Godzilla: Rulers of Earth #23 - Reaction Thread

[Benjamin Haines]

I haven't had a chance to read this yet but it came out this week.

[ebirahsmeg1]

[Gentleman]

Caesar has long been one of my favorite kaiju. I was thrilled to see his starring role in this ish.

[MekaGojira3k]

I like how they're playing up Caesar, but I would have liked it to have the prophecy from GvsMG to summon him.
Although, I think Toho probably would have nixed that because they're crazy.

2 (but basically 3 because od the double sized issue) more issues to go! I may not be as crazy HYPERBOLE EVERY RELEASE as I was at the beginning, but there are a couple of reasons for that. 1st, I felt like the pacing was more satisfying for the first 12 issues or so, and 2nd, even with my minor issues the comics were all maintaining such a great quality it's hard to gush each release.

I think we've finally seen the end of the Can't wait for the next issue.

[Benjamin Haines]

This issue was pretty good. King Seesar takes center stage here and his battle with Battra is great.

This detour focusing on the psychic twins has felt really out of place so late into Rulers of Earth's run. Those leftover characters from Kingdom of Monsters were utilized to decent effect in the RoE #13-16 arc (basically an excuse to feature Mecha King Ghidorah) but suddenly turning them into lingering antagonists for Lucy and the others feels pointless and uninteresting.
I've got to say, Rhizon and Emperor Karkaro are the two most interesting characters in this whole series. The interplay between them is terrific.

[MekaGojira3k]

[klen7]

[MekaGojira3k]

[klen7]

My issue is more that Battra is fully developed in the flashback, but in KoM its introduced as still being in its Larval form.

I also don't know why they chose to use the characters but ignore the abilities they used previously (causing hallucinations,etc). These would have probably aided them more than once in their RoE run.

[Benjamin Haines]

My issue is that I just don't care about the psychic twin characters. They're such an irrelevant footnote to the rest of Rulers of Earth. It was fine when they were brought back from Kingdom of Monsters in issue #16 of RoE because it gave this series a chance to bring Mecha King Ghidorah into the mix, but the twins' sudden prominence here in the middle of RoE's climactic final arc just feels like a gratuitous sidetrack for fans of that previous-previous ongoing that ended three years ago. Battra's wrath against Mothra and Infant Island and his encounter with King Seesar would have all been fine on its own. Turning it into such a major detour focused on the psychic twins makes it feel like a rehash of the Ayana/Iris plot from Gamera 3.

From the start, Rulers of Earth has always been at its strongest when it's building its own mythology, while its recurring plot detours for the sole purpose of building on the mythology of previous ongoings have served only to marginalize this series as a firmly 'for-dedicated-IDW-Godzilla-readers-only' attraction.

[MekaGojira3k]

[klen7]