Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

I enjoyed issue three on the whole but the scene at the awards show, while it has some amusing concepts, really rubbed me the wrong way. Firstly, "I Want Your Sweatpants" was an amusing joke ruined by the music critic gushing over its genius - we get it, you secretly hate Lady Gaga. Then the same thing happened with "Jersey Skanks." Again, we get it. Yawn. And the "Ogden hates Asians!" thing? It feels like Powell, rather than showing us what would really happen in our world if monsters attacked, has chosen to take things that have actually already happened, put them into a world where monsters are attacking, and mock them. It feels really shallow.

But the ending of the issue was genius. D8

So, I just finished reading this. Got the Eric Powell cover.

As a sidenote: when I walked into the store and asked the men running it how the series was doing, they said it was selling better than they expected it to. I know that doesn't mean much in the long run, but that was cool to hear. Anyway, the actual book...

There are three stories in this Issue:

- The first centers around two new characters introduced, the French twins Minette and Mallorie, who are the focus of this issue. Introduced as two mute grade school children, they quickly solidify themselves as antagonists, at least for the time being, as one of them terrorizes another grade school child with the illusion of a giant bug after he accidentally kicks them in the back with a soccer ball. I can already see the complaints on the horizon, so I'll just quickly say that no child died. They discover an egg that's washed ashore. This egg contains the monster Battra, who's apparently under the control of these girls. This sets up a plot point that'll be explored later on, as Mothra's own Shobijin make an appearance near the end, along with an old man telling them that Battra's, who all watch the television and realize that this means trouble.

- The second story involves two men in Texas attempting, for some reason, to hunt down Angurius with a regular rifle. Nothing much happens here except that they are eventually killed when Angurius' tail smashes the jeep.

- The third deals with celebrities now chiming in on the events happening around the world. The main one in focus is a Lady Gaga parody named "Girly Yaya" ( -_- ). All I can say is that she's got a pretty warped view of reality. She is a part of an organization called M.E.A.L.S. (Monsters Equality and Living Standards) who protests any sort of government action against the monster, comparing Angurius' destruction to a lion feeding on an antelope. When she hears about the egg, Yaya holds a rally in Times Square to "Save the Egg". Another celebrity, a Korean rapper named Gochu, criticizes President Ogden for not taking any sort of military action to protect the people in Asia from Godzilla.

- Elsewhere, we see that Godzilla has emerged in Korea and that the adviser to the Japanese government has named the monsters "Godzilla", "Angurius", "Rodan".

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Overall, I didn't like it as much as the second issue, but it wasn't as bad as the first.

The second issue gave us a sympathetic father of two dead children to sympathize with as its "main character". This one gives us two evil little girls and an extremely annoying celebrity. The former I liked, but the latter made think of a Flanderized Miki Saegusa. If she ends up dying at the hands of the monsters she's trying to protect, I will laugh. It also gives us two inconsequential Texans who serve as the comic relief. Only problem is that they're not really that funny, and don't seem all that necessary. Ogden makes a brief appearance, as does the advisor to the Japanese Prime Minster. Again, I'm really getting behind Ogden as the sympathetic authority leader trying to get a handle on things as they spin more and more out of control. Minette and Mallorie could make great villains once their goals and motivations become clearer. The Shobijin are obviously going to counter them with Mothra, who didn't appear at all here, which breaks the sequence of appearances they said they were going for.

The pacing was still very fast. There was a lot they were going for, so that wasn't as big a deal as the first issue when there was absolutely nothing to absorb.

There wasn't a lot of monster action here. Some people will like that they focused more on setting up more points to cover later on in the series, others probably won't like that as much. I see it as necessary. The book gave the reader a look into seeing how people were responding to the monsters, which I guess this issue was about.

The art was great, as always. Rodan looks a lot better in his one scene here than in the second issue, more like his '56 incarnation. Godzilla and Angurius are both rendered well.

Dialogue is, for the most part, straightforward. They go for some political humor in the small scenes in Korea, nothing that I took all that seriously but I didn't really find all that funny at the same time.

I guess that, overall, it was a more transitional issue in that it sets up stuff for later. But I didn't feel that sense of satisfaction I got from the second issue, in this one. I give it a 3/5. Issue #1 I think of more now as a 1.5/5. Issue #2 is a 4/5.

Alrighty, I just got back from the comic shop with Godzilla #3 (and BPRD: The Dead Remembered #2, and Super Dinosaur #1 and #2)! Here are my thoughts (of course, there are SPOILERS AHEAD!):

- Since I was buying three other comic books, I decided to pick up only one copy of #3. I didn't care for Powell's cover or Hester's cover (though Hester's was cool), so I just stuck with Frank's awesome Anguirus cover. ^_^

- Issue #3 opens in Cherbourg, France with two shadowy twin girls with somewhat menacing, vacant expressions. An unidentified man and woman discuss how they're problem children, but appear clueless as to how they're a problem since they are mute.

