GODZILLA: Rulers of Earth #11 Review

Rulers of Earth is back! Are you ready for an undersea battle? What we have is a good issue nicely furthering the story.

Here’s the official description from IDW:

Undersea adventure awaits! The Devonian threat has been identified, and monsters across the globe converge in the depths of the ocean! As the humans test new weapons and methods, Godzilla will be forced to face some of his most fearsome foes!

A few months ago this would have been the penultimate comic of the series, but IDW extended the book a few more. This one reveals the Devonian’s new strategy to take down Godzilla and cripple human defenses. The last issue had G battle the Gargantuas, this time he battles the undersea kaiju…and Destoroyah! Throw in a little Baragon for good measure, and we have a pretty fun comic.

Chris Mowry has shown that he could balance human dialogue and monster fights for a perfect combination. (Something the previous two Ongoings didn’t know how to do.) This issue is a perfect example. We have the story further develop by having the renegade Devonian talk to the good guys about his leader’s plan to destroy all humans. The intro is a highlight. Baragon hasn’t had a really proper role in the comic world up until this point, so it was great seeing a seemingly weak kaiju do well against Kiryu. (The scene where he pops out of the ground in Paris was a brilliant, absolutely brilliant homage to the infamous mistake in DESTROY ALL MONSTERS where it was the same scene and dialogue, just with Gorosaurus popping up when it should have been Baragon.)

The battle between Godzilla, Gezora, Titanosaurus, Manda, and Destoroyah was a lot of fun. It’s the little things, such as Titanosaurus unexpectedly giving Godzilla a right cross to the face and Destoroyah shoving Gezora to the side so he could take down G makes this gigantic kaiju fight more than just a few monsters duking it out. One has to give credit to Matt Frank’s art for making these monsters and fights so expressive. The main cover by Frank is a cool shot of Godzilla’s eye with little Destoroyahs crawling around it. The RI by Jeff Zornow is nicely detailed, and perhaps the best out of the two. There is a lot going on in it, perhaps too much since it takes a few seconds to see Godzilla in the picture.

Overall, a very solid issue. The story is developed further along nicely, with the Devonians getting key scenes. The opener with Baragon and Kiryu was fun, and the fight teased on the covers doesn’t disappoint. Rulers of Earth is entering its climax, and the fights keep getting better!