The King of Kaiju has gone deeper into the underworld, and in this issue he is to face demon versions of his all time great foes. Epic battles will happen, and if you don’t think so, the cheesy caption boxes are there to remind you and tell you exactly what i happening, and that it’s epic. Godzilla, or as he’s referred as this issue, “The Leviathan,” is in the Abyss and walking through the undying doomed city. Right out of the gate (of HELL! no? ok) he faces the flying monster Rodan, and a frozen demon after that. It continues throughout the issue, before Godzilla can catch his breath, another demonized mighty kaiju is there to face him and send him even deeper into the Abyss.
The art from Bob “My art makes Magic: The Gathering super epic” Eggleton is astounding, it nicely contrasts James Stokoe’s art on the first issue, while still maintaining the quality of the work. Using colors sometimes as intense as the fires of hell itself. Eggleton makes every battle look incredibly epic and metal. His depiction of Hell through the usage of painting and classical art reminded me Olivier Ledroit’s art in the French comic Requiem: Vampire Knight. It’s a beautiful sight that could have followed the steps from the first issue and stayed almost silent for the reader to absorb ever panel on its own. Unfortunately it doesn’t stay silent.
Godzilla in Hell #2 reads like a National Geographic documentary made in the turn of the century, two centuries ago. It would sound like an awesome thing if campiness was the intended purpose of the comic, but it’s not. Instead it reads like beautiful pieces of art are given to a high school goth kid to write and letter, the captions are cheesy, on the nose, and the font use makes it an eyesore. to look at. Added to that, page five has one of the ugliest sound effects I have ever seen in a comic in recent years.
Eggleton got too much in the way of his own narrative to allow the story to tell itself. In the afterword of the comic, he shared some of the process of making this comic, which proves to be fascinating when it came to the art of the book, but I wish he could share what went into the writing. He was diving into that bad side of Jack Kirby territory where one reads the caption of what’s happening, then see the panel of what’s happening, and finally whichever character telling the reader what happened. Added to that, the lettering gets in the way of the artwork. There is a beautiful splash page of Godzilla facing the mighty King Ghidorah, and it’s uglied by an unnecessary caption box.
My only hope is that there is a second printing that could follow the lead of the first issue and allow all that beautiful art to stand on its own.
Score: 3/5
Godzilla in Hell #2 Story and Art: Bob Eggleton Letterer: Chris Mowry Publisher: IDW Publishing Price: $3.99 Release Date: 8/26/15 Format: Mini-Series; Print/Digital