Godzilla: Rulers of Earth #12 – Review

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

The Story: Freakin’ Jet Jaguar, man…

The Review: Godzilla: Rulers of Earth #12 was originally this series’ capstone issue and, though its popularity has bought it a longer lifespan, it’s clear that this was always intended as a big moment.

With Gezora in retreat, the Devonian forces are on their back foot. Godzilla has their monsters on the run and the armies of humanity have discovered their lair thanks to a defector. Unfortunately the ancient sea-dwellers are unwilling to go down without a fight, releasing a clutch of Destoroyah crustaceans to deal with the humans.

Over the last year, RoE has struggled to balance its desire to craft a new alien invasion story with the satisfying simplicity of daikaiju brawling. It may not be perfect, but this is probably the best fusion of the two yet. With battles raging on two fronts, there’s certainly enough action to keep readers satisfied. It helps that Matt Frank is delivering some of his clearest fight choreography of the series. Godzilla is clever without reaching the superhero levels of the Showa movies, bestial without becoming as villainous as in the Heisei movies, and sturdy without the stiffness of the Millennium series.

Frank also does some great things with Manda and Titanosaurus, teaming them up to provide the somewhat outdated kaiju with a second wind. Though Titanosaurus is the primary combatant, making him – her? – a rather nice foil for our own aquatic dinosaur, Frank does some excellent work with Manda. The Final Wars design looks particularly great as drawn by Frank and the serpentine kaiju adds a great deal to the compositions of the book.

Godzilla: Rulers of the Earth #4 – Review

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

The Story: Somewhere Chris Mowry is cursing himself, his love of aquatic Kaiju, and Guillermo del Toro.

The Review: As with the second issue of this series, Godzilla: Rulers of the Earth #4 is almost entirely devoted to a single battle. Because I went to a liberal arts college, I know just enough about math to tell you that that means that almost half of the series has been big mindless kaiju battles. Chris Mowry only has so many pages to tell his tale, but I can’t decide if I can fault him for dedicating so much time to something that a significant portion of his readership thinks is the whole point of the series.

Last month’s issue was an interesting way of providing original stories that still felt at home in a Godzilla comic, and Mowry has done a very nice job of tying the numerous plot points he introduced in that issue together. I would have liked to see more of the still nameless aliens, but they do make an appearance and their handiwork is fairly omnipresent.

Mowry’s writing is still somewhat overwrought, though it is improved from last issue. There aren’t many caption boxes in this issue but, unfortunately, a news crew is present for a chunk of the action. Their commentary may do a decent job of pointing out the futility of human comment on something so vastly beyond their scale, but more often than not it’s just tedious.

Godzilla: Rulers of the Earth #3 – Review

By: Chris Mowry (writer), Matt Frank & Jeff Zornow (artists), Priscilla Tramontano

The Story: A decisive comeback in the drawn-out war between man and seafood.

The Review: The Godzilla franchise has played host to a wide array of alien life over the years. Whether it was superstitious Simeons or treacherous Xillians, Earth’s kaiju have found many opportunities to come to their planet’s defense and just as many to be controlled by hostile invaders. This time, however, Chris Mowry is trying something a little different. As monsters rise from the ocean depths, the CKR find that a new race of aliens has designs on earth.

In a rather drastic shift from last month, the third issue of Rulers of the Earth is actually overwritten. The caption boxes seem to hold the worst of it, from out-of-place introductions, to needlessly dramatic musings, to headings as strange as, “Miles from the CKR facility…minutes from a disaster” this one has it all. Perhaps Mowry wanted to stretch his legs after a largely silent issue last month, but whatever the reason he’s overcorrected.

The dialogue isn’t bad, but it’s lacking in efficiency. Cluttered panels frequently find themselves giving information that either will or should appear in the art. Aside from this, however, the worst that can be said is that Mowry doesn’t always take an opportunity to develop hs characters when it presents himself.