GODZILLA: RULERS OF EARTH #22 - REACTION THREAD

[antovald20]

Got both issue 21, and 22, and there pretty good, but still feels extremely rushed with to many things going on, instead of focusing in one thing at a time. I realise its the end, but there cramming everything in a comic with limited pages.

The Battra subplot could have easily been its own story arc, and the facility with Space Godzilla crystals could have been another arc, but since this series is ending, they could have just canned those ideas , and just gone a simpler approach.

Issue 21with The Gargantuas, actually had a little to much page time for my comfort, it really feels like the other monsters didn't stand any kind of a chance, except the smallest, and not so great Frankenstein babies. They should have shown the other monsters putting up much more of a fight, before being defeated. The thing that saves this issue was the evil twins, and cool battle with SG, and Godzilla. Oh! Gorosarus should have been gigantic! It would have made a huge difference in his character, and how he would affect the outcome of the battle. ... nope. .. his as lame as ever.

Issue 22 was good, but Gorosarus got his ass handed to him.... so disappointed, also the way they colored him, makes Gorosarus look like Barney if he was a kaiju lololol His so lame, why have his own cover if his just gonna lose?... That's another thing that isn't good about this series. Monsters just appear, and never come back until way later, or not have any real impact ... anyways the continuation of the battle, and the hint of King Caesars return, plus the ending makes up for it.

Still this series could have done a little better, and slowed down a bit, and just concentrate on what's important.

From here on out is just Trade Paperback for me. Buying individual Issues is not worth it, if I'm just gonna get the TPBs. I mean that for all my comics.

[B34sT]

I believe the subplots being scrapped has been addressed since we were supposed to get a Battra vs. Kumonga fight.

As for the Gorosaurus fight, I was disappointed with the outcome but he was technically tag teamed in the beginning and then had to face a stronger monster that knew all his moves. So far I can't think of any monster being able to beat their Trilopod counterpart so the fact that Goro killed a few and ripped one's arm off was pretty great.

I thought the issue overall was good but understandably not as good as the previous few issues. I think the lack of Cyrog dialogue in this issue made it a bit less enjoyable as we still have no idea what the Emperor's overall plan is.

[LSD Jellyfish]

I believe the subplots being scrapped has been addressed since we were supposed to get a Battra vs. Kumonga fight.

As for the Gorosaurus fight, I was disappointed with the outcome but he was technically tag teamed in the beginning and then had to face a stronger monster that knew all his moves. So far I can't think of any monster being able to beat their Trilopod counterpart so the fact that Goro killed a few and ripped one's arm off was pretty great.

I thought the issue overall was good but understandably not as good as the previous few issues. I think the lack of Cyrog dialogue in this issue made it a bit less enjoyable as we still have no idea what the Emperor's overall plan is.

I don't see why everyone is so upset Gorosaurus lost considering he was fighting the main antagonist/s. The Space and MegaPods were destroyed but that was only because of a team up between SpaceGodzilla and Godzilla. And Gorosaurus already killed some trilopods on the last issue.

Issue #23 says that the cryog emperor reveals his plan I suppose the next issue will be a lot of fighting and more cryog dialogue. I'm wondering if we'll ever get a confrontation between Woods, Lucy and Chavez with Rhizon and the Emperor.

Also Zornows cover was faulty but my guess is that the covers are an issue behind. This means that next issue I won't be surprised if Mogeura and Kiryu show up to do some big damage to the hive and the trilopods. Since they are mechs they have a special advantage of not being able to be weakened and absorbed by the trilopods blood sucking.

[TitanoGoji16]

As usual, spoilers.

Spoiler:

ALRIGHT, GOROSAURUS IS HERE, TIME TO KICK SOME--- oh, well, that was over fast. As one of the "ancient ones," given an awesome introduction last issue, I was hoping Gorosaurus was gonna accomplish something. I know he'll pop up again later (at least I hope), but sheesh. I mean, unlike some people, I love that the Gargantuas are being portrayed as badasses that can take on the Trilopods and hold them off, but when they're the only kaiju to do so, it's kinda silly. If the Gargantuas can kill a Trilopod, then surely someone like Gorosaurus could at least finish off one or two?

