Doom-and-Gloom Nonsense

So, about a month after Pacific Rim was released and Godzilla's big show at San Diego Comic-Con, where do we stand?

Well, while a great and well-liked movie (it still enjoys a healthy 72% fresh Critical and 82% fresh Audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes), Pacific Rim has had mixed results at the box office.  In America, it's flopped theatrically:  according to Box Office Mojo, as of August 20 it has grossed merely $98.6 Million domestically on a $190 Million production budget.  Globally, though, it's been a smash and has drawn over $380 Million in total so far.  $100 Million of that is from China alone, which once again is demonstrating its importance as a market for Hollywood.

What's been fascinating (and somewhat frustrating) has been reading the reactions to all of this by the Japanese Daikaiju and Godzilla fandoms.

On the one hand, I understand why some have taken all this as a bad sign.  I, too, was very disappointed by how poorly Pacific Rim did in the US and Japan - in particular in Japan, where the mere $3 Million opening weekend was a real punch to the gut.  What I don't understand is extrapolating this result into wacky doom-and-gloom predictions like "Pacific Rim 'failed', so Legendary is going to cut support for Godzilla and won't market it" or "Pacific Rim bombing proves nobody likes Giant Monster movies anymore and the genre is dead."  Neither of these (or the plethora of other assertions I've seen) make any sense.

Firstly, even granting Hollywood Accounting, it's becoming harder and harder to think of Pacific Rim as having "failed" when it looks set to gross at least $400 Million worldwide on a $190 Million production budget.  It may not be the gargantuan hit we had hoped for, but it certainly didn't fail.  Legendary and Warner Brothers have made their money, and from here on out it's nothing but profit.  Besides, why would Legendary be discussing sequels if this didn't meet at least their margin for success?  The movie has been #1 at the box office in China for weeks (and was #1 at the global box office as well), it'd be foolish for Legendary not to make a second film to milk that.

Next, there's this baffling idea that Legendary or Warner Brothers is going to cut support for next year's Godzilla film over Pacific Rim's box office returns.  That...makes no sense.  For one, because the two are totally separate projects that are going to be marketed VERY differently from each other:  Pacific Rim was a new untested property banking on the popularity of Guillermo Del Toro and Giant Robots; Godzilla is a long-running franchise with an established fan base and global name recognition.  Yes, they didn't market Pacific Rim well enough in America to really help establish this new brand, but Godzilla is an existing brand and a household name.  It's going to inherently easier to market Godzilla and you can expect a much heavier ad campaign than we saw with Pacific Rim, not a weaker one.

Finally, this "Giant Monsters are finished" nonsense.  This really picked up following Pacific Rim bombing in Japan, and in my opinion sounds very much like people trying to interpret how the whole world feels through the lens of the Japanese.  Yes, Giant Monsters and Tokusatsu seem to have lost their popularity in Japan.  But, if Pacific Rim bombed in Japan and flopped in America does it mean a general shift away worldwide?  

Good Lord, of course not!

Firstly, the biggest reason Pacific Rim flopped in America was not because the film's subject matter was rejected, it was a one-two punch of marketing that played up the Giant Robot angle (which created the unfortunate impression of a Transformers rip-off) and pitting this new untested property up against an established big-name brand sequel:  Grown-Ups 2.  Subtract Grown-Ups 2 from that weekend, and Pacific Rim would have done significantly better.

I've also gotten the impression that people seem to think all recent big budget American Giant Monster films - Godzilla (1998), King Kong (2005), Cloverfield (2008), and Super 8 (2011) - as having all bombed.  That's just completely wrong.

• Super 8 grossed $127 Million in America and $259 Million total worldwide on a $50 Million budget, a clear success.
• Cloverfield grossed $80 Million in America and $170 Million total worldwide on a $25 Million budget, another clear success.
• King Kong grossed $218 Million in America and $550 Million total worldwide on a $207 Million budget.
• Even the much maligned Devlin & Emmerich version of Godzilla grossed $136 Million in America and $379 Million worldwide total on a $130 Million budget.  Hell, it was the 3rd Highest Grossing movie of 1998!

