Bam! We open with Titanosaurus, Manda, and Gezora attacking a Navy fleet. That’s awesome because these are three cool yet highly underutilized kaiju. Even better, Godzilla himself pops up to have a ménage a quatre with the attacking monsters. I have to say that the scene in which Big G uses Manda to snap the other monsters like a locker-room towel made me guffaw and cheer. This is Chris Mowry delivering what a Godzilla comic needs: immediate monster-on-monster action. Also, Jeff Zornow’s pencils capture the action so well that you understand the battle. No question as to whether Godzilla is bashing squid or teeing up on the 14th hole of Pebble Beach. Every panel flows smoothly so that the action runs fluid.
I also must make an aside that Titanosaurus needs his own comic. IDW, I have a great script for you that will sell countless books. Call me.
Okay, back to the issue. Lucy, knocked from the ship during the battle, ends up in the one place where I hoped she wouldn’t. No, not one of those 24-Hour Asian Massage parlors outside the casinos where you can get a late-night happy ending.
She ends up on Mothra’s island. Fuck. I hate Mothra. Talk about a one-dimensional monster. The moth iteration of this hapless wonder kaiju is always dead or dying. The phallic worm twins are always hatching. Either form, this monster is always sucking.
Add to that those annoying twins, and you have the makings of a plot turn that drags the comic down to the literary equivalent of the wrong side of the tracks. The only good to come of this is that the twins (I want to call them the Peanuts so bad) recant the story of ages ago where Gorosaurus, Batra, and Kameobas rock the prehistoric era like a Brian May guitar solo.
Chris Mowry, you are one sly dog for writing those cameos in. I tip my beer to you for that, my man!
Add to that Megalon and King Caesar, and you have now balanced Mothra’s suck factor out with some redeeming monsters. So many additional monsters make cool cameos that readers will spend the issue ranting and cheering. Until we realize that we still have to deal with Mothra.
Mothra. Can’t someone just hang a big yellow bulb and have Mothra slam into it and beat itself to death? Space Hunter Nebula M, you need to get on that battle plan quickly.
We end with Lucy getting teleported by Mothra (damn, I hated typing something as terrible sounding as that). She now knows the secret of the monsters and where Godzilla fits in.
On a more promising note, next month’s cover teases the appearance of the Gaira kaiju. Those gargantuan look to shake things up worse than a sorority girl on Ecstasy at a kegger after being dumped by her boyfriend and who sees that boyfriend there with her sorority sister.
This series has built a great rhythm for monster battles and all out fun. The characters no longer govern the brunt of the book, and that’s as it should be. If we could get past this Mothra nonsense and back the awesome kaiju, we will be okay.
IDW has burned us G-Fans in the past. I worry that this title may be replaced by Little People, Big Mothra.
Please don’t let that happen. Buy this book and keep it pure.
Score: 4/5
Writer: Chris Mowry Artist: Jeff Zornow Publisher: IDW Publishing Price: $3.99 Release Date: 2/19/14