Chavez's "This could be the end" bit feels like it just goes on forever.

So, wait, they're looking for King Caesar now? I mean, I know there's been a few vague, mystical hints about his return from the Shobijin, but now they're just openly discussing "finding" King Caesar like it's been the plan for quite some time. Also, how the hell does Professor Ando just automatically know that King Caesar is in Okinawa? With a friggin' kaiju encyclopedia with an article on his current location? With his picture in it? I coulda sworn the Shobijin told Lucy (way back when they did the King Caesar vs. Megalon flashback) that King Caesar was lost to the earth and his fate was unknown and they didn't even know if he existed anymore. But now it's just "Oh yeah, this book - that I probably wrote - says that this ancient kaiju - that I shouldn't even know about - is in Okinawa." Did I miss something?

Also, oh yeah, Professor Ando. Nice for him to just suddenly exist again.

ALRIGHT, GODZILLA AND SPACEGODZILLA TEAM U--- oh, well, that was over fast.

So, the Super-Mega-Ultra-SpaceGodzilla-Trilopod is taken out... by Godzilla shooting it with his ray. Yeah, I guess that's one way to do it. I've gotta say, I'm really starting to get tired of Godzilla's ray being treated like a Super Sentai finisher. Remember the days when Anguirus could take a blast of it in the face and shrug it off? I miss that.

So now Godzilla gets tired? Whatever. At least it's something, I guess.

Ooh, Godzilla-Trilopods! Who wants to bet they do vaguely threatening things before Godzilla gets suddenly un-tired and kills all of them with a single shot of his atomic ray?

This issue doesn't further the whole Rhizon/Karkaro dynamic, or even mention them at all. Surely we could've had a scene with them instead of Chavez taking two whole pages to say, essentially, "I'm scared."

I dunno, there's some honestly fun stuff in these past few issues (this issue's opening fight is great, despite my disappointment with its conclusion), but it just feels like everything so far has been build up, when we should be heading into payoff territory at this point. Even with the final issue being double length, I hope the grand climactic battle royale isn't held off until then.

[LSD Jellyfish]

As usual, spoilers.

...

I dunno, there's some honestly fun stuff in these past few issues (this issue's opening fight is great, despite my disappointment with its conclusion), but it just feels like everything so far has been build up, when we should be heading into payoff territory at this point. Even with the final issue being double length, I hope the grand climactic battle royale isn't held off until then.

Your comment actually described most of the problems I had with this issue that I kind of couldn't put words to before.
I don't think this is part of a downward trend, I thought issue 21 was amazing by having tons of monster action and a good amount of plot balanced very well.
I still disagree with the Gorosaurus thing though, he put up a great fight and would have one 1v1. The reason why the gargantuas are doing well is that they're a tag team. There were plenty of moments where the monsters were overpowered one on one but were saved by the other, this is significant when you're fighting multiple foes at once as it evens the playing field.

I am ticked off by the blandness of Godzillas ray. We've seen it enough already. They wouldn't have had an interesting combo kill with Godzilla and Spacegodzilla? I guess the idea is that he put all his energy into one breath so it's partially why he fainted. It's not like everyone involved isn't capable of coming up with creative moves and kills; we've seen jet jaguar drive Kiryu, godzilla use angurius as a giant mace, godzilla explode a volcanco and burn Biollante to death, you get the idea.

Honestly I suspected King Caeser would be freed this issue. Last issue they already hinted at King Caeser so it was weird to suddenly get exposition for him; those panels could have easily just been used to free King Caeser and no one would complain. Since they're devoting so much time to his rescue I wonder how important he'll actually be to the climax. They can't have him outshine godzilla but they can't have him do nothing.