The most negative interpretation of this possible is that Giant Monster movies are "hit or miss", considering the two most recent movies were clear successes.

We, as a fandom, really need to stop with the doom-and-gloom, "The sky is falling!", nonsense.  The sky ISN'T falling.  It's just that Giant Monsters haven't blossomed into mainstream popularity as many had hoped.  Failing to do that doesn't constitute failure, though.  It merely just continues the status quo.

Monster Attack Team Returns!

The great fanzine Monster Attack Team is back!  The magazine is being relaunched by Famous Monsters magazine, and (finally!) is seeing a nationwide release.  You can read all about it over at Sci-Fi Japan or head over to the Captain Company's website to preorder!

MAT was always one of those things (like the Ultra Series or various non-Godzilla Toho films) that I read about in the pages of G-Fan as a kid back in the '90s but never actually managed to find.  It was always described as if it were "G-Fan, but better!", but as much as I always wanted a subscription I was just a little kid and couldn't convince my parents to buy one.  Now that it's back (and, to my shock, is shipping this month), I'm jumping at the chance to FINALLY read this storied 'zine.  Of course, I've already preordered the new issue.  ^_~

The Ages of Giant Monster Movies

Giant monster movies have been around long enough now that, like comic books or movies in general, they can be categorized into separate eras of films.  While I'm sure that there are other theories and breakdowns out there, here's my own personal interpretation:

Primordial Age of Giant Monster Movies (~1890 - 1952)

The Primordial Age represents the formative years of the giant monster movie as the genre first developed during the Silent and Golden Ages of Cinema.  The earliest expressions of the genre are found in early Dinosaur films, the most notable and important being 1925's The Lost World, which introduced many of the elements that would later typify giant monster flicks, and King Kong (1933), which took The Lost World's elements, refined them, and introduced the giant monster as a central figure of the story in the form of Kong himself.  The King Kong franchise has remained one of the most important in the genre from the beginning, serving (alongside Godzilla) as one of the main faces representing giant monsters as a whole.  It is also the longest running (in terms of years) in the genre, with at least one appearance of Kong in each era.

Golden Age of Giant Monster Movies (1953 - 1968)

The heyday of the giant monster movie, representing the period wherein most of the genre's classics were released, many of the most popular characters introduced, and when most of the major franchises began.  The Golden Age can be further broken down into two smaller eras, which together make up the whole Age:  the Western Golden Age and the Eastern Golden Age.


Western Golden Age of Giant Monster Movies (1953 - 1960)

The Pure Golden Age is the period when the giant monster movie first emerged as a popular genre in Western cinema and reached the height of its popularity in the West.  It begins with The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), a landmark and influential film that introduced the concept of the radioactive monster and firmly established Will O'Brien's protege, Ray Harryhausen, as the premier stop motion maestro of the era.  That film directly inspired the creation of two more, equally important and influential films the following year:  Them! and Gojira.  Them! was the first "big bug" film, a subgenre of giant monster movie wherein atomic tests cause the creation of giant mutant insect monsters which, of course, run amok.  Gojira, meanwhile, introduced the world to my personal favorite monster, Godzilla, and single-handedly created the Japanese special effects genre.

The height of the Pure Golden Age was 1957 and 1958, during which no less than 16 giant monster movies were released over the course of 24 months.  This included films as renowned (or infamous) as The Giant Claw, The Deadly Mantis, The Black Scorpion, 20 Million Miles to Earth, The Amazing Colossal Man, Varan the Unbelievable, Attack of the 50 ft. Woman, and The Blob.  Many of Pure Golden Age films approached the genre has a fusion of Horror and Science Fiction, giving many a unique (and, at times, rather dark) flavor compared to some of the more light-hearted films that followed.

