My introduction to Godzilla comics was James Stokoe’s Godzilla: Half-Century War. After reading Orc Stain, I was immediately drawn into his highly detailed, psychedelic fever dreams. Half Century War lived up to the hype and made me think that maybe a Godzilla comic could be amazing. Stokoe does variant covers for Oblivion, and once again I was lured to his art, recalling the best moments of his own Godzilla book. Fialkov and Churilla’s take on Godzilla is slightly more straightforward. Oblivion lacks the cool that Stokoe brought to the franchise, but it still delivers the action that Godzilla fans have come to crave.

Much like any Godzilla film, the plot here doesn’t matter at all. The human elements are just there to take up time until the monsters get the chance to rumble. Most, if not all of the characters are flat, one-dimensional, and annoying. The plot itself is fun, though: scientists built an extra-dimensional portal that goes to another world. It just so happens that that world is a “what if” if Godzilla and his monster buddies took over the planet. It’s a post-apocalyptic wasteland brought on by perpetual monster battling and Godzilla is the king of them all. The comic begins with the scientists opening the portal only to realize they want nothing to do with this other world. Unfortunately, King Ghidorah gets through and begins to destroy their monster-free world. Two weeks go by and the Eastern Seaboard of the United States gets completely demolished before the military decides to go back through the portal and get Godzilla to solve their problems. After risking their lives to lure him through a newly constructed portal, Godzilla finally emerges, ready to fight King Ghidorah and hopefully take him back home.

I’ve always thought that Godzilla movies were dumb. Not dumb in a bad way, just something to watch while eating pizza and drinking beer. Some things you don’t need to think about to enjoy and Godzilla is one of those things. The majority of the Japanese films revolve around waiting for the monsters to appear and then duke it out. They’re fun, but don’t exactly make you exercise your brain. Much like the films, this comic series stays true to that style. The plot is thin, but who cares when you know you’ll get to see Godzilla blast some monsters to bits? Comics are an excellent medium for franchises as weird as Godzilla, because unlike film which is limited by budget and effects, comics can do whatever they want. Nothing is impossible in a comic. Godzilla traversing dimensions to save America from King Ghidorah? Fuck it, it’s done. It only kind of works, but if you’re looking for a monster fix or a ten-minute break from reality, grab a copy.

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Godzilla: Oblivion #1 Written by: Joshua Fialkov Art by: Brian Churilla Publisher: IDW Publishing Price: Print: $3.99 Release Date: 4/20/16 Format: Print/Digital

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