I guess overall I just felt there was a lot of wasted space. The whole conversation between woods and . Looking to issue 21 it's also weird how suddenly the two are smiling and joking around: even though the last issue was considerably grim and involved their base being destroyed and many people they know getting killed. Even cutting a few of those panels could be devoted to giving more to the fight with the Spacepod. Also it's worth noting Spacepod appears on cover 23 but has just been killed off!

[Kaijusamurai]

Mildly ironic that we've been getting almost nothing but requests for more story and character development...and then the instant it happens, it's all OH GOD YAP YAP YAP GET BACK TO THE MONSTERS

Methinks we were right not to do the "no monsters" issue I mentioned before

Either way, I'm pretty darn sure issue 25 is gonna' deliver. I'm in the home stretch for 24 now (getting some inking help from Mostafa!)

[LSD Jellyfish]

Mildly ironic that we've been getting almost nothing but requests for more story and character development...and then the instant it happens, it's all OH GOD YAP YAP YAP GET BACK TO THE MONSTERS

Methinks we were right not to do the "no monsters" issue I mentioned before

Either way, I'm pretty darn sure issue 25 is gonna' deliver. I'm in the home stretch for 24 now (getting some inking help from Mostafa!)

Oh cool, you're here! The no monsters idea sounds really scary. And yeah I'm definitely looking foward to the next few issues. Don't take my negativity on my last post too seriously. I love ROE.

[TitanoGoji16]

I still disagree with the Gorosaurus thing though, he put up a great fight and would have one 1v1. The reason why the gargantuas are doing well is that they're a tag team. There were plenty of moments where the monsters were overpowered one on one but were saved by the other, this is significant when you're fighting multiple foes at once as it evens the playing field.

I get that the Gargantuas are a tag team, but they're a tag team of the two smallest kaiju in the comic.

Spoiler:

Gorosaurus didn't even get to kill one of the Trilopods he was fighting before he got defeated.

I am ticked off by the blandness of Godzillas ray. We've seen it enough already. They wouldn't have had an interesting combo kill with Godzilla and Spacegodzilla? I guess the idea is that he put all his energy into one breath so it's partially why he fainted. It's not like everyone involved isn't capable of coming up with creative moves and kills; we've seen jet jaguar drive Kiryu, godzilla use angurius as a giant mace, godzilla explode a volcanco and burn Biollante to death, you get the idea.

I mean, heck, at least do something like have SpaceGodzilla impale the Space Trilopod through the torso with a huge crystal, then have Godzilla blast the crystal, detonating it within the Trilopod. Or have Godzilla and SpaceGodzilla use their rays to supercharge the Trilopod's shoulder crystals until they overload and explode. Or something. Just something other than "Godzilla blasts the Trilopod." I mean, the Trilopod has SpaceGodzilla's powers - shouldn't it have had the crystal shield?

Honestly I suspected King Caeser would be freed this issue. Last issue they already hinted at King Caeser so it was weird to suddenly get exposition for him

And it was all the wrong exposition, too. The characters (well, aside from Lucy) should just be finding out about King Caesar, not "Oh yeah, that King Caesar guy we all know about? Yeah, he's in Okinawa." Maybe the Shobijin could be guiding Woods and/or Lucy (oh yeah, where the hell was Lucy in this issue?) to Okinawa and having dialogue similar to:

Lucy/Steve: "Why Okinawa?"

Shobijin: "You'll see."

You know, make it all mysterious and a total surprise when Caesar returns, instead of "WE ALL KNOW CAESAR IS A THING AND MUST GO GET HIM NOW." I mean, that still wouldn't answer how the Shobijin suddenly know he's alive again (even if hidden), but at least it'd be something.

Since they're devoting so much time to his rescue I wonder how important he'll actually be to the climax. They can't have him outshine godzilla but they can't have him do nothing.