Unfortunately, many of the films released in the late 1950s were lower budget and lower quality, resulting in a crash and burn of the genre in the West.  The transition from the 1950s to the 1960s saw a shift in tone and a shift in filmmakers' approaches toward the genre.  It also saw the center of gravity shift away from Hollywood and across the Pacific to Tokyo.

Eastern Golden Age of Giant Monster Movies (1961 - 1968)

While the output of Western giant monster movies dropped going into the 1960s, it simultaneously exploded in the East following the release of the highly popular film Mothra in 1961.  Unlike the American films of the 1950s (and the Japanese films that followed in their footsteps), Mothra approached the genre as a fusion of Science Fiction and Fantasy/Adventure - a dramatically different tone than '50s films, and as it turned out clicked immediately with Japanese audiences of the 1960s.  Toho Studios, the creators of both Mothra and Godzilla, quickly retooled the Godzilla franchise to match this lighter and more whimsical tone beginning with 1962's King Kong vs. Godzilla, which immediately became the most successful Godzilla film of all time.  The success of the Godzilla films and Toho's take on Science Fiction led to imitators, the first and most important being Daiei Studio's Giant Monster Gamera in 1965.  Gamera's success, on the coattails of Godzilla, caused what contemporary critics called the "Monster Boom" of mid-1960s Japan, spawning 10 films and at least three TV series between 1967 and 1968, introducing the world to Japan's most popular super hero:  Ultraman.

History, however, managed to repeat itself in the East and the flood of giant monster films caused the genre to start burning out in Japan.  The popularity of the Gamera and Ultraman franchises, which were aimed more toward a much younger audience than earlier films, by the late 1960s had begun to cause the already light-hearted Japanese films to become even more lighter and more geared toward children.  The expense of these films had also taken their toll:  Toho Studios decided to end the expensive Godzilla franchise with a finale film, 1968's Destroy All Monsters.  The surprise success of the film, however, convinced the studio to continue the series, but with the conscious decision to lower the budget and aim more directly for children.

This shift would completely alter the landscape of the genre, and thus with the end of Japan's "Monster Boom" came the end of the Golden Age.

Dark Age of Giant Monster Movies (1969 - 1983)

The Dark Age was the period during which the genre declined to its lowest point, and for a time seemed to nearly shrivel to nothing.

The early 1970s saw a continuation of trends that had emerged toward the end of the Asian Golden Age:  Japanese giant monster films, at this point almost exclusively represented by the Godzilla films, were reinvented as children's films and saw production values, writing, and budgets decline.  Stock footage became commonplace (in All Monster's Attack [1969] and Supermonster Gamera [1980]), it represented most of the film) and stories generally became formulaic, generally mimicking Ultraman plots (i.e. Alien Invaders attack Earth with giant monsters, our hero must fight and defeat them).  This continued until the general collapse of the Japanese film industry in the mid-1970s, which ended the Showa Godzilla series and temporarily halted the Showa Ultraman franchise in 1975 (with Ultraman only briefly resurrecting with 1980's Ultraman 80).  To the detriment of the Eastern form, these films are the most widely known and remembered in the West.

While the Eastern giant monster genre came crashing down, in the West the genre saw a small revival following the successes of 1975's Academy Award-winning Jaws and 1976's Academy Award-winning remake of King Kong.  While Jaws was not actually a giant monster movie, it spawned a series of "large Killer Animal" imitators that were popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s, such as The Food of the Gods (1976), The Crater Lake Monster (1977), and Alligator (1980).  Kong also spawned several imitators during the same period:  A*P*E and Queen Kong in 1976, The Might Peking Man in 1977.  Unlike the few American films of the Asian Golden Age or the preceding Japanese films of the early '70s, these films rejected the Fantasy and light-hearted elements, instead opting for darker Horror films.

By the mid-1980s the Japanese film industry had recovered while American interest in Killer Animal films had waned, with the last major American film of the period being 1982's Q - The Winged Serpent.

