Godzilla Legends #5: Godzilla vs. Kumonga

[Gyaos]

Since apparently I commited a sereous crime by saying I disliked the artwork, allow me to say why:

It just doesnt look good at all. For one, Godzilla is poorly drawn overall. Secondly, what's up with those birds? I know they're supposed to be mutants, but they look really silly. If I had to give credit to something in this comic, it's the look of the birds despite the sillyness. The one with the eyes bulging out of it's head is reminicent of Quezacoatl from Godzilla: The Series which is one of my favorite monsters from the latter show.

But yeah overall I just dont like the art.

[UnCanny Studios]

Pic from IDW forums:

Thanks for posting this! I said I'd reserve judgement until I saw Kumonga in action, and I must say - I love the look of this panel/page.

[Blackout286]

Well, I've obtain my copy so I'm gonna give my opinion upon this issue.

This issue was pretty interesting and great, Bryson Allworth (Through the great writing and story developed by Bobby Currow) manages to grab the reader and take em on a past trip through the events that he personally experienced. During the trip, we get to know the character, witness how he experiences the destruction within Godzilla's wake, and see how his character develops himself and his view upon Godzilla. Although when the real danger comes, like in the TK review, you don't feel worried for his safety since you know he'll survive. After all he's the one telling the story. But! Although he may not have died then, the tradeoff for this unique experience wasn't within his favor. So don't count this as anything predictable, it seemed like it at first, but when you reach the end, its not.

Alright, now time for the monsters!
Godzilla is pretty much your force of nature that we all know and love, and his displays this extremely well. Kumonga, despite being the star chosen monster of this issue, he's not within the spot-light. That light is on Bryson and Godzilla alone. It's not a nit-pick detail, after all Issue 3 did the same thing to Titano. But the difference between that is that Kumonga does more, and actually fights Godzilla. And let me tell you, this monster had the instinctive battle nature that made you feel more concerned for Godzilla than Bryson. And what made this battle interesting to me was that it was mostly tooth and claw, with only one energy base attack. Overall, both monsters we're handled very well, and thank goodness Kumonga did not die!

Now for the Art.
The art as stated from others, is uneven. Human characters look great, Monsters and creatures look fair and decent.There's no balance. However, surprisingly the art does still help deliver the story. In time, you find yourself settling into the art style after a second or third read, and with that, it makes the issue feel more satisfying. It was clear that this issue was going to have a tough time impressing readers and fans(Art-wise), after being spoiled by Legends 1# and 4# it was mostly expected. None the less, the art was decently good, only slightly above Legends 2#.

In conclusion, the issue itself was a entertaining read, and a fine finish for such a great mini-series. It wasn't a overly packed bang, but it did not end with a whimper either. Everything ended in a fine finish.

[kaijukurt]

Fully agree with you, Blackout.

[Bentley]

I think both the art and the dialogue had it's weak moments, but they carried the story well overall, it was a fun issue and the visuals conveyed that correctly, I frankly found it to be good. I need to get this collected

[Svitska Donkun]

Plot was great. Art was some of the worst I've seen in a comic, ever. BUT the story was so well done and paced that it makes the issue a must buy. Legends hits it out of the park again. My only real complaint with the story is that I have a hard time believing a new species of mutated birds could nest on Godzilla's back and become mutated. Godzilla isn't on land for that long, and he fires his ray with even less time lapsed, but that's juts an irrelevant nit pick. It's a creative idea. I'd like to see mutated fish living around Godzilla's sea-cave at the bottom of the ocean.

[kaiju115]

I thought the plot was good, the art was not the best, but I've seen worse. Issue 5 was not as epic as issue 1,3 or 4, but it was better than issue 2. Overall not much to say about, but it left me satisfied.

[Destroyer]

My review.
http://destroyers-editorialsandreviews. ... eview.html

"With a better lead character and better art, it could have been fantastic. Still, it's an interesting story. This is one issue I can even see non-fans enjoying. It's a bit of a retrospective on Godzilla's character, it's really interesting. Plus we get a pretty fantastic fight between Godzilla and Kumonga."

[kaiju115]

Indeed, I like how Godzilla bites off one of Kumongas legs and beats him with it, that was awesome.

[HayesAJones]

Pretty good. Giving us an interesting view on Godzilla through the adventure dude was a neat idea, and the fight with Kumonga was cool, if short. I don't think the art was all that bad either. The mutant birds were too goofy, yeah, but Godzilla only looked wonky in a few shots. Only two were really bad, the rest were just... a bit generic.

No idea how that guy survived the nuclear pulse though. None.

[kaijukurt]

Yeah, how did he survive it?

[Gorosaurus Rex]

Art was some of the worst I've seen in a comic, ever.

I honestly don't see that. It's not good, but I've seen much much worse. I know you're no fan of KoM, the last few issues or so of that had considerably worse artwork than this.

[Tyler]

Yeah, how did he survive it?

An explanation was given on the IDW forums. The blast came from 'around' Godzilla, not directly off his body.