And it's not just Caesar. We've got to deal with Jet Jaguar, all the other Earth kaiju, the Rhizon/Karkaro thing, do something with Lucy, Steve, Chavez, Kristina, Ando, etc., and presumably we're gonna get an epic final battle of some kind... Holy crap, guys. All this in three issues? I really don't want to doubt Chris, Matt, and Bobby, but after seeing how a couple previous arcs' endings have been handled...

I guess overall I just felt there was a lot of wasted space.

While not quite as bad, this is almost RULERS OF EARTH's equivalent of HISTORY'S GREATEST MONSTER's issue where Boxer spends the whole damn thing recapping the series to that old man in his car.

Issue 21 ends with Godzilla in trouble, captured by the enemy, while the human characters are trying to figure out what the hell's going on, realizing they need to find King Caesar. Issue 22 ends with... Godzilla in trouble, captured by the enemy, while the human characters are trying to figure out what the hell's going on, realizing they need to find King Caesar.

Why not just cut out all the middle stuff and have the Cryog ship land while Godzilla and SpaceGodzilla were still contained within the crystal prison? We could still have the Gorosaurus fight and maybe move the story along a bit better. Maybe we could've fit in some Rhizon/Karkaro interaction and a scene where the heroes are actually told who King Caesar is.

Also it's worth noting Spacepod appears on cover 23 but has just been killed off!

Wah wah waaah

Mildly ironic that we've been getting almost nothing but requests for more story and character development...and then the instant it happens, it's all OH GOD YAP YAP YAP GET BACK TO THE MONSTERS

This is the epic finale, where things should be getting absolutely crazy. Now isn't the time for character development.

In all seriousness though, Chavez's bit honestly does feel like it goes on a little too long, considering all he really says is "Shit looks bad." And I'm pretty sure wanting to see a scene of Rhizon and Karkaro, or wanting our heroes to actually be told who King Caesar is, counts as requesting more story.

[antovald20]

^^^^^ All good points. It feels like the ROE team bite more then they can handle with, so much ground to cover. Well we just gotta wait, and see if it all pays out. Oh! One other thing. . It's extremely disappointed that Lusy never really got a back story... she's just there. For some reason she likes giant monsters. .. the same giant monsters that almost destroyed the world. .... its so weird for her to just be a fan. I actually forgot she was in this comic as i was reading issue 21, 22. Its a shame she never really mattered.

[Godzillian]

Good issue to pile on that good old "we're screwed" vibe but a bit disappointed we didn't get anymore of the Monster Island battle.

[Mr. X]

I don't see why everyone is so upset Gorosaurus lost considering he was fighting the main antagonist/s. The Space and MegaPods were destroyed but that was only because of a team up between SpaceGodzilla and Godzilla. And Gorosaurus already killed some trilopods on the last issue.

I'm not upset by the battle, nor did I expect him to win, and honestly I don't think anyone should have expected that outcome. It just felt a little short to me, with the cliffhanger of the last issue and him being the focus of the cover on this issue, for him to be taken down in the first three and a half pages.

Mildly ironic that we've been getting almost nothing but requests for more story and character development...and then the instant it happens, it's all OH GOD YAP YAP YAP GET BACK TO THE MONSTERS

Methinks we were right not to do the "no monsters" issue I mentioned before

Its just the timing of it. Currently the world is basically ending - the invasion is in full swing, monsters all over the world are fighting for their lives... and now we finally go and focus in on the human side of the story. To me, this is essentially the one point in the story to not do that. Right before the invasion begins, or during a later period where the monsters have all been defeated or something and everything feels bleak and hopeless, sure. But in the middle of all the chaos...

[RaymondBurr]

Mildly ironic that we've been getting almost nothing but requests for more story and character development...and then the instant it happens, it's all OH GOD YAP YAP YAP GET BACK TO THE MONSTERS

Methinks we were right not to do the "no monsters" issue I mentioned before

Either way, I'm pretty darn sure issue 25 is gonna' deliver. I'm in the home stretch for 24 now (getting some inking help from Mostafa!)