Silver Age of Giant Monster Movies (1984 - 2004)

The Silver Age began with the reboot of the Godzilla franchise in 1984's The Return of Godzilla, a film that followed the trends of the late Dark Age by returning to the franchise's more Sci-Fi/Horror roots while also upping the production quality to the highest the franchise had ever enjoyed.  The international success of the film reestablished Godzilla as the preeminent giant monster franchise, but also became the final Japanese giant monster film to see an American release for 15 years.  This split between the East and West caused the giant monster genre to weaken and, for at time, nearly disappear in the West despite a Renaissance occurring in the East.

In the West, the genre saw few entries past 1986's widely panned King Kong Lives, and by the 1980s had largely be relegated to the occasional low budget (often direct-to-video) creature feature:  1988's The Blob, 1990's Tremors (and its sequels), 1995's Mosquito, 1997's Anaconda, 1999's Lake Placid, and 2002's Eight Legged Freaks represent high points in the West during the Silver Age.  Jurassic Park (1993) and Anaconda would prove particularly influential, one representing a major shift in special effects techniques (replacing stop motion and puppet effects with much easier and cheaper Computer Generated Images) and the other spurring a revival of the Giant Killer Animal genre, which following 1997 rapidly produced dozens of poorly made low-budget direct-to-video giant monster movies.

In the East, the Godzilla series dominated the genre and represented the majority of films produced.  Following the massive success of 1992's Godzilla vs. Mothra, the series was retooled to be more Fantasy-oriented liked the 1960s films.  This proved incredibly popular and profitable, despite a drop in production value and quality.  In 1995, Toho Studios killed off Godzilla in Godzilla vs. Destroyah and handed the rights to the character to Tristar Pictures, which set to work producing an American remake of Gojira helmed by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich.  That film, 1998's Godzilla, proved to be a critical bomb and a disaster, hated by fans and audiences, forcing Tristar to cancel a planned sequel and Toho to prematurely revive the franchise in Japan with 1999's Godzilla 2000.

In the meantime, Daiei revived the Gamera franchise with 1995's Gamera: Guardian of the Universe to critical acclaim and popular success.  The Heisei Gamera trilogy went on to set the benchmark for Japanese special effects, and quickly became beloved as some of the best films in the genre.  Simultaneously, Toho released a trilogy of Mothra solo ventures which harkened back to the child-oriented and low-quality films of the early Dark Age.  On TV, Ultraman was revived with 1996's Ultraman Tiga and remains popular through to the present day.

With the exception of 2001's Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, directed by the Heisei Gamera trilogy's director, Shusuke Kaneko, the Godzilla films of the early 2000s were nowhere near as popular nor successful as the 1990s films.  The absolute bomb of Godzilla's 50th Anniversary film, Godzilla: Final Wars (2004), ended the revival of Japanese giant monster films and the end of the Silver Age.

Contemporary Age of Giant Monster Movies (2005 - Present)

The post-Godzilla: Final Wars period has seen a relative resurrection of giant monster movies in the West compared to the East.  Japan has produced few feature-length giant monster films since 2005, the big exceptions being 2006's Gamera the Brave, a failed reboot of the Gamera franchise that tried to harken back to the franchise's more child-friendly roots, and 2008's Monster X Strikes Back, an unsuccessful comedic sequel to 1967's The X from Outer Space.  Instead, the most prominent Eastern entries to the genre during this period have hailed from South Korea:  The Host (2006), Dragon Wars (2007) and Chaw (2009).  In the West, there have been several successful big budget giant monster movies:  2005's remake of King Kong by Academy Award-winning director Peter Jackson, 2008's 9/11 inspired Cloverfield, and 2011's Super 8.  Despite the success and positive reactions to these films, however, the balance of American films still remains firmly in the realm of cheap direct-to-video shlock.  The most prominent studio of such films is The Asylum, with films such as King of the Lost World (2005), Monster (2008), Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus (2009), Mega Piranha and Megashark vs. Crocosaurus in 2010, and Mega Python vs. Gatoroid (2011).  Also worth noting during this period are the works produced by shlock master Roger Corman:  Dinocroc (2004), Sharktopus (2010), and Dinocroc vs. Supergator (2010).

