Note: Special thanks to IDW for providing this issue for review!
Horrors clash as Godzilla and the gigantic Yacumama are pit against one another in a battle for survival. While one half of G-Force USA attempts to save Godzilla, the other half sides with Lament and its plan to neutralize the monster that's threatened the world since 1954. Camaraderie is put to the test as certain revelations fracture the foundation of Jacen's world.
It's almost non-stop action from start to finish this issue, and my feelings are mixed. On one hand, it's nice to see a somewhat more traditional monster battle play out between Godzilla and Yacumama, even if the latter has quite the overwhelming advantage. The ideals of Riviera and Rumi finally come to a head, which largely resorts to being a shouting match between the two. Nuki and particularly Incense get a little bit of time to shine as their allegiance with their crazed commander is strained, opting to join sides with Jacen, Rumi and Jet Jaguar to save Godzilla over Riviera and Lament's plot to kill him. And, of course, kudos to Nikola and the rest of the team for some great paneling and the detailed, stylized artwork that's come to define the series so far.
...On the other hand, Yacumama is completely disposed of in this issue, and it's a shame how little development this creature received over the course of these issues. In all, it turned out to be nothing more than a simple minion of Lament, a mindless leech hell-bent on consuming Kai-Sei, with its giant form being a largely forgettable footnote. The various comics IDW has released so far have done a pretty decent job at introducing original monsters and having them shine as characters in some capacity, especially when they're able to go toe-to-toe with Godzilla himself. I suppose all this nuance was saved for Lament. It would spoil one of the big revelations in this issue, so I won't go over it here, but at least Lament has layers to her motivations in stopping Godzilla instead of just being another hungry beast.
Speaking of Godzilla, the great monster king once again finds himself on the ropes. Other than his brief battle against Kai-Killer X in issue 3 and Jet Jaguar in issue 4, Godzilla has been shown being bested left and right in the comic's present day. We have some flashbacks of when he's terrorizing humans and destroying their facilities, but it's hard to grasp just how strong he might be when he's not fighting outdated or ad-riddled giant mechs, his only true opponents being a leech and a G-Mutant capable of absorbing his Kai-Sei powers. I also still find it difficult to believe that a human, mutant or otherwise, is able to both willingly tank Godzilla's heat ray AND uppercut the monster from the underground to the surface in a single blow.
Lastly, other than Jacen and Rumi, the rest of the main human cast has been sorely lacking in character development. Nuki has been hinted as having a long, dark history working in the Deadzone, but she remains largely a mystery. Incense continues to try and belittle Jacen at every opportunity (one of his very few character traits outside of randomly streaming), but at least he shows he has a conscience when he decides to join Nuki in freeing Godzilla from Yacumama's grasp... Then there's Riviera, who spouts commands and swears at his subordinates with surface-level reasoning skills, unbefitting of a leader of his rank and experience. Definitely one of the more infuriating characters to come out of this series, but he at the very least looks like he might be turning a new leaf after Nuki is kidnapped by Yacumama.
Regardless, I'd be lying if I said the issue was a slog. Between the giant monster action and character motivations finally colliding, I flew through this issue and was glued to everything that was happening. A majority of my gripes come from knowing that issue 6 is essentially the "end" of this arc of the story, and it feels like there's still a lot left to tell but not enough time to tell it all. Still, I'm eager to read what the next installment has to offer, and what other sort of surprises may be waiting there. |
![Comic: Godzilla [Kai-Sei Era] #5](../images/comics/idw_godzilla_kaisei_05_cover_tn.jpg)
