Godzilla: Rulers of Earth #14 – Review

By: Chris Mowry (writer), Matt Frank (art), Mostafa Moussa (ink assists), Priscilla Tramontano (colors)

The Story: See that, it cuts straight through ice, steel, even tough monster hide! Usually you’d have to pay DARPA’s entire budget for a Mechagodzilla of this quality but Showa Mechagodzilla can be yours to own for the low, low price of Russia.

The Review: With its first year completed, Godzilla: Rulers of Earth has jumped straight into its next story arc. As Godzilla and Anguirus both reappear, the Russian government has been approached by a private contractor who believes it holds the answer to national security in the age of titans: a brand new Mechagodzilla.

After the Americans created the Heisei Mechagodzilla in Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters and private enterprise brought us Kiryu in the Godzilla ongoing, it’s been a bit of a surprise to see the original Showa-era Mechagodzilla over these past two issues. Despite the charm of the design, the original Mechagodzilla is clearly a product of its time. It’s hard to take it seriously after seeing the sleek updates in action. Thankfully Chris Mowry comes up with an inventive and rather brilliant way to introduce the first iteration of Godzilla’s bionic doppelgänger.

If there’s one thing that the Showa Mechagodzilla had in its movies, it’s ordinance. If you’ve watched either of the mechanical saurian’s film outings you probably remember the lengthy montages of its various lasers and missiles firing. Mowry brings that same sense of overwhelming firepower to this issue. At times it can feel a little didactic to have Mechagodzilla’s capabilities outlined so brazenly, but it makes sense in story and gives us an impressive one-sided battle.

So Mowry’s given us a giant monster fight scene.

Godzilla: Rulers of the Earth #8 – Review

By: Chris Mowry (writer), Matt Frank (art), Priscilla Tramontano (colors)

The Story: Without being too trite or too loose-lipped, big things are coming, for all of us.

The Review: Last month’s issue finally provided a crystallized example of this series’ structure while demonstrating Chris Mowry’s talent for tying the desperate threads of Godzilla’s universe together and highlighting the value of this continuity. It was a big job, but it got done. Now we open with Gigan and Orga defeated and Woods and Chavez trapped aboard an alien ship that’s under attack by Jet Jaguar.

The issue gets off to a promising start, but within a few pages, Mowry throws us an outstanding curveball. While the series has been generally improving over the course of its run, it’s been largely episodic. The revelation in this issue was just the kind of big cinematic moment that the series needed and heralds a definite shift within the story. Especially in a franchise where the studio was cranking out a new variation on the formula every year, playing with expectations is an essential element of a great Godzilla story, and Mowry does so wonderfully. Though there are still some lingering questions, Mowry delivers some of his best plotting and dialogue in this sequence and, as long as he addresses them eventually, I think the script is actually stronger for their omission.

Before we can even catch our breath, Godzilla arrives, only to find himself in the shadow of one of my favorite kaiju. Yes, seemingly not content with the veritable zoo of daikaiju they’ve already utilized, Mowry and Frank introduce Biollante into the RotE world.