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.