Godzilla:Rulers of the Earth #15 Advance Review

Writer: Chris Mowry
Artist: Matt Frank
Colors: Priscilla Tramontano
Editor: Bobby Curnow
Cover: Paul Hanley
On Sale: 08/27/2014

Synopsis: Godzilla:Rulers of the Earth takes over where Godzilla #13 left off. Last issue Godzilla destroys cities across the globe, battling a new roster of of foes in his quest to become King of Monsters!

This is a surprisingly good book. I know, I know. What else should I have expected, right? Well, there are a few Godzilla books out there at the moment, and not all of them are winners. And as I haven’t been following this story all that closely, it was a pleasant surprise to see such a well put together issue.

Godzilla: ROE #15 opens with the Mechagodzillas having just subdued the mighty Anguirus. If robots can said to be overconfident, then that’d be an apt description of the opening panels. It’s a setup of cours,e as Godzilla makes his presence known and announces to the Mechs in no uncertain terms that he’s not quite ready to be dethroned even if they did just put down Anguirus.

This book grabs you from the beginning with some heavy action and rarely let’s its foot off the gas from there. If not for the great artwork by Frank, Moussa and Tramontano, having so many back-to-back action panels might get tedious. As it is, the soft rendering of the monsters and human characters alike remind you not to take the book too seriously and to just enjoy the wild ride.

Chowry takes an interesting approach, both in narrative structure and character dialogue. I think I should clarify what I mean by narrative structure…there isn’t one, really. That’s no knock against, it’s just, as I said, an interesting choice. Save for a brief explanation of Godzilla’s recent disappearance, the story is literally told through destruction sequences or brief snippets of character conversation.

Rather than detract from the story Chowry’s decision to let the action speak for itself reinforces the nature of the undertaking and helps to focus things a bit more. This is already a tale of giant monsters and robots, let’s not stretch the reader’s ability to suspend disbelief further by making the creatures over(-tly) contemplative.

Overall Godzilla: Rulers of the Earth #15 accomplishes its mission. It’s a fun book with an outrageous premise. The story isn’t hard to follow, despite the lack of fixed perspective and the artwork is top notch. When you pick up a Godzilla book, you expect to see wanton destruction and mayhem and not much else; on that front, this comic delivers

3/5 Stars.

By Adam Cadmon
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Adam Cadmon

Adam Cadmon is the pen name for a man who has been writing for a few years. Heâ€™s done his share of straight-laced writing, college press, blogging, some other not very glamorous technical writing to keep the bills paid. Itadakimasu.