Flickering Myth

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Comic Book Review – Godzilla: Rulers of Earth #2

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Luke Owen reviews Godzilla: Rulers of Earth #2…

While the growing monster population continues to take it’s toll on the Earth, an ambitious student, Lucy, has set out with a group of researchers known as “Kaiju Watchers.” Though they intended to collect data on Godzilla, they instead find his most deadly foe yet!

After a really impressive first issue, Chris Mowry and Godzilla fan-favourite Matt Frank show us exactly what we can expect from the rest of Godzilla: Rulers of Earth – great writing, amazing artwork and, more importantly, awesome monster brawls.

In the previous issue, we were set to see the showdown between Godzilla and his American counterpart, the controversial Zilla. For those of you who were disappointed by the anti-climactic battle between these two in 2004’s Godzilla: Final Wars can finally rest easy as we are given fight worthy of praise. Frank’s artwork here is among some of his best and come close to topping the awesome action of Godzilla: Half-Century War earlier this year. They are so perfectly put together with detailed designs of each monster and you feel every blow that is landed. Mowry’s script also aids this great artwork by giving each section of the fight time to sink in with the reader. It’s very well-paced and never feels rushed.

In his two movie apperances, Zilla has never really been portrayed as a serious threat. Even in his own movie it feels like it’s the military doing most of the damage and Godzilla: Final Wars shows him up by being taken down by Godzilla in a matter of seconds (as well as being horribly CGI’d on purpose). It would be unfair to say that Mowry has also treated the character with the same level of disrespect, but Godzilla: Rulers of Earth #2 is very much a one-sided fight. Zilla has a couple of moments, but this is Godzilla’s fight and he’s the one who lands all the good blows. It could have been a more interesting fight to see just how destructive Zilla can be as opposed to treating him like a second-rate Godzilla (even if he is).
However, there will always be more fights. One of the best things about this series thus far is that it feels like a massive world with a lot of opportunities and, going by the final page tease, it’s going to get a lot bigger. Mowry is clearly appreciative of Godzilla’s origins as well as his campy 60s and 70s run of movies and this series feels like it could be a tribute to those in some capacity.
The announcement of Zilla’s involvement in the series was met with negative reactions from the Godzilla fan community, but in the capable hands of Chris Mowry and Matt Frank it works so well. Godzilla: Rulers of Earth is shaping up to be a great series.

Luke Owen is one of Flickering Myth’s co-editors and the host of Flickering Myth’s Podcast Network. You can follow him on Twitter @LukeWritesStuff.

Originally published August 7, 2013. Updated November 7, 2019.

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