Today’s Comic> Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #9

Godzilla does love his bath toys.

Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #9

IDW Publishing (November, 2011)

Woods and Allie have figured out Mechagodzilla and meet their first target, Anguirus. Not being Godzilla Legends #1, things go as you’d expect. Then, against the direct order of the President and even though Allie was hurt in the first battle, Woods heads off to seek revenge on Godzilla for his family’s death.

What they got right: New writer Jason Ciaramella does everything I thought the previous writing team did right and none of what they got wrong, although this is only his first story. The light moments come not from heavy-handed satire but from little Allie and while it isn’t comedy she’s just so darn cute. Meanwhile, the monster fights are in keeping with how good they’ve been from the previous team.

What they got wrong: The art sadly didn’t improve. Nothing against Santos but for me his art doesn’t work in a Godzilla series. One-shot or mini maybe but I’m just not getting into the art for a story like this. Also, Sgt. Woods continues to be written the same as he has been–a big jerk! His quest for vengeance already killed one group of innocents and Allie may end up the next victim of his desire for payback. Why is this guy our hero? He doesn’t elicit any of the sympathy that Sato did in the other book.

Recommendation: While parts feel like the transition it is, there’s still some good story. If the new writer keeps up what his predecessors did right and avoids what they did wrong, I may well enjoy this comic.

Maybe Anguirus just needs to be trained by Pat Morita? Or Jackie Chan?

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