The day he quit being Spider-Man. And the Avengers. And the Fantastic Four.
Godzilla #24
FINAL ISSUE
Marvel (July, 1979)
“And Lo, A Child Shall Lead Them” WRITER: Doug Moench PENCILER: Herb Trimpe INKER: Dan Green COLORIST: credit title there but no name given–although I’m on the black & white again LETTERER: Jim Novak EDITOR: Al Milgrom
The Avengers and Fantastic Four try to contain Godzilla but he heads away from the water and towards the Empire State Building. (Revenge on King Kong? Sorry, I had to.) Even SHIELD adding in doesn’t sway him, but somehow Rob is able to get through the Big G’s fuzzed brain and convince him to finally leave New York and America.
What they got right: Seeing the Marvel heroes struggle against Godzilla was fun. The best part was Thor trying to hold up the Empire State Building and Godzilla tries to push it over.
What they got wrong: I was willing to accept Rob being the one to lead Godzilla away and I was fine with it. We have seen Godzilla responds to Rob for whatever reason. But then he goes back into crybaby fanboy mode about how he’s gone forever. I’m sure he’ll stomp his way across Europe and Asia before reaching Japan. And Rob seems oblivious to the fact that, whether through malicious intent or not, Godzilla smashed buildings, devastated cities like Las Vega and put innocent lives in danger if not in the grave! Rob is worse than Dr. Yamane. At least Yamane wanted to study the effect radiation had on Godzilla during the height of the Atomic Age after Japan had been hit with two atom bombs and atomic weapon testing continued. Rob should at least be happy that Godzilla isn’t going to be hunted by the Americans anymore (Rob seems to hate Americans) and can live in peace. (Or at least until he hits the UK.) Instead he’s all weepy that he’ll never see him again. Rob Takiguchi is probably my least favorite character in the Godzilla franchise and this issue cemented that award. I’m glad this is the last we see of him in Godzilla or Marvel.
Recommendation: With a few hiccups the Marvel run of Godzilla is a lot of fun to read and whether you track down the individual issues or settle for the Essential black and white collection I highly recommend it for any Godzilla or kaiju fan, especially if you’re a fan of Marvel characters.
This is the end of the Marvel run, but not the end of the Godzilla comics. While I’ve been able to review every IDW Godzilla comic I have only connected to Dark Horse’s run during a Friday Night Fight. Next week we begin that run with the adaptation of The Return Of Godzilla/Godzilla 1985.
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