While opinions on this issue might vary, one thing is for sure that it's a bit of a disappointment after the ending of the previous comic as Duane Swierczynski more or less postpones the alien invasion in favor of a drawn out story on setting free Godzilla. Qualms with the pacing aside, Simon Gane comes out swinging this issue with a great effort from the artist.

In regards to the plot, the story begins with Boxer, Hikari and a badly shaken Harrison attempting to coarse a old man to drive them to free Godzilla, while the King of the Monsters is still trapped in the vortex from the issue before. Meanwhile, the world is being laid siege to a combined assault from SpaceGodzilla, Gigan, Hedorah and Monster X, the latter of which is fighting Mothra in New York.

After a riveting conclusion in Godzilla #8, this issue slams the pacing to an utter halt. Comic #9 feels padded, not having enough meat on its bones to support the issue. While the escapades with the old man are sometimes charming, the story feels very decompressed and the events could have been summarized in about a third of the page time with the same level of character development to boot (unless the old man returns in later issues). The space invasion angle is more or less put on hold save a few pages showing destruction, kind of mimicking the last issue but now making it feel drawn out. What's real tragic is that this would have been a great time to juxtapose the effort to free Godzilla with the battle between Mothra and Monster X, but alas that conflict is more or less put on pause right now.

In terms of the art, Simon Gane is really on his A game here. SpaceGodzilla once again looks fantastic with another winning splash screen of him attacking Big Ben in London (eat your heart out Gorgo). Gigan and Hedorah also look great, while the human art is also pretty consistent as well. Mothra also deserves mention, as Gane goes to a new level of detail by showing some of her fur which pays off. In an interesting note, Gane is also modeling his Godzilla more and more after the one seen in Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994), which is a nice change of pace after other recent appearances tended to hark more toward the Millennium era before this new ongoing started. Sadly, the colors here feel a bit rushed at times under Ronda Pattison's hand. The worst example was that he forgot to color Battra's wing during the Monster Island shot, making the monster hard to spot at all as it's painted green just like the tree background.

As for the covers, this issue has two fantastic options to choose from. The main cover is from Godzilla regular Bob Eggleton, whose work should be well known for the excellent covers he has done for the Dark Horse run for comics such as Godzilla King of the Monsters #10, and is stunning. While the angle of SpaceGodzilla's corona beam is a little odd, the two monsters look great otherwise and is one of the better covers of the ongoing thus far. The variant cover is by series regular Matt Frank, and is also one of his better pieces. Showing off the space assault team, with SpaceGodzilla in the center as he is flanked by Monster X, Hedorah and Gigan. Monster X in particular tends to stand out, with a great pose and stance. Either way, you can't go wrong with either cover on this one.

Overall, while not a bad issue, Swierczynski applies the brakes a bit too hard on the plot that leads to a dissapointing follow up to the previous comic. We will have to wait at least another issue for the full impact of the invasion to be touched on.