The most notable trend of the contemporary period has been near total rejection of practical effects, either animatronic or suitmation, in favor of all CGI effects work.  This trend has been universal from the genre's best entries to its worst, with the only exceptions being the few Japanese films and the Ultraman franchise, which continue to stubbornly press onward with traditional techniques.  The genre has, again, shifted back toward a more Horror-inspired tone, although a few few films have emphasized Science Fiction or Fantasy/Adventure instead.  Several of the genre's contemporary entries have received critical acclaim, at least in part rehabilitating the genre in the eyes of critics and move perceptions away from associations with shlock American films and early '70s Japanese films.

Looking into the future, the genre has two major shining stars upcoming over the next year:  2013's Pacific Rim, a giant monsters v. giant robots movie helmed by popular director Guillermo del Toro, and 2014's big budget Godzilla from Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros., a second attempt at an American Godzilla film (unrelated to the 1998 film) helmed by indie director Gareth Edwards and starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass), Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene), Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Academy Award-winner Juliette Binoche (The English Patient), and Academy Award-nominee Ken Watanabe (Inception).  The success or failure of these two films will very much shape the future of Giant Monster genre, leaving the future beyond it very much in flux.

Conclusion

So, this is the way I view the history of the genre.  Thoughts?  Do you think there's a better or more accurate way to describe the genre's history?  If so, please share in the comments!

Fantastic Dinosaurs of the Movies (1990)

Before I loved giant monster movies, I loved dinosaur movies.  It started when I was a little kid enamored with Don Bluth's The Land Before Time, and despite some interruptions (like most kids, I didn't have much of an attention span) I managed to stay fond of dinosaurs right up until the Summer of 1993 when I was treated to seeing Jurassic Park in theaters.  That clinched it, and from that point on I was dino-crazy!  I had dinosaur toys, dinosaur bedsheets, dinosaur pajamas, dinosaur magazines, books, and, of course, videos.  

I discovered Godzilla in early 1994 and that began my life-long fandom of giant monster movies, but my first introduction to the genre beyond the Godzilla series came through a little video my Dad picked up around 1995 titled Fantastic Dinosaurs of the Movies!  

With a cover like this, who could say no?

The tape was a compilation of old dinosaur and giant monster movie trailers, filled with oodles of awesome stuff and movies I'd never heard of.  I loved the tape and watched it over and over religiously, exposing me to a world of rampaging city-smashing beasts that my 9-year old mind had not yet fathomed.  Here was where I discovered the work of Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen, caught my first glimpse of Gorgo, and realized there was more fun to be had beyond the seemingly endless adventures of Godzilla and his cohorts.  They were all here:  The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), King Kong (1931), Rodan (1956), Gamera the Invincible (1965), and many more!  So many fond memories, and so many movies that, even today, I've yet to see.

It was released by GoodTimes Home Video (the same company that released Godzilla vs. Megalon on VHS, amongst others), which unfortunately shut down back in 2005.  If you've got kids, though, see if you can track this one down.  It kept me hooked for years and helped establish a love for these movies that's lasted almost two decades.  I highly recommend!  ^_^

What IS a Giant Monster?

A question I've seen debated again and again is over what, exactly, qualifies as a "giant" monster?  Is it only Godzilla-sized monsters?  Are Mighty Joe Young or Gwoemul from The Host (2006) too short?  Should Japanese Daikaiju be considered separate from Western giant monsters?  Where do dinosaurs or fantasy creatures stand?

I figured it was worth laying out my position on this issue.

