GODZILLA IN HELL #4 - REACTION THREAD

[Mr. X]

This issue's coming out earlier than expected, but I'm not complaining! Hits on the 21st!



This one should prove interesting. Already is in that preview.

Full preview - http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2015 ... e-preview/

[LSD Jellyfish]

Wait is it out next week?

[Mr. X]

Wait is it out next week?

Aye, the 21st. Probably should've added that.

[LSD Jellyfish]

I looked over the panels. Cool? I'm a bit worried. It's not as colorful as the last issue (though that could change) and I'm not seeing anything hell specific. Barring ghidorah and Destroyah rani mating it's nothing we haven't seen yet. I'll still buy it, I'm always optimistic.

[Mr. X]

I looked over the panels. Cool? I'm a bit worried. It's not as colorful as the last issue (though that could change) and I'm not seeing anything hell specific. Barring ghidorah and Destroyah rani mating it's nothing we haven't seen yet. I'll still buy it, I'm always optimistic.

Eh, I think

Spoiler:

Ghidorah and Destoroyah rising from the "dead" is fairly hellish. They had clearly gotten their asses handed to them off-screen (off-panel?) yet simply rise back up as if nothing had happened. The eternal struggle.

My worry from this preview is that the issue will be nothing more than this never-ending fight. Fights are fun, I like fights, but I hope there's a bit more to the issue than that. Though, just because the issue starts with the fight already in full swing doesn't mean it's going to end that way, so this is a bit of a baseless concern.

I will say though, while the art is nothing special, it looks a hell of a lot better than the previous issue. I do quite like a few of the panels.

[GigaBowserG]

Fudge, no Showa Ghidorah! Foiled again. But glad to see GMK Godzilla (appropriately) tackling the terrors of hell.

[LSD Jellyfish]

Some of the detailing on GMK Godzilla looks really good. But this is by far the blandest looking washed out Destroyah we've gotten so far. Compare it to ROE Destroyah, cataclysm Destroyah and the zornow covers.

And as far as the hell thing the backgrounds don't match what I would really consider hell. If you weren't told its hell it could just be some battle from one of the other Godzilla comics.

I'm still hopeful, I'm not the type to completely dismiss something before I see the rest. I'm really interested in the "wall of flesh".

Edit: I've come to realize that my problems are not with the art itself but rather the coloring.

[kaijukurt]

Looks good.

[ebirahsmeg1]

I was very critical of preview panels of Moustafa's artwork (his cover just plain sucks tbh...Godzilla's head is so big that he looks like a bobblehead doll), but from these sneak peak panels posted on SciFi Japan, it looks a lot better than I anticipated...not on the level of Stokoe / Frank / Zornow / Eggleton / Watcher mind you, but serviceable. Nice to finally see a different version of Godzilla (GMK-Goji) instead of the 2002-03 Goji for the millionth time, but disappointed to see that despite Zornow's great cover, it's actually Heisei KG and not Showa KG (but at least it's not GMK-KG again)...

[Israha]

Hmm, it seems like this issue's depiction of Godzilla's hell is simply him facing his arch rival (Ghidorah) and ultimate foe (Destoroyah) at once. Not very creative, I gotta say...hope there are few surprises awaiting, otherwise I'd be dissapointed.

[g2vd]

While this may not be as different or creative as the previous ones, it makes sense for Godzilla as he is stuck in purgatory eternally forced to battle two of his most dangerous foes forever. and not even death can save him as he and his enemies always come back without even a moment to rest thus repeating the cycle again and the background is a destroyed city a perfect place to torment him in as a battle that will never end, it may not be as creative but the idea is soild.

Alright, I believe IDW is intentionally trolling us with Showa King Ghidorah.

[Showa Gyaos]

Somebody said that the artists can only use the newer Godzilla incarnations (Millennium series). I think that might be the reason why we have yet to see Showa King Ghidorah. Toho might want newer incarnations to be used as opposed to others.

[g2vd]

Somebody said that the artists can only use the newer Godzilla incarnations (Millennium series). I think that might be the reason why we have yet to see Showa King Ghidorah. Toho might want newer incarnations to be used as opposed to others.

http://www.monsterattackteam.com/featur ... interview/

Not yet. There’s plans, but we’ll see if that happens. There were also plans to use the Showa King Ghidorah. That was going to be a huge thing! Some people were a bit upset, the Mecha-King Ghidorah fight wasn’t very much of a presence. But, King Ghidorah in Kingdom of Monsters wasn’t much either. The plan is to eventually have the real one show up.

