With just a few issues to go, Godzilla: Rulers of Earth #23 continues the Trilopods' invasion as humanity turns toward King Caesar as a savior. This issue largely focuses on the appearance of the Okinawa deity, featuring good artwork by Matt Frank and some additional story development from writer Chris Mowry.

In terms of the story, the issue opens with a flashback of the psychic twins Minette and Mallory in their youth. Together with their mom, they are attacked by a Kamacuras. Mothra arrives to save them and inadvertently kills their mom while assaulting the Kamacuras. Present day, the twins wake the fallen Battra, hoping to once more direct his fury toward the remnants of Mothra. This takes them to Okinawa where the Shobijin are helping to awake King Caesar. Battra assaults the group, attempting to destroy the humans and Shobijin, until King Caesar is awoken...

The comic gives some much needed backstory to the psychic twins, who have been shrouded in total mystery ever since they came onto the scene WAY back in Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #3. Their backstory does feel like shades of Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris (1999), but adds a nice air of tragedy to them and helps explain their hatred for Mothra. This is followed by a brief attempt to wake King Caesar until Battra arrives and the Okinawa deity emerges to face him.

This series has been excellent in the popcorn entertainment department, and this issue continues that trend. A few spoilers are contained here after, so please use this as a jump off point if its a concern. Now King Caesar comes off as a very formidable fighter in this issue. While his reflective eyes, seen on the cover, are never actually used in the comic, he does well against Battra showing both strength and agility like he has in the movies.

In terms of the art, the issue is good but not one of the better performances in the series. On the plus side, Matt Frank draws an incredible King Caesar. His face is very animated through out all of this and his eyes show a great deal of personality. On the flip side, Battra is drawn weaker here, which is odd as Frank has done an incredible Battra in issues past. In this comic he is drawn with a more chunky midsection and smaller wings than other appearances. Regardless, the issue as a whole has solid artwork, even if its at an A level versus the A+ level of some past comics in this run.

For the covers, the clear winner this time is the Matt Frank one that showcases Battra fighting King Caesar. While Battra was drawn weaker inside the comic, he looks awe inspiring on the cover. The dynamic action shot of both monsters locked in combat is great as well. The alternate cover is done by Jeff Zornow and shows a fallen Godzilla as a SpaceGodzilla fused Trilopod stands in the distance. It's a good image, although isn't exactly tied much with this comic as Godzilla is only on the final page in this issue.

Overall, there are better issues in the run, but it's nice to see King Caesar get a highlight issue like this and to see so much focus on an original confrontation with Battra. One thing to note is that the issue doesn't feel like it's wrapping up the climax, and with only a couple issues left it will be interesting to see how this whole thing comes to a resolution.