Anyway, I really liked this one. It might be my favourite issue from this anthology. It had a great pulp feel and look. Kumonga wasn't exactly the focus, but I really liked the ending. The guy having cancer was a nice twist (although not for the character) and to me it said something about how the media manages to go from one event to the other with little thought.

Can't wait to have more Godzilla in May.

[Hellspawn28]

Art was some of the worst I've seen in a comic, ever.

I take it that you didn't see any art from early 90's Image Comics that Rob Liefeld work on? The art work is pretty meh but I seen much worst.

[TitanoGoji16]

Bah. I've been pretty busy lately and haven't had time to flesh out my review. So, instead of waiting until I finish it (and nobody cares about the issue anymore), here's my unedited (and slightly incomplete) thoughts on Godzilla Legends #5:

Well, here we are. "From A Great Height," the final issue of Godzilla Legends.

Is it the same level of epicness as issues #1, #3 and #4? Well, no. It isn't. But is it still a good, fun story? Yes, it is.

The story revolves around Bryson Allworth, a long-retired daredevil, telling the tale of when he was called out of retirement by the government to climb Godzilla and gather tissue samples and the like for study. After a long, grueling climb, Bryson makes it to Godzilla's neck, only for Kumonga to appear and attack the Monster King.

While not entirely original (Dark Horse did almost the exact same concept in one of their issues), it's not a bad story, and it's different enough from the Dark Horse comic. Bryson's a likeable enough character and you even begin to root for him as he climbs Godzilla and hangs on for dear life as he battles Kumonga. The giant spider's role is not nearly as prominent as Hedorah's in the last issue, unfortunately. His part in the story is more along the lines of Titanosaurus' in "Secrets." However, Kumonga's smaller role seems more noticeable here. True, Titanosaurus didn't have a large role, but he was without a doubt the story's kaiju star. Here, Kumonga just shows up out of nowhere to attack Godzilla, who the story is really about.

The art by Dean Haspiel has an admittedly rocky start (the establishing shot of Godzilla on the second page is sort of eyebrow-raising), but it grows on you over the course of the issue. The close up of Godzilla's face as he watches the sunset at the end is very nice. And while his Godzilla looks odd at times, Haspiel brings forth a very nice-looking Final Wars Kumonga to challenge him.

A couple oddities in the story that deserve mention:

During his climb, Bryson encounters a pair of birds having nested amongst Godzilla's dorsal fins, which have been badly mutated and deformed by Godzilla's radiation. While I understand what they're going for and it's a fun, if again not entirely original, scene, it doesn't quite make much sense. The giant sea louse from Godzilla 1985 and the Dark Horse comic does, as it would attach to Godzilla, then get irradiated. But birds? I can't imagine they'd stay on Godzilla for more than a moment, with all the moving around and fighting he does. And long enough to nest and mutate? I dunno, it might be nitpicking, but it just kinda seems like pointless filler, as the birds don't even attack Bryson or serve any purpose other than "Looky!"

Next, for the second time in a IDW comic... Somebody survives a nuclear explosion for no real reason. Apparently, the government made Bryson's radiation suit out of the Battra Twins' clothes, because it allows him to survive Godzilla's nuclear pulse completely unharmed. WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING? This is like if Shindo survived Godzila's blast in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah.

[ゴジラ]

TitanoGoji, why he survived is not because of the suit, or the twins clothing, he had the near perfect defense-Plot Armor.
Although I must say that I do find a few fans slowly driving themselves insane because of that part within the story kinda amusing, but in a good way. It just goes to show that people take their Godzilla facts within its original package, not out of the box or without a tag lol.

[Captain Aktion]

Art was some of the worst I've seen in a comic, ever.

I take it that you didn't see any art from early 90's Image Comics that Rob Liefeld work on? The art work is pretty meh but I seen much worst.

And I've seen way worse than Liefeld. Pretty much any Extreme Studios comic from the 90's will make your face bleed...

[KaijuX]

I got the issue today. It's an okay read. I was hoping more of an epic bang, but I guess we have Legends 1, 3, and 4 for that. I can't say that I was overly excited, but yeah. Humans look good, Godzilla is below average (not bad, just below average), but with some good shots. Kumonga looked decent, until later. Heck, the most disappointing aspect for me was the fact that Kumonga didn't return to his SoG glory. Then again, the comic wasn't about Kumonga; it was about being on Godzilla up close and personal. The writing is good, but more interview-recalling-the-events sorta situation rather than a story. But not bad all things considered.

And there's this thing called Toho Logic. It's where things remain unexplained and there's no way to explain it (why are there birds on G? How were the twins and Allworth able to live? HOW CAN SPACEGODZILLA EMERGE FROM A WHITE HOLE?!).

[The Midnight Man]

Hafta say, I really dug it. Yes, to say the art was inconsistent would be a bit of an understatement (the opening shot of Godzilla is just terrible), but it did work well for the human characters.

Ridiculous as the story concept was, it was handled really well, and I liked the unexpectedly downbeat ending. And the unique perspective on Godzilla attacking a town was pretty interesting.

I just wish Kumonga had more to do, though. Very big fan of the spider..

[KaijuX]

^ You aren't the only one there. Hopefully some other comic or an issue of GODZILLA will be able to do him justice.