Once again, Godzilla appears on the cover and in the name of the comic, yet the King of All Monsters appears in only a few panels. When the amount of time and art dedicated to explaining how the world has fallen into a state of comfort after the disappearance of Godzilla outnumbers the amount of illustrations of monsters doing monstrous things, something needs to be fixed. The majority of the kaiju remain locked away on Monster Island, so the humans debate the need for vigilance. Meanwhile in Moscow, a presentation touts a new alternative to preventing a kaiju attack. The demonstration delivers a shocking surprise that will appease fans.

With the Devonians temporarily out of the picture (not gone, for sure) we have a state of latency with action. No monsters fight, no buildings fall, and no bigger plot looms. Readers get an issue that serves to build up the next plotline through an abundance of explication and a dearth of activity.

Granted, all comic books need issues like this one to reorganize and redirect plot elements. However, this can be done with a series of well-orchestrated action pieces and not just Woods presenting his case before congress. One could watch C-Span to supply that level of entertainment. We read comics because we want action with our words. If we wanted endless talking with little or no promise of excitement, we would only read Transformers.

I will award some points to this issue for using the Showa series MechaGodzilla. Such details as the rainbow ray and spinning missile fingers appear—and that deserves some acknowledgment. However, a proper balance of action and story make for a much better comic. I live in a world without Godzilla and plenty of government. I wish for twenty-two pages of Godzilla.

Score: 3/5

Writer: Chris Mowry Artist: Jeff Zornow Publisher: IDW Publishing Price: $3.99 Release Date: 6/25/14 Format: Ongoing, Print/Digital