I get nervous when kaiju stories start an issue with the human side of the story. I know that the human element is necessary otherwise the story will be pretty dumb, but it’s always the weakest part of the story. With the exception of the original Godzilla film that is, otherwise I don’t give a fuck about your broken relationship with your father or how your wife separated herself from your kid cough*newGodzilla*cough. Frankly I don’t find any one person’s battle with the monster to be believable because it isn’t. That’s why I feel Project Nemesis actually works. We’re following one man and he’s our main character and narrator of sorts, but he has a team. He has people helping him and playing their role in the larger picture of defeating the kaiju, but not once have they been in the lead. In this issue we find Hudson waking up after being knocked unconscious for a few hours. Upon waking he’s got a lot to catch up on… which is a scary idea for him and us as a reader.

The gist is that the monster has moved on and grown… again. The team does some research on the human flesh they found and find a match. It belongs to a little girl that was recently killed. That’s not all though, they find a connection between the girl, the kaiju and the word “Nemesis.” It’s a very clever connection that separates Project Nemesis from typical kaiju stories.

The writing is sharp on this issue. I don’t know how many more there are in the series, but I like the reveals of this issue. It gives us a lot of insight, but then it also manages to leave us plenty to discover on the ending. I personally find mini-series that over expose the second to last issue to be poorly plotted because the only reason you have to read the final issue is to see if they really deliver the ending you’ve already figured out. With Project Nemesis I’m very curious to see how they’ll use the information they have rather than just see them take down the monster. Right now I have an idea of their options, but I really need to see how they’ll go about everything which makes for a rewarding conclusion already.

The character development for the supporting cast was also noticeable and made them feel like more than just role players. For once the human element felt necessary instead of a genre requirement.

The art continues to be consistent which is one of the highest compliments you can pay any comic. The kaiju is obviously the best part and the way it continues to evolve is interesting. It’s becoming cooler and cooler looking, but my guess is that it’ll end up looking kind of like it did in the beginning of the series. The action and destruction may take the spotlight, but it takes talent to keep everything else interesting and not just filler.

This series started off interesting but its developed in to a really solid, well put together mini-series that has something new to offer the giant monster genre. That’s really saying something considering that’s not a whole hell of a lot to do with the genre that hasn’t been done in countless movies and then ruined in countless other movies. If you like the kaiju genre, then you should already be reading Project Nemesis.

Score: 4/5

Project Nemesis #4 Writer: Jeremy Robinson Artist: Matt Frank Colorist: Diego Rodriguez Publisher: American Gothic Press Price: $3.99 Release Date: 3/16/16 Format: Mini-Series; Print/Digital