Absolutely correct. I think readers might "self-report" that they want an all-human issue because they think that is a classy answer or something, but the reality is people are buying Godzilla comics to see Godzilla. "Character" issues work for all of the other IDW properties because even if you do, say, a no action all-character moments issue of Transformer or Ninja Turtles, well the comic still features the title characters and features them throughout the entirety of the issue. The non-monster cast of IDW's Godzilla books have the difficult job of making people care about them, which other properties, like Star Trek, already have built-in. And the truth is, as good as the human case in Godzilla:ROE may be, nobody cares as much about them as they care about Godzilla, Mothra, and Anguirus. Otherwise, the comic would be called Lucy & Woods: Monster Science Team and this discussion would be taking place on the Lucy & Woods message boards.

That's not to say that Godzilla himself, or Titanosaurus, or one of the other monsters couldn't have a character issue. In fact, Godzilla: Legends #1 was nearly just that for my main kaiju Anguirus! But, those issues require a lot of thought and care since the comics creators cannot include thought bubbles or much explicit emotion.

Keep up the great work, Matt. Every issue is a dream come true for this G-fan. You guys are awesome! Thank you for making great comics.

[daveblackeye15]

I certainly like the human characters in Rulers of the Earth, I was so happy we saw the kid return for a bit in the fourth volume from Kingdom of Monsters. I thought the issue had a good balance of monster action and characters. I love the characters from Half Century and I thought Hiroshi was well done in Cataclysm and the detective was alright from Gangsters.

They of course killed the one intersting character halfway through Ongoing which was the bomb expert hellbent on revenge against Kumonga for killing his husband on their wedding day. *sigh*

It's a juggling act you sadly can't have monster action for an hour and a half or you start to get bored, even I get bored from too much monster action. But you got to be able to tolerate the human characters at the very list. Look at the live action Transformers movies...no I don't want to freaking follow the high school love story. I want to see the robots. Transformers have a huge advantage beacause they can speak unlike the kaiju.

I re-watched all three 90s Gamera movies and they are great for balancing monster scenes with humans and giving everyone a personality.

[Mr. X]

I feel like I should clarify that my issue with this comic wasn't "ugh human parts who cares". I was actually for the idea of having an issue that focuses entirely on Lucy's team, as we never did see much of them beyond issue #5, and even that wasn't a lot. Would've definitely been neat to see, I'd be all for it.

With this entry, I did like seeing the human side of the story but I don't think this was an appropriate place for it. There's a lot going on right now; I think, unless the humans are directly involved with the action (piloting mechs, etc.), then their focus should be limited (see the previous two issues) until the action subsides a bit. We did just kind of leave off in the middle of the big Monster Island battle, I would've liked to have seen more of that before this.

[Pkmatrix]

Just finished #22! Good issue! I really enjoyed the interaction between Godzilla and Space Godzilla, you get a real sense that they see each other (or at least SG does) as archrivals. ^_^

[TitanoGoji16]

With this entry, I did like seeing the human side of the story but I don't think this was an appropriate place for it. There's a lot going on right now; I think, unless the humans are directly involved with the action (piloting mechs, etc.), then their focus should be limited (see the previous two issues) until the action subsides a bit. We did just kind of leave off in the middle of the big Monster Island battle, I would've liked to have seen more of that before this.

To put this another way, imagine if in Ghostbusters, when Ray and Winston had their "What if this IS the end of days?" moment... It was as the Staypuft Marshmallow Man was making his way towards the apartment building.

Doesn't exactly fit the scene, does it?

[LSD Jellyfish]

They also don't bother reflecting on the fact many of their friends and workers on monster island are dead. It's a complete tonal shift out of nowhere from the last issue.

[Godzillian]

They also don't bother reflecting on the fact many of their friends and workers on monster island are dead. It's a complete tonal shift out of nowhere from the last issue.

A lot of the people working on Monster Island like Woods are military so they probably can deal with losing them and not fall apart. Maybe they are even taking "mourn the dead after the aliens leave" attitude