In my opinion, if its abnormally large - usually, this means bigger than a truck - it's a giant monster.  However, that doesn't mean every movie that features a giant monster should be considered or listed as a giant monster movie.  Ghostbusters (1984) has the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, but I doubt anyone really considers that a giant monster movie.  Similarly, just because there's a large creature (or creatures!) running wild doesn't make it a giant monster movie either - I throw films like Jaws (1977), Jurassic Park (1993), and Primeval (2007) into this category, as they're more accurately classed as Killer Animal or Dinosaur pictures.  I still enjoy these movies, though, and a lot of times I'll sort of arbitrarily declare this or that film to be a giant monster movie irregardless of any logic.  ^_^()

Dinosaurs present a complicated case, because in my opinion they're sometimes giant monster movies, like The Valley of Gwangi (1968), but then sometimes they're not, like Jurassic Park.

So, if I boiled it down, what makes a giant monster movie a giant monster movie?

The assault on civilization.

One thing most giant monster movies share - from King Kong (1933) to Yonggary (1967) to Super 8 (2011) - is a conflict between the monster and society, often showcased by the monster attacking a city or being attacked by the Army (or both).  The thing about regular Monster movies or Dinosaur movies is that, almost always, the monster's target is a person or group of people.  In Jaws and The Beast (1996), the monster is more like the serial killer in a Slasher movie:  picking people off, one by one, terrorizing a community or small isolated group of people.  In Dinosaur movies, there are no targets at all - often, the story is about a group of characters trying to survive in a hostile environment (filled with man-eating beasts).  In a Giant Monster movie, however, the monster's target is civilization itself.  In Gojira (1954), The Beast from 20.000 Fathoms (1953), and Mothra (1961) the monsters sink ships and attack cities.  There's no keeping their existence secret.  In fact, there's more than one Giant Monster movie where the climax is the monster's reveal to the general public - most regular Monster movies never have that moment.  Instead, the heroes spend the movie trying to convince the authorities that the Monster exists, often without success, and in many films the authorities' role is to show up at the end to claim the bodies.  While the success rate of the police and military against giant monsters is, at best, unsatisfactory, they at least show up and get a chance to try.

I don't mean "Oh, a cop takes a shot but it does nothing."  I mean, a Giant Monster movie will devote a significant portion of the film - a scene, a sequence - to the authority figures acknowledging the threat, devising a plan, and acting on it in an effort to defeat the monster.  Hell, plenty of Giant Monster movies organize their plot around successive plans, each failing until the heroes finally devise one that works - Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) or Gamera the Invincible (1965) are examples of this.  This shifts the conflict of the film from "Hero v. Monster" to "Society v. Monster" - it's no longer about the hero, alone, struggling against the beast, instead it's now the hero and society itself, together, struggling to overcome the antagonist.

As I said, there are exceptions.  I consider Anaconda (1997) a Giant Monster movie, even though it fits none of the criteria above.  Why? 

'Cause I like it, that's why.  NYEH!  :p

My Dwindling Hope for Kingdom of Monsters

You might remember a while back when I posted reviews of the first three issues to the then-new comic book, Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters, from IDW.  Well, it's been a year since that series started and several months since it ended, and...well...


Let's just say, if you were following that series, things did not go anywhere near as well as I'd hoped.  Here are my thoughts on issues #4 through #12, which I think nicely documents my sunk feelings for this comic.

Godzilla:  Kingdom of Monsters #4

I decided to give this a 4 out of 5 (B+).

An improvement over KOM #3, focusing the story on just two plots (Sgt. Woods and Minette/Mallory/Battra), giving us some cool monster action, and providing us with another interesting character in Steven Woods. The first seven pages paint a really interesting picture with this character, who so far seems to be the most level-headed person presented thus far besides Ogden: a no-nonsense, moral, and honorable soldier, a fundamentally good but cynical person with a dark streak. I really like this character and hope he sticks around - if Mechagodzilla is presented like the '93 or Kiryu interpretations, I could easily see Woods be cast as the pilot. The beginning also goes a long way toward explaining why the series has focused so much on the social/political commentary: it seems the writers are establishing that the monsters are besieging a culturally decayed world completely incapable of dealing with this crisis due to its own ineptitude. As such, I suspect a lot of this series will be showing the world's transformation from this vapid and hollow society to a more competent one. 

