GODZILLA #5 Review


The GODZILLA ongoing has reached its fifth outing, and sadly it doesn’t rise above average territory yet again. The first issue did a pretty good job with establishing the monsters and characters, after that the story went downhill. I can write a huge editorial on all the things gone wrong in this series. Monsters get their debut and end up being one-shots. (Still haven’t forgotten Titanosaurus and his lost against an exploding building.) Boxer was once a pretty cool character, but now his dialogue is running stale and he’s pretty much nothing other than a macho man Expendables guy. This issue suffers from the same problems as the previous few. The writing aside from Harrison’s narration isn’t that great, and the monster debut is another disappointment.

Here’s the official description from IDW:

Boxer and his team decide it’s time to turn their sights to the big game-Godzilla! A perfect plan goes awry when a billionaire adventurer gets his hands on Mechagodzilla. The result? Utter monster mayhem!

As you know, this issue sees the debut of fan favorite Kiryu. Maybe the most popular Mechagodzilla, (I know most people prefer him to MG II, but more than the Showa one is debatable) fans were curious how his origin would be here. To sum it up quickly, in the film he was built from the bones of the original Godzilla. Obviously that wasn’t done here. Logically, what happens here makes perfect sense. Kiryu was made from the blueprints of Mechagodzilla from Kingdom of Monsters, which makes sense since he looks like an upgraded version anyway. Only fans will know that’s Kiryu however, since he isn’t called that in the comic. That aside, you can expect the fight on the cover. It’s choreographed well, but in the end it’s just another opponent for Godzilla, nothing special happens. The battle happens and there’s really no ramifications, there were barely any stakes.

I do like how Harrison is narrating right now. Since he doesn’t talk, it’s interesting. Boxer is one strong dude, he literally shattered a car window with one punch and grabbed  Harrison out of it. It’s one of those moments that belongs in an 80’s cheesy action film. This guy just seems too…I can’t even explain it. He’s like a cardboard human with forced emotion when the story calls for it. Talking about the art, it doesn’t quite look as good as Issue #4. In the scene where Boxer is hugging Harrison, it’s supposed to be emotional, but the faces look so off, you’re there laughing instead of getting that warm feeling inside. Godzilla looks okay, I don’t think there’s enough detail. Kiryu looks good, and there’s a really fantastic splash page of the two monsters having a beam war. Cover A is very nice, showing a more shall I say heroic looking Godzilla and a great Kiryu. The RI by Matt Frank is an extreme version in his usual style, definitely an eye-catcher.

Overall, another average issue. It wasn’t bad, but sometimes this is barely a Godzilla story. The title monster literally has no purpose as he walks through Tokyo. We have another disappointing debut from a fan favorite monster. (Or rather robot.) In the end, nothing major was truly accomplished other than the ending where you’re going to go, “The heck is she talking about?” It made me intrigued for the next issue. Let’s hope when Mothra comes next month things get better.

3/5

S#!T Talking Central