Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

I was really into it and then... it ended. Super-short issue but I liked it. King Ghidorah's intro reminded me of back in the GMK days, when people here on MZ were describing what their idea of the teaser trailers would be like, and one described Ghidorah emerging from an icy mountaintop and terrifying some climbers. I got major deja vu.

Anywho, I'm digging Sgt. Wood's and the little girl's trek across America and the French fries in Paris. I wonder where they're going to go with this new angle (and by that, I mean the surprise with Rodan)? Speaking of Rodan, his fight with Battra was way more satisfying to me than Godzilla and MechaG's bout in the previous issue, even though both take up about the same amount of time.

I hate that they're using the GMK Ghidorah not just in shape but in character. It's a horrible way to utilize the greatest villain, the rare truly evil creature, in the Godzilla series. I have nothing against making him mythical in origin, but for god's sake make him the devil or something!

As much as they keep hinting at shenanigans in the blurbs for the next issue, I don't think he's going to be nearly as GMK-y in personality as you guys assume he'll be. The nice thing about thousand-year-old prophecies and the like is that nobody that writes them has to be around to make sure they're right.

Given the total separation of this universe from any we've had previously, frankly I don't care what direction KG takes. I'm more concerned that the series maintains the current high it's had rather than fall back to the mediocrity of past issues.

Okay, since I just did Issue #6 (which, long story short, I HATED. A LOT.), I may as well try to do Issue #7.

- Still reeling from how bad Issue #6 was, I only bought the Powell cover of Issue #7. It was nice, Godzilla walking through clouds of smoke with lightning in the background and Woods/the girl watching in the foreground.

- Issue #7 opens "somewhere in the mountains of Asia", where a monk is reading a prophecy about sacrificing one's self to merge with a "dragon king" and become "a force of righteousness". A snake appears and he declares "It is awakening..." The next page confirms the great fear instilled in me by the first as it immediately becomes obvious he was talking about King Ghidorah, who seems to be buried in the mountain this monk's shrine is build on. He unlocks a door, tearfully declares he freely gives his life, and Ghidorah - clearly the GMK good-guy Ghidorah I just so happen to hate oh-so-much - emerges. T_T

- Cut to America. Woods and the little girl have stopped to take a break, and Woods muses on how she'll never know a normal life. He also flashes back to Godzilla destroying Washington, DC and Ogden being evacuated to...someplace...effectively writing the President out of the comic. Back in the present, a military jet flies over and drops supplies. While a crowd of people fight over it, Woods grabs one of the containers and slips away.

- Finally, for the first time in issues, we get back to Minette and Mallory in Paris. Apparently they've been wandering the abandoned city living like Queens, waiting for Battra to hatch from his cocoon. Also at last, Rodan shows up (why it's evidently taken him months to fly from Russia to France is not explained) and starts wrecking the city. Battra emerges from his cocoon and the two fight in a pretty cool sequence that, unfortunately, is cut short when the Evil Twins demand they stop. Why Rodan listens isn't explained. The two decide that, now that they have two monsters, they may as well cross the ocean and try enslaving Godzilla too.

- Back to Woods and the girl. She has a nightmare when the monster finder starts beeping. Woods wakes her, reassures her everything is okay, and they he start moving - putting distance between themselves and Angurius.

- I have no idea what's happening on the last page. I see Godzilla holding the Washington Monument, Godzilla looking back, then King Ghidorah. End.

[u]Overall:[\u] *SIGH* I'm going with 2 out of 5 (D+). Honestly? I don't know why everyone is calling this an improvement over last issue, it's only marginally better and that's just because it doesn't have anywhere near as stupid a storyline as the Mechagodzilla plot last issue. I just don't care what's going on here anymore. Woods has stopped interesting me by virtue of him doing nothing, they've written out Ogden (Really? They're just going to gloss over the collapse of the US government?), and Minette/Mallory would be interesting if they hadn't been ignored since they arrived in Paris. Whereas last issue was stupid, this issue just feels LAZY as hell. Everything in the last two issues should've happened over the course of two issues each (except for the Minette/Mallory stuff, which should've happened in one issue a LONG time ago).

You already lost my patience, comic, don't test me any further. >=(

I think everyone should forget about THAT MechaGodzilla, since it is, bar none, the worst thing that has been done in this comic.

Which is saying something.

It's too bad Powell's work on Godzilla has sucked SO bad...because someone like me, who doesn't read comics, would never know he's capable of that cover you just posted...someone like me comes away from Kingdom of Monsters thinking this guy SUCKS.

^That cover is just boss. I mean: it's a robot stuck in space, having carved notches (seemingly representing the days that have passed) all over the interior, and holding an old-fashioned pistol to his head!

The storyline in this single image is more rich than anything Powell and co. did in this Godzilla arc!

Still, someone else picks up Godzilla with issue #9, the Godzilla miniseries offer more variety, Powell goes back to his bi-monthly schedule on The Goon where he belongs... maybe balance in the universe will be achieved.

I agree with Jelly...

And man....Powell needs to lighten up man...just judging from that guy's work and the above illustration, it seems like he's one cynical guy....I think he needs to watch some My Little Pony

^ I have to STRONGLY disagree with you there - the comic has clearly taken a serious nosedive in the last two issues, going from "merely okay" to "downright horrendous". Whatever pretensions KOM had about depicting the world's reaction to a kaiju apocalypse has been thrown out the window, alongside what little plot there was stringing it all together. Before it was interesting, if unfocused and somewhat irritating. Now? The Mechagodzilla plot was a JOKE, made worse when compared to G&G #4, which introduced Mechagodzilla in a MUCH more interesting and appropriate way. In fact, I probably wouldn't have minded the route they went with here, except it was so rushed and over-the-top as to be rendered completely ridiculous. Ogden is suddenly handed the idiot ball and becomes a cartoon character, the whole thing is somehow done in a MONTH(!), and the fight/rampage is so underwhelming as to make me wonder the point of it all. Issue #6 reads like what happens when you take a two or three issue story arc and squish it into 22 pages.

Really, "less commentary, more action" does NOT equal an improvement by itself, especially when coupled with what they've tried shoveling us in these last two issues.

The only saving grace is that this whole damned story arc ends this month. I can only pray it pulls together enough of these loose strands to make it feel like I haven't been wasting my time.