Three issues into writer Cullen Bunn's post apocalyptic Godzilla: Cataclysm, and the series is kicking it up a notch. There is enough mystery and monster action to make this an interesting read from start to finish. Art by Dave Watcher is also top notch, working to create a nice battle between two of the monsters.

For the story, Biollante has been destroyed and the camp begins to panic at the return of Godzilla. The two younger kids, Arata and Shiori, arrive and claim they witnessed the monsters battling first hand. They relate how the other monsters seemed to have been drawn to Biollante.

Now it's hard to talk about the story without giving a larger spoiler. Since I ended up leaving town and writing this review later, I'm going to dive in with full spoilers. So take this opportunity to stop reading if that's a concern. That said, the sample the boys took of Biollante in the previous comic has grown and the plant monster is being reborn. Her rebirth has drawn other kaiju to the area, as Megaguirus and the Meganulon arrive. Like the Kamacuras, the Meganulon begin to feast on Biollante's vines. Mothra emerges, saving everyone as she battles with Megaguirus. Backstory is also shown, revealing that Arata's grandfather worked as part of a program that tried to control Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah, Anguirus and Battra... although failed to control Godzilla and resulted in the Armageddon everyone is in today.

The story is a good step up from the previous issue, and the battle between Mothra and Megaguirus is nice to see since its not a match up we have witnessed before. The issue cements from the backstory that Godzilla is the monster to beat, and the cause of the devastation, but the angle and importance of Biollante is still a mystery. The exact relation of Arata's grandfather and the project that attempted to control the monsters is also, while heavily hinted at, still making for a good hook to keep reading.

As before, the art in the issue also excels. The red tinted flashback scene of a rampaging Godzilla is fantastic, as is the concept of a young Biollante being reborn. The attention to detail in both Megaguirus and Mothra, who comes across very fluid in the art, is appreciated as well. The human characters are spot on as well, and the issue is very consistent and from an art perspective the strongest of the three so far.

In terms of covers, the issue has two available. The first, by Watcher, is an okay shot of Godzilla looming above Arata's grandfather. The alternate is a battle shot of Godzilla and Megaguirus done by Bob Eggleton. We have seen better covers in this series, although neither this round is bad. The Eggleton version gets the edge, even despite the fact that it uses a version of Godzilla from Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000) rather than the Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003) design used in the story.

Overall, this issue was a huge step up from Godzilla: Cataclysm #2. It hits the right balance between the monster action and moving the story, while revealing more of the mystery to the current circumstance works wonders to hook the reader into where the story is going. Suffice to say, looking forward to the next issue.