It seems like the staple Godzilla titles that you have in these issues are the Kiryu Godzilla or the 1992-1994 Godzilla. Is there something that Toho has said or something IDW has worked out with them where you are not allowed to show the Showa or GMK periods? Is there anything particular about their absence?

Not really, with Godzilla I don’t think anyone has ever thought the Showa Godzilla is threatening if that makes sense.

It makes sense, although the 1954 Godzilla is quite menacing.

Picture though how the 1954 Godzilla would look in Rulers of Earth right now? He would have to be drawn in that style and per our contract we can only use certain powers associated with certain monsters. Godzilla we would get away with because he has the Kiryu look and the Heisei look and the Heisei powers a little bit. Those have been used and we are fine with that, but I don’t see a Showa Goji with a nuclear pulse and conventions like that. At the same time we cannot have him magnetize and start attracting power lines or electrical towers and items like that, either.

(Laughs.)

One of the stipulations we have in the contract is as mentioned before is we cannot do origins but using a certain look has to be done in a different manner. So, a certain look has to adhere to certain qualities or standards to them (Toho). The Showa Mechagodzilla for example has to be alien in origin, which is why we were able to work it in finally into the story with an alien who shape shifts. They shape shift, they’re disguised as humans… and that took a little bit of convincing. They understood and approved that concept.

[Israha]

Showa Ghidorah appeared in ROE (although it was just a cameo), so they're allowed to use him. His time will come, hopefully...

[B34sT]

I really liked this issue. Unlike the other issues this one shows Godzilla suffering in Hell. The landscape may be more subtle but an atomic wasteland would probably be hell for many. I actually enjoyed the art more than others. Destoroyah has some issues in the art department but everything else is well detailed and the bland coloring gives is very fitting to the theme of despair in this issue.

Now for spoilers.

Spoiler:

I was truly surprised how far they were able to go this issue. Toho actually allowing Godzilla to be decapitated or having him be dropped on Tokyo Tower was shocking. I absolutely loved the concept of the wall that Godzilla could not destroy. It adds to the theme of despair where despite Godzilla's efforts he is unable to escape the nightmare of an eternal battle two of his strongest foes.

Very solid issue. It may not be as fantastical as the previous issues but I feel like this comic captures the hellish feeling the best.

[g2vd]

I really liked this issue. Unlike the other issues this one shows Godzilla suffering in Hell. The landscape may be more subtle but an atomic wasteland would probably be hell for many. I actually enjoyed the art more than others. Destoroyah has some issues in the art department but everything else is well detailed and the bland coloring gives is very fitting to the theme of despair in this issue.

Now for spoilers. ...

Very solid issue. It may not be as fantastical as the previous issues but I feel like this comic captures the hellish feeling the best.

Spoiler:

Would you believe this is only the second time he has been killed like that?
http://www.tohokingdom.com/comics/manga ... g_p150.htm

[LSD Jellyfish]

I really loved this issue despite my earlier complaints, I'll go in depth later!

[GigaBowserG]

Wasn't a huge fan of this one. The art was okay; seeing the up-close GMK Godzilla mugshots were a treat. But Destoroyah and King Ghidorah especially seemed to lack a lot of detail. At times, the way the panels were structured was also kind of confusing. But I did like the struggles Godzilla faced here, and how brute strength alone wouldn't carry him.

Probably the weakest in the series for me thus far. Hoping the next issue leaves more of an impression.

[Mr. X]

This is the second issue in a row that left me going "what the hell did I just read?" It was okay. Again, not nearly at the level of the first two issues.

This issue's depiction of Hell had something others were lacking - seeing Godzilla really "punished". Seeing him go through actual torment rather than just exploring and fighting. In previous issues, he just fought other kaiju like he would were he still alive (even the original kaiju from the first issue - strange as it was, constantly shape-shifting and getting larger, did not bring any harm to Godzilla and Godzilla was simply able to kill it). Here... well, they did a lot to each other, more than just the usual fighting. Got real brutal at times, I liked that much, though I wish we saw more of it.

