There are three simple criteria that will make a comic book worth the money I make stocking shelves in the feminine hygiene aisles of Wal-Mart: 1) Is it fun? 2) Are there few enough things that piss me off when I read it? and 3) Do I finish the book wanting more? For three consecutive issues Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters has passed all three criteria.

First off, it’s more fun than go-kart jousting. Issue 10 starts with monsters fighting. The middle part is monsters fighting. And the end part is a beautiful moment where Ryan Gosling pledges his love for Rachel McAdams in the rain. No, you fuck, the issue ends with monsters fighting.

Mechagodzilla dukes it out with Thunder Thighs. Why? Because they’re huge monsters, and that’s what huge monsters do. They don’t bake pottery on weekends. They don’t tweet about dead celebrities. Monsters fight. Like they do in this ish. Also, tiny twin monarchs riding on Battra show up with desires to control Godzilla.

There’s really nothing that pissed me off about issue 10. The dialogue is tight, and the interruptions are few. Allie, the young girl and co-pilot of MechaG, doesn’t talk like a stupid little kid like the child in issue one of The Key of Z. I could follow the action since the art was crisp and there were no obscure action panel set-ups like I found in Voltron #1.

Okay, one thing pissed me off. The Incentive Cover (which I think of as a shitty way to get stores to order mass quantities) is of Hedora. The Smog Monster makes NO appearance in the book. C’mon guys, stop with this pandering. What about the little kid who’s sincerely trying to collect all the books for love of the character but will never get the variants because the asshole behind the counter painting his lead Warhammer 4000 miniatures will sell it for $25 just to make more money to buy more Quidditch t-shirts from Busted Tees. That’s not fair.

The ending was tantalizing; I did love the cliffhanger for issue 9 that brought us into this book. Nevertheless, I finished this comic satisfied--but upset because I wanted so much more. I cursed the 22 page limitations imposed on books. I wanted the kaiju fighting to go on and on.

Finally, a creative team gets how to handle a licensed group of characters.

Score: 5/5

Writer: Jason Ciaramella Artist: Victor Santos Publisher: IDW Publishing Price: $3.99