Godzilla: Rulers of the Earth #7 – Review

By: Chris Mowry (writer), Matt Frank and Jeff Zornow (art), Mostafa Moussa (ink assists), Priscilla Tamontano (colors)

The Story: Godzilla and Jaguar: Punch! Punch! Punch!

The Review: Though the loss of two monsters may have superficially lowered the stakes, the tension has really ramped up this issue. Picking up immediately from where the last issue left off, issue #7 sees a new take on a classic battle as Godzilla and Jet Jaguar take on Gigan.

Jet Jaguar, for those of you without a taste for MST3K or simple masochism, is an Ultraman-style super robot from what is widely considered the worst entry in Godzilla’s 28 film history. He was child-friendly cheese from the moment of his inception and, I admit, the mere sight of him at the end of last issue made me wonder where things were headed. Nonetheless, Chris Mowry not only successfully delivers a Jet Jaguar-centric issue, but does it with an entirely straight face.

Though there are still some rather simplistic lines, Mowry’s writing hovers just below the best of the series and finds great success in the effort to portray the kaiju as characters rather than ‘just’ natural disasters. Jet Jaguar’s goofy smile does a lot to help in this regard, but it’s impressive how emotive Matt Frank makes his unmoving mask of a faceplate. Likewise, Godzilla, perhaps more than in any other issue, possesses clear thoughts and desires, even as he retains his animalistic quality.

Godzilla: Rulers of the Earth #6 – Review

By: Chris Mowry (story/script), Matt Frank (story/art), Priscilla Tramontano (colors)

The Story: Gigan trashes Vegas, only to find a frustrated Godzilla on the horizon, looking to play the slots. Silently, he curses his poor timing.

The Review: After an interesting stopover in China last month, RotE returns to  the exploits of its titular character just in time for him to face off with one of his most popular foes among the ruins of Las Vegas. Even better, series artist, Matt Frank, is back after a one month absence. All of this points to an excellent issue of Kaiju craziness. Unfortunately, while many of the best elements of this series have returned t the spotlight, it seems that Mowry’s improved writing didn’t come with them.

As is becoming a trend in this book, Mowry opens with a page of melodramatic musings leading to a large panel of a Kaiju. From there we jump around chronologically as our still nameless aliens fight to reclaim some confiscated property.

Honestly, Godzilla films have often suffered from an unnatural separation between the human and kaiju plots, especially in cases where human-sized aliens are controlling the kaiju. This series has done a fine job of tightening the connection between the mastermind invaders and their main event pets. These sorts of ideas are sown throughout the issue and the series, quite ably at that, however, in this instance the book falls down in its execution of those ideas.