For two of Godzilla's strongest foes, he was sure able to hold his own against them. It didn't feel like Ghidorah and Destoroyah were punishing and tormenting Godzilla, but rather that they were all tormenting each other. He did suffer some brutal blows, as I said earlier, but he still felt too strong. Would've much preferred to see him get his ass handed to him for the majority of the fight and ultimately "win" at the end.

Now, besides that "torment" angle, I didn't really care much for this depiction of Hell. It was just a walled-in Tokyo. Very boring and out of place for this series, it felt way too normal, even if the wall was impenetrable.

Didn't care much for Moustafa's art either. Mind you, this one was well above the previous issue's art, but suffered the same problems - lack of detail. Again it felt like the artist was rushed or something. Pretty much every shot of Destoroyah feels unfinished, especially his alternate forms. Ghidorah fared better, but still looked very awkward in some shots. He randomly gains and loses weight from panel-to-panel, sometimes looking pretty good but others looking a bit more like his "Egg" figure. Godzilla looked good but also had a lack of detail in some shots. Didn't like how he would start turning green from time-to-time at random. I also really wish the wall had more detail, by which I mean any detail at all. I didn't even realize it was a wall from the preview, wasn't sure what was happening there. The art was also just confusing in general at times, I couldn't tell what was happening sometimes.

I very much liked the ending, though. Sorta creepy, in a way.

Overall, this one was just okay. Nothing special. I don't know where I'd rank it in the series, but issues #1 and #2 were far above this one. I'm less worried for the next issue since it has a familiar face behind it again, so I'm hoping it fairs better than these last two (already know it will do better in the art department if it looks anything like Wachter's work in Cataclysm), but it can go either way.

[LSD Jellyfish]

Okay, my turn(later I'll respond to everyone, today's busy! Overall I enjoyed it!

Positives:
-This is by far Ghidorah's best portrayal in the entire IDW run so far. As Anthony Romero mentioned in his review this comic takes advantage of the fact that it is a comic and makes the best use of how Ghidorahs heads work. I've continually on this site called Ghidorah overrated as his heads often act in the exact same manner horribly missing the concept that he's three monsters instead of one. There's a lot of great panels where Godzilla would be engaging one Ghidorah head, like the center, and the other two would quickly counter. This is awesome. The fact that Ghidorah was also able to lift Godzilla into the air with just his two heads shows his strength. I also liked how Ghidorah continually used his biting attacks rather than having them blown off. Note also towards the end Ghidorah uses his tails to wrap around Godzilla in addition to his necks; this is also something we haven't seen barring 1991's poster. Ghidorah moved really wel through the issue swapping through flight, ground combat, melee attacks and beams. Best portrayal of Ghidorah so far. The only other part in the entire run where Ghidorah really stood out to me was a brief scene in cataclysm where he lifted Manda up with his feet.

-Dynamic Action. Oh god where to begin. A lot of action in this issue is super duper easy to follow and some of the most fluid in the IDW run barring a few very specific moments, that I'll address later. Great scenes include towards the beginning where Godzilla blasts Destroyah, with Ghidorah flying at him in the same panel. The very next panel is Godzilla tossing Ghidorah. It's really easy to imagine here and stuff like that continues later. For instance the part involving Ghidorah crashing through a building. It's very clear to see how Godzilla hides behind the building and then attacks Ghidorah. Continuing the dynamic action there's some really good minor details that impact the action. Towards the end there's some effective use of motion blur that hasn't been in the comic yet, awesome!

Godzilla: Godzilla looks really nice and he's well detailed. At first I was worried he had a big head but he looks fine. It's cool to see his GMK incarnation, beyond this we'll probably never see that again.

Zornows cover: it's beautiful!


Negatives:
-Destroyah's detailing:Destroyah looks great on the cover, great in ROE, great in cataclysm. Here he looks super super bland and dull. I think the way Ghidorah and Godzilla looks was good so it's a shame to see Destroyah like that.
-LET THEM FIGHT: A few more panels of Ghidorah vs Destroyah would have been nice

-Not Hell: Actually divided on this now. Minus a few small things this could have just been Tokyo. This has been mentioned before though so I don't want to beat a dead horse.

-"flesh wall": so throughout the issue the main conflict was really Godzilla trying to escape, not him beating Destroyah and Ghidorah. That's cool but the indestructible wall, for being important to the issue looked super bland. It would have been easy to make the whole issue more hellish of it was detailed with tons of horrible faces or eyes, kind of what was implied by the Zornow cover.