The B story, continuing the Minette/Mallory/Battra storyline from last issue, was also good. After the bizarre and disturbing behavior the characters displayed last issue, it was refreshing to see them actually act like children - it seems they don't fully comprehend what they're doing and are treating it almost like a game, which actually makes their actions even more disturbing. 

The one real negative aspect here is that, after all the build-up, the fight between Godzilla and Anguirus was rather...underwhelming. Perhaps its the art style finally getting to me, but the fight was bland...yeah, emphasis was placed a bit more on Steven and what he was doing, but they could've come up with something a bit more exciting. I was also disappointed that Issue #4 didn't pick up from Issue #3's cliffhanger - I wanted to see more of the Shobijin! 

Ah well. A strong issue, IMO, and hopefully Issue #5 will give us some better action, as well as continue with Woods, Minette/Mallory, and the Shobijin.

Godzilla:  Kingdom of Monsters #5

It was tough to decide this, but I've decided to give this one a 3.5 out of 5 (B). I like the change in art style and the upping the ante on the action (Rodan is so cool, but so underutilized), but this issue has WAY too much going on. There's something like five storylines in this issue (Rodan/UN, Anguirus/the Survivors/the Military, the Family, Minette and Mallory, and Woods) and, as a result, we get little to no emphasis on anybody. Rodan and the attempts to stop him are cool, but what was the point of telling us what happened to Anguirus after the battle or of those two unnamed survivors? Just to give Ogden his cameo and let us know Girly Yaya is dead? I'll have to read KOM #6 first, but I suspect the Minette/Mallory/Battra stuff could've been included either last issue or next issue. Perhaps the one who gets shafted worst is Woods, who just suddenly reappears on the second-to-last page to meet the little girl. Where was he all this time? 

Had they focused on Woods, Rodan, and the family from Pasadena, I think I would've given this a 4 out of 5 (B+), but just...no. Too much happening equals a downgrade. And considering how much G&G improved with Issue #2, a B is particularly kind - those less forgiving will probably score this MUCH lower. 

Probably the only thing most everyone can agree on is that it's a nice break from routine to step away from the political jokes and the only real commentary is from the older couple toward the end. This issue sets up a Battra Imago v. Rodan fight in Paris for next issue, though, so I'm very much looking forward to that (and, hopefully, the Shobijin will finally reappear and be formally introduced).

Godzilla:  Kingdom of Monsters #6

I'm giving this a 1.5 out of 5 (D), but I want it made clear I'm being VERY VERY generous. This was BAD. The worst issue of the series, easily. If it wasn't clear in the rest of the review (or the fact that I waited a month to write this up), I've lost my patience with this series. I really honestly thought they were going somewhere with all of this, as disjointed as it was, but this issue proved me wrong...and that makes me both angry and disappointed. Angry, 'cause I fought so DAMN HARD to defend this thing, and disappointed 'cause where I thought they were going was SO MUCH MORE INTERESTING. UGH! 

The artwork wasn't really much off from Santos' previous work, though I didn't like the way Godzilla came out this issue. The plot is was really burns me up, though! Woods and the girl (I apologize, I can't remember her name and can't be bothered to check) have a decent storyline, pretty much what I expected following Issue #5. What pissed me off was the direction they took Ogden's character, throwing him the idiot ball, and how sloppily they introduced Mechagodzilla. It was stupid to an incredible degree. Really, after all that's happened, a GIANT ROBOT is the government's next idea? Ogden has no problem with that, not questioning it? For once, the idiot gallery the series has made the American public into is right, and it's made MORE absurd by the idea it takes only a month to build the damn thing! Don't get me started on Mt. Rushmore or the attack on Atlanta. Just don't. 

I'm going to continue to buy the series, at least hoping things pick up after this story arc ends. But, God, was that BAD.