- The next page immediately cuts to the United Nations in New York City, where the Japanese scientist from Issue #1 officially names Godzilla, Rodan, and Anguirus. All three monsters look cool in the brief shots here, especially Rodan who now looks just like his '56 incarnation!

- Page 3 cuts to San Antonio, Texas (although it looks like the countryside to me...maybe they meant Bexar County outside San Antonio? Anyway, we meet a couple of rednecks - Billy Ray and Bobby Ray - who've decided they're going to try to kill Anguirus themselves with nothing more than a hunting rifle and their pickup.

...Right.

- Page 4, and we're back in France with the twins. (Geez, this issue is jumping around a lot!) A few kids are kicking around a soccer ball in the schoolyard and talking about Godzilla ("I hope the army kills it!" "I think he's cool!") when one accidentally kicks a ball at the girls. All of a sudden a monster bursts out of the ground and attacks him! Apparently it's all in his head, though, and the other kids gather around confused. I guess the Evil Twins can cause psychic hallucinations?

- Now we cut to the Korean DMZ, where Godzilla comes ashore and marches across into North Korea. It's short, the comments by the guards are throwaway jokes, and I'm pretty much convinced it's only included 'cause someone realized they were going to have a whole issue where Goji didn't show up. ^_^()

- After Godzilla's cameo, we're back in France. The kids are now playing on the beach and talking about what happened to kid earlier (Lucas), and have already guessed that the Evil Twins had something to do with it. They're there too, but aren't paying attention to the others: they've found a giant egg! Since the series so far has been following the order the monsters appeared, I'm going to assume this is Mothra's egg (as we've been theorizing for a while) and that the Evil Twins are a reinterpretation of the Shobijin. Not bad, but definitely intriguing! Also, we finally learn their names: Minette and Mallory.

- And now... Lady Gaga? O_o No, it's "Girly Yaya", a parody of the pop singer performing at the "Tunes TV Awards". Seems Girly Yaya is an extreme environmentalist and involved with a group called "Monster Equality and Living Standards", a PETA or Greenpeace-type group, and thinks the government should let Godzilla & co. wreak havoc. Psycho, much? ^_^() We're also introduced to Gochu, a Korean rapper, who accuses President Ogden of not caring about Asian people - a comment that gets under the President's skin when he hears it on his smartphone. Like Godzilla, Ogden's appearance is more cameo than anything else: just long enough to inform him that the US Military is still tracking the monsters, that UN is helping evacuate afflicted areas, and that the Evil Twins found the Egg in France.

- Speaking of the Egg, we cut back to France where a crowd of onlookers has gathered around it. Suddenly, a swarm of locusts appears and descends on the people! Everyone panics, but one woman stops when she realizes that he insects are all dead - continuing the trend preceding the last three monsters (fish for Godzilla, cattle for Anguirus, and birds for Rodan).

- Cut back to Texas for only one page: Billy Ray and Bobby Ray take on Anguirus. They get squashed. What was the point of this subplot?

- Back to France! The military has finally arrived and, not taking any chances, they've wired the Egg to blow. Unfortunately for them, the Evil twins won't have that... Lady Gaga again? We cut to Times Square in New York City for three panels where Girly Yaya is leading a MEAL rally opposing the French government's decision to destroy the Egg. After that brief diversion, we get back to the action: Minette and Mallory sneak through the perimeter and telepathically take out the soldiers (they don't show it, but I assume it's through more psychic hallucinations). Then, the Egg hatches to reveal...BATTRA?!! O_O The writers have pulled a fast one on us!

- Our comic ends on a tropical island, where an old man watching Battra hatch on TV turns to tell the REAL Shobijin - the foot-tall native girls just as we remember them - that "something has gone horribly wrong!"

Overall: I'm going to give this one a 3.5 out of 5 (and retroactively change my score for Issue #1 from a 3.5 to a 3). Not as good as Issue #2, mainly because the comic lets itself get bogged down with unnecessary stuff: as dumb as it may sound, Godzilla and Anguirus were entirely unnecessary here and their scenes should've been cut. If you needed one, then Godzilla's was okay (it establishes that he's North Korea now, at least), but the Anguirus/Billy Ray and Bobby Ray subplot is entirely pointless - it's two pages long, entirely out of context, and serves no purpose besides giving Anguirus some page time - pages that would've been better served, IMO, attempting to flesh out Girly Yaya and MEAL, who I think they're attempting to establish as antagonists/misguided villains.

The main story, though? That was great! They set up Minette and Mallory as creepy and credible villains, and the twist that they're Battra's twins is genius! It never occurred to me to give Battra his own set of twins, and it fits perfectly in with the "Evil Mothra" concept. I'm also ecstatic to see the actual Shobijin appear, albeit briefly, in the comic - I think this issue was probably overall very important in establishing more of the recurring characters (so, along with President Ogden, we now have Minette & Mallory, the Shobijin, and IMO Girly Yaya).

Definitely a good issue, just dragged down a bit by extra unneeded junk.

I don't think it was to show Godzilla as being on "our" side, so much as it was a set up to the "joke" of the other side going "Haha, the monster got you"