Luke Owen reviews the latest issue of Godzilla…
It’s the day Boxer has been waiting for… the opportunity to avenge his daughter in a showdown with Godzilla. At the exact worst moment though, the government and their secret weapon step in to take matters into their own hands. You know what they say about “best laid plans…”
I stated last month that the regular on-going Godzilla series can be quite hit and miss at times while the Half Century War mini-series goes from strength to strength. Well, Issue #7 is another example of what James Stokoe is doing right and what Duane Swierczynski is doing wrong.
Godzilla #7 is nothing more than a place holder issue with nothing of note. Godzilla himself only appears in a handful of pages as we spend most of our time with Boxer and his crew sitting around waiting for him to show up. The continuation of Boxer’s war with Miss Asuka is pulled off nicely with the final few pages (featuring a couple of panels I didn’t really follow) and his fued with Godzilla has now been given an extra level. The series of explosions to hurt Godzilla was also pretty cool, but I still have some reservations over the artwork. I’m sure it was Simon Gane’s intention for this series to feel more “cartoony”, but his explosions look stuck on like a Clip Art image on a Powerpoint presentation.
Ultimately however, it feels like nothing that was set up in last month’s Issue has been carried forward. Claire’s visions of Gigan, Hedorah and Spacegodzilla were never mentioned and her statement of them “playing for the wrong team” was never followed up on. The Mothra twins’ warning was never brought up and (thankfully) Miss Asuka’s theory of “monsters in love” was never talked about. Out of the 4 missing plot threads, I can happily say I didn’t miss that one.
But because the plot threads raised in last month’s issues weren’t brought up or even mentioned made Godzilla #7 feel like even more of a waste of time. Unlike The Half-Century War where every panel matters, the on-going series feels like its trundling along at a incredibly slow pace. The series needs a blot of energy and it needs one fast.
Luke Owen is a freelance copywriter working for Europe’s biggest golf holiday provider as their web content executive.
Originally published November 28, 2012. Updated November 29, 2022.
