown to bits[/spoiler]. Way to NOT be the better man.
Recommendation: I can recommend half the comic, and there is at least one instance of the light moments doing the intended job. The satire is better left to a mini-series than the ongoing comic. Still, the monster fights are worth getting the comic for.
{click for the only good "light" satire moment in the story}
Tomorrow’s Comic> Richie Rich #2
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The “satire” is just so damned heavy-handed and smug that it is completely off-putting, and it’s getting worse every issue. These guys need to go back to the old marvel series to see how to more successfully (and subtly!!) weave “satire” and “social commentary” into a comic about giant monsters fighting.
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That’s what this comic is missing: J Jonah yelling at him face to face. 🙂
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