GODZILLA IN HELL #4 Review

Godzilla’s unwanted journey into Hell reaches its penultimate issue! Is this one even stranger than the previous three?! Let’s find out.

Here’s the official description from IDW:

Godzilla’s journey is stymied by an impenetrable wall of living flesh! Cornered, with nowhere to go, he is beset by devilish versions of his greatest foes-Destoroyah and King Ghidorah!

I have been floored by how bizarre this mini-series has turned out to be. I’ve been a Godzilla fan for about 15 years, and I’ve never seen something as strange as GODZILLA IN HELL. The story apparently has Big G die and go through these ordeals. It’s interesting, though with continuity errors which hasn’t been addressed. One issue states King Ghidorah sent G to Hell, while another says a battle with SpaceGodzilla destroyed the world and sent him there. It’s quite confusing, and one can hope the final installment next month will clear things up. How about this one? While technically the most straightforward of the issues yet, it’s just as crazy.

Brandon Seifert writes the story, though no dialogue is present, which is always interesting to see. The monsters can of course hold a story together, but the problem is that this doesn’t read like a story. It’s technically a continuation, but it bears no resemblance to the previous issues. Godzilla does battle with Destoroyah and King Ghidorah, which is awesome of course. It’s fun to watch the three fight, and Seifert can write some really cool fight scenes. Sadly, not much makes sense. Ghidorah and Destoroyah turn on each other for no reason, and this giant wall appears out of nowhere.

Ibrahim Moustafa’s art is quite interesting. He draws a really great incarnation of the GMK Godzilla. (The first couple of pages are fantastic.) Though, this doesn’t help continuity errors since in all the other issues the big G is in his Millennium appearance. Destoroyah looks okay, (he’s often more on the dull side) and Ghidorah gets some impressive panels. (Though, there’s at least one extremely off panel with him.) The overall gritty coloring by Marissa Louise is appropriate for this kind of story. The main cover by Moustafa portrays a rather intriguing picture. We have Godzilla standing over the city with a bomb cloud in the back. (The eyes in it are a nice touch.) It’s a pretty simple piece, though ominous nonetheless. The RI variant by Jeff Zornow is definitely an awesome cover, depicting the intense fight between G, Destoroah, and Ghidorah. I don’t think we’ll be seeing a cover with Godzilla’s two greatest adversaries together again anytime soon, so definitely pick it up if you could.

Overall, GODZILLA IN HELL #4 is a relatively simple comic…and that’s the problem. It’s supposed to be in-line with the previous three issues, but comes off as confusing. It’s a battle, and nothing really surrounding it. Still, it’s fun since the characters involved are these guys. And I have to give credit for the story delivering one of the most intense scenes I’ve ever seen in anything Godzilla related. (If that was in a movie, it would be quite a “whoa” moment.) Hopefully the conclusion can somehow tie all this madness together.