Godzilla:  Kingdom of Monsters #7

*SIGH* I'm going with 2 out of 5 (D+). Honestly? I don't know why everyone is calling this an improvement over last issue, it's only marginally better and that's just because it doesn't have anywhere near as stupid a storyline as the Mechagodzilla plot last issue. I just don't care what's going on here anymore. Woods has stopped interesting me by virtue of him doing nothing, they've written out Ogden (Really? They're just going to gloss over the collapse of the US government?), and Minette/Mallory would be interesting if they hadn't been ignored since they arrived in Paris. Whereas last issue was stupid, this issue just feels LAZY as hell. Everything in the last two issues should've happened over the course of two issues each (except for the Minette/Mallory stuff, which should've happened in one issue a LONG time ago). 

You already lost my patience, comic, don't test me any further. >=(

Godzilla:  Kingdom of Monsters #8

Hm. After thinking about it, I think I'm going to give this a 2.5 out of 5 (C). On a second reading, it is an improvement over the last couple issues, but really not by very much. On the one hand, the comic has become more focused, switching between only Woods/Allie and Godzilla v. Ghidorah. For those who've been craving action, this one certainly delivers. Unfortunately, that's about all it delivers. 

Let's start with Woods and Allie: my Lord, they are BORING! It's just the same scene over and OVER again: we start in media res as Woods beats up some attackers, Woods explains to Allie why they attacked, they move along to stay away from monsters. It was kinda interesting in Issue #6 (though it was already continuing the idea from #5), but after three issues in a row with these two doing basically the same thing, I'm sick of it! At least it seems like the writers are too, 'cause they finally stuck Woods in Mechagodzilla (which they should've done sooner, and could've handled MUCH better). But, really, any hope I had for Woods as our hero is more or less gone now. He bores me! At least in Issue #4 he sparked by interest by being somewhat likable yet doing something heinous, now he's just dull. 

The other big plotline here was the fight, and boy was it dull too. Considering the fight takes up 10 pages, remarkably little happens in it. Seriously, the play by play is: beam attack, beam attack, tackle, beam attack, grapple, beam attack, nuclear pulse. That's it. This fight would take up, what, a minute or two of screentime in film? Even that long? It's an uninteresting fight, and if this is supposed to be the "finale" of this story arc it's one HELL of a let down. This may be more subjective, but I don't like the way either monster is drawn here either - the style actually reminds me a lot of that little mini-comic that came packed with the Trendmasters toys back in the day. To top it off, where are the backgrounds? It's either a orangey-whispy design (fire-illuminated smoke?) or just solid colors, with the only hint they're supposed to be fighting in a city being some crumbling buildings tossed in the corners in a few panels. How the hell do you set a fight in Washington and not use ANY of the landmarks? That there were TWO 2-page spreads, neither of which were at all necessary, just annoyed me. Those are two pages we could've used to make for a longer and more interesting fight! 

I'm going to make an effort to re-read all 8 issues so far and see if maybe this reads better as a single story than as individual issues (I'm kinda doubtful). Hopefully, with the creative team changing for Issue #9, things start to really improve.

Godzilla:  Kingdom of Monsters #9 and #10

Just read KOM #9 and #10, and thanks to Ciramella's writing there has been a noticeable improvement in the last couple issues. He's hampered by the mess the previous writers left him, but he's doing remarkably well considering. Santos, unfortunately, remains disappointing. 

I'm also somewhat mixed on this series ending in February. On the one hand, it's probably for the best: there's so large a plot snarl I can't think of much else to solve it beyond straight up saying, "Stop. Fast forward 5 years after this all settles," to work it out. At that point, you may as well do what IDW has decided and end the series anyway - whatever comes out of such a change would be effectively a completely different story. I hope that, whatever they come up with to replace KOM, at least retains the Battra twins, who I've always felt make great (if underutilized) villains. 

On the other hand, though, I think the comic is on a good path now and is improving. It's kind of a shame that they're pulling the plug. Ah well. 

PS: LOVE the Messina cover. ^_^

Godzilla:  Kingdom of Monsters #11

Finally picked up KOM #11. I finished it in, I kid you not, roughly 90 seconds. UGH. 

I