Just picked up Godzilla #2 from my local comic shop! Here are my thoughts (rather obviously, there are
SPOILERS AHEAD):
- Once again, Godzilla #2 had variant covers. I grabbed the Phil Hester (Godzilla alone in the rubble of Tokyo) version and the
awesome (but ludicriously expensive) Matt Frank cover with Rodan. I also made note that Godzilla #2 appears almost sold out already, but my local comic shop still has many copies of Godzilla #1 left over (as others have mentioned, though, I suspect they plan to give most of them away on Free Comic Book Day. I may pick up more myself!)
- Issue #2 opens with the Fisherman from last issue, the father of Isamu and Kameko (the children from the opening of Issue #1). He's evacuated from Niijima to Tokyo and quickly finds himself caught up in Godzilla's attack again. I'm glad they decided to stick with him, Issue #1 introduced a lot of characters but didn't give us much time to know any of them.
- We switch to Moscow. Some kids are on a field trip to the museum and visiting the Tunguska exhibit when an earthquake hits. Do they even get earthquakes in Moscow? A kid, Mikhail, steals a stone from the exhibit and is evacuated, only to witness a flock of birds drop dead from the sky. Very apocalyptic!
- Now in Mexico, some rancheros find a herd of dead cows - then Angurius bursts from the ground! Awesome! Not necessarily sure if this needed to be a two-page spread (I've watched enough Atop the Fourth Wall to be leery of them), but cool nonetheless.
- We quickly check back in with the Fisherman, who seems to be making some sort of makeshift weapon from a cache of bombs he found, but it's only a brief two panel interlude 'cause we're then back in Moscow: Mikhail returns home, where his mother is watching the news. The Russian reporter and Mikhail's mom scoff at the claims of giant monsters running amok,
despite video evidence. WTH? Is this skepticism for the sake of skepticism?
Anyways, Mikhail goes to his room (geez this kid has a lot of pets) and is amazed when the rock crumbles to reveal an egg...which immediately hatches a baby Rodan! (
) I can already predict some people are going to be pissed at this development, but I'd like to stress they only
suggested that the egg came from the Tunguska meteor - they're kind of ambiguous about what caused the Tunguska event, so it could very well have been volcanic. Mikhail leaves for hockey practice, promising to feed his neighbor's cat to Rodan. Really, kid? What's wrong with you?
- Back to Mexico, where Anguirus literally rolls onto the scene to start smashing a village! It quickly cuts to the Pentagon, where the President is being briefed on Godzilla and Anguirus' rampages. They discuss what to do, but the President is discouraged from offering humanitarian aid to Japan because the monsters are still rampaging.
- Mikhail returns with the cat...only to find Rodan has grown HUGE (at least the size of a person) and eaten all his pets. They don't show it, but Rodan then eats the kid (he spits out the hockey stick), bursts through the roof, and flies off (ironically, the cat survives). Wait...Rodan attacks Moscow! LOL! It's a total homage to Destroy All Monsters! Awesome!
- Back at the White House, the President is holding a press conference on the monster attacks. The scene actually brings up a really interesting question: what, realistically, should the government do about this? The President has decided to assemble the scientists, engineers, and military leaders to come up with a plan (basically, the strategy employed in GKOTM), but the journalists argue the military should be sent in now (the strategy most often seen in kaiju films). IMO, the scene actually introduces the debate rather well and doesn't treat either side as inherently wrong. Nicely done!
- Cut to Texas, and a strawman conservative Texan governor is touting his border fence to a reporter when Anguirus smashes it. The governor is clearly a take that at Republicans, but I think they we're trying to play it for laughs. Interestingly, they finally name the President: Ogden. Although we all assumed the character actually was Obama, it seems he's really just lookalike stand-in, which is good because it gives them more wiggle room with the character.
- Finally, back in Japan, Godzilla's rampage has stretched all the way to Yokohama now. The Fisherman, in a twist that I
really should've picked up on sooner since it's now so obvious in retrospect, has used the bombs he found to turn himself into a suicide bomber. In a futile attempt to kill Godzilla, he throws himself off a skyscraper and blasts himself on Goji's nose. Wow, that was a sad ending...though, now I have to ask: what happened to this guy's family? Did he have a wife? Are Isamu and Kameko really dead (my money's on no, to make his death even more meaningless)?
Overall: I'm going to give this a
4 out of 5. Definitely an improvement over Issue #1! The pacing is much more relaxed and the story more focused, splitting itself into three plotlines roughly associated with the three monsters: the Fisherman and Godzilla in Japan; Mikhail and Rodan in Moscow; and Ogden and Anguirus in America. I get the feeling this issue is going to be much more typical of the series: multiple storylines centering on incidental characters and their (probably often fatal) run-ins with the monsters. I also suspect (and had his suspicion from the moment they said there'd be no main human cast) that Ogden is probably going to be one of the only recurring human characters - which, again, I kind of expected (he IS the US President, after all).
No real preview for next issue (the back cover has Godzilla fighting Rodan and Anguirus, but I doubt that's going to happen so soon). Personally, I'm excited! I very much like the direction this is going in now. ^_^
But the press conference scene was HILARIOUS. Best page out of the entire issue!
