The twins, Minette and Mallory, are prisoners aboard a military cargo transport plane. They call upon Battra to come to their rescue. Meanwhile, the Shobijin and larva Mothrae appear to Woods, and the tiny twins are battered and ragged after escaping Battra’s wrath on their island. From the psychic duo no bigger than a bag of Peanuts comes a warning: something new and horrific is on its way. In Brazil, Godzilla fights off the Megaguirus spawn as he tries to claw his way out of the crater. An alien vessel lands, stuns the monsters, and releases a new terror on the Godzillaverse.
The normal sized twin opposites to the Shobijin provide an interesting nemesis. Parallels emerge as their protector kaiju, Battra, squares off against Mothra. Unfortunately, this detracts from the presence of Godzilla, so Big G gets a few panels of attentions spread over the last six pages.
If you are looking for a dialogue heavy issue, this one will please you well. So many panels contain white space balloons. For instance, Woods spends time apologizing to the Shobijin that he has not the facilities to comfort the tiny duo. I would gladly sacrifice such superficial dialogue in favor for some great Godzilla stomping action.
As for the artwork, I am noticing something peculiar about RoE. In other Godzilla series like Cataclysm, a sense of scale exists in the artistic representation. For this book, not so much. When two medical personnel encounter Battra as the creature rends the fuselage of the passenger plane asunder, there exists no sense of scale. This would have been an ideal opportunity to impart jeopardy by means of a giant monster gnawing down on the plane; instead, the scene looks akin to a funhouse corridor with a spooky portal at the end.
RoE has hit a lull with its performance. There feels no sense of direction or any metaphoric ticking bomb to advance the storyline. For as unique as the monster fight pairings have been, one wonders if there is any endgame. For now, the book feels like its reverted to the monster fight of the month formula that signaled the stagnant phase of so many of the other Godzilla IDW titles.
Score: 3/5
Writer: Chris Mowry Artist: Matt Frank Publisher: IDW Publishing Price: $3.99 Release Date: 12/17/14 Format: Ongoing; Digital/Print