Just finished KOM #5. Of course, there are
SPOILERS ahead.
- I picked up Frank's cool King Ghidorah pin-up cover, but IMO Zornow's cover is just as (if not more) kickass so I made a point of picking that up too. I didn't buy Powell's cover, but did glance at it (as those tend to give some idea of what the issue was about) and thought it was pretty bare I was intrigued by the gas-mask wearing character.
- We open in Russia. First thing I notice: the art has changed, and definitely for the better. Hester's artwork was
okay, but I was never crazy for it. Santos, on the other hand, has a really cool style that I'm enjoying. ^_^ Some glasses-wearing dude hovering over piles of old papers bursts into the street shouting that he knows where the monsters are coming from! Immediately, he gets crushed by falling debris as Rodan smashes a building.
- Cut to Los Angeles. Godzilla is victorious after the fight last issue, leaving Anguirus bleeding and apparently unconscious. We meet a couple of survivors, who decide to search the rubble and look for others.
- Now we're at the White House. An advisor (who looks curiously like Lenin) and a general talk President Ogden into ordering a poison gas attack on Anguirus, claiming that any lives lost are worth the lives saved if Anguirus is killed. Sidebar: "Babak Khan Ogden"? Really? I know he's an Obama stand-in, but you couldn't come up with a better name than that? Next page we're in Pasadena and meet a family fleeing their home as Godzilla approaches.
- Cut to Paris, and we catch up with the Battra twins. After breaking into the Louvre last issue, the two find and steal the Crown Jewels of France. They decide to show them to Battra. Back to Rodan: a Russian jet is in pursuit, but as he crosses the border into Belarus the Russians break the chase and let the Belarusians take over.
- ...And we're in LA again. The two survivors from earlier come across a person crushed under some rubble with only a boot sticking out and, though we don't see her face, are told it's Girly Yaya (from Issue #3). One cracks a joke at her expense and they have a rather inappropriate laugh. Of course, at that moment fighter jets swoop in and drop poison gas on Anguirus, killing them (and presumably any other survivors). Anguirus, of course, survives unscathed. Watching from mission control (presumably in Washington), the General and Adviser are
stunned that their plan failed and bicker over who should take the blame.
- Cut to the United Nations, where a number of diplomats and other officials argue that
something must be done and that the humanitarian situation is only getting worse. A (rather stereotypically dressed) German general announces that his country will try to head off Rodan, who is clearly making a beeline for Battra in Paris. He says he has a plan...which, at least as of this issue, seems to be a carbon copy of the American plan: more poison gas. As Rodan flies over Frankfurt, the German army fires missiles with a different (lighter-than-air) gas and attempt to blast it in Rodan's face. Unfortunately, the attack is (a rather predictable) failure: Rodan merely flaps his wings, blowing the gas toward the ground and killing the soldiers (and potentially hundreds of others in the city). In Paris, the Twins are surprised to find Battra has cocooned himself.
- Back to California. The family we met earlier is caught up in monstrous traffic heading out of town. Chaos breaks out as people begin raiding each other's cars for food and water, turning into a general riot. An older couple, decked out in hiking and camping gear, watch from a nearby hill and muse over who the monsters really are...but, as Godzilla appears, they decide that
he is clearly the real monster and decide to put some distance between the scene and themselves. Godzilla blasts the highway with his atomic ray, presumably killing all the rioting refugees.
- The next morning, a gas mask-wearing man comes across the frightened little girl from the Pasadena family, presumably the only survivor of Godzilla's attack on the highway, who asks him if he's a monster too. He takes off the mask, revealing that it's Steve Woods from last issue - he cuts himself off from saying "Sergeant", begging the question of whether or not he's gone AWOL. When its clear the girl's been orphaned by the attack, he takes her with him (mentioning that his parents have been killed too) and promises to keep her safe. She doesn't believe him.
Overall: It was tough to decide this, but I've decided to give this one a
3.5 out of 5 (B). I like the change in art style and the upping the ante on the action (Rodan is
so cool, but so underutilized), but this issue has WAY too much going on. There's something like five storylines in this issue (Rodan/UN, Anguirus/the Survivors/the Military, the Family, Minette and Mallory, and Woods) and, as a result, we get little to no emphasis on anybody. Rodan and the attempts to stop him are cool, but what was the point of telling us what happened to Anguirus after the battle or of those two unnamed survivors? Just to give Ogden his cameo and let us know Girly Yaya is dead? I'll have to read KOM #6 first, but I suspect the Minette/Mallory/Battra stuff could've been included either last issue or next issue. Perhaps the one who gets shafted worst is Woods, who just suddenly reappears on the second-to-last page to meet the little girl. Where was he all this time?
Had they focused on Woods, Rodan, and the family from Pasadena, I think I would've given this a 4 out of 5 (B+), but just...no. Too much happening equals a downgrade. And considering how much G&G improved with Issue #2, a B is particularly kind - those less forgiving will probably score this MUCH lower.
Probably the only thing most everyone can agree on is that it's a nice break from routine to step away from the political jokes and the only real commentary is from the older couple toward the end. This issue sets up a Battra Imago v. Rodan fight in Paris for next issue, though, so I'm
very much looking forward to that (and, hopefully, the Shobijin will
finally reappear and be formally introduced).
Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2011 8:20 am
