Godzilla: Rulers of the Earth #9 – Review

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

The Story: This is but one of the legends of which the people speak…

The Review: There’s nothing particularly meaningful about a giant lizard, nor anything especially profound about destroying a city in effigy, but while not every Godzilla story aspires to the seriousness of the original film, any great daikaiju story needs to speak to something. There has to be a purpose for the destruction, metatextually or literally. That’s what this issue provides Rulers of the Earth.

A major problem of this series has been a certain aimlessness about it. Godzilla, Rodan, Varan, and their kin have largely been reactive forces, with the story driven by the Cryog and their master plan. Now, with the Cryog gone, the series turns its eye to the nature of earth’s kaiju.

The revelations in this issue are another great shot in the arm for a series that has already been improving, and have the potential to really give fans what they want, however I do have worries about the pacing of the story. RotE was originally approved for only twelve issues, meaning that if things are still holding to the original plan we’re three fourths of the way through this series. I’m not sure that we have enough time to explore the ramifications of these events.

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.

Godzilla: Rulers of the Earth #5 – Review

by Chris Mowry (writer), Jeff Zomow (art)

The Story: Twenty pages about how a scarred Chinese general struggles to provide for his family in a world torn apart by ancient beasts…Nah he’s evil. I mean, seriously, he’s blind in one eye! If he were a hero he’d wear an eyepatch.

The Review: Godzilla’s latest ongoing from IDW has sometimes seemed like it’s bitten off more than it can chew. We have a government anti-Kaiju task force, a team of dedicated megazoologists, a worldwide explosion of mega-fauna, and even an alien invasion to contend with. Amid this backdrop, last issue tipped us off that there may be more to these rampaging monsters than meets the eye. I don’t think I’m out of line if I say that the series hasn’t revealed its focus yet.

This issue wisely decides to dedicate itself to just one of the plotlines, that of Lucy and her scientific cohorts, who find themselves face to face with a previously unseen kaiju, Varan, on the shore of a Chinese lake. It’s a rare moment of greatness for a cult-favorite kaiju. With such a human vantage point, the issue has the opportunity to show how dangerous even the most mundane kaiju can be.

Lucy’s narration is leaps and bounds better than what Chris Mowry has supplied in recent months and is integrated into the issue quite well. Especially seeing such improvement, I still think that he can do better, but for now let’s count it a win

Batman: Li’l Gotham #7 – Review

By: Dustin Nguyen (story & art), Derek Fridolfs (story)

The Story: Today, Batman is canceling the apocalypse.

The Review: If you’ve been reading the reviews of Li’l Gotham here on WCBR or the ones I’ve been uploading on my own blog, you might have noticed a common theme between them; namely, that Li’l Gotham isn’t living up to its potential.

Well, thankfully, the title is making the attempt. This issue contains the first two stories of Li’l Gotham’s second year in publication and there’s a clear change between this installment and the last. For the first time, Nguyen and Fridolfs take us out of Gotham City, providing a Li’l Justice League story, or at least a Li’l Brave and the Bold. What’s more, the story in question teams Batman and Aquaman, the League’s most undervalued member, rather than a big name like Wonder Woman or Green Lantern.

Nguyen and Fridolfs clearly had a story they wanted to tell with this one, and I assure you it’s something you won’t find in DC’s normal Batman or Aquaman offerings. It’s the sort of thing you could only really do in a title like this, but the underlying framework is every bit worthy of a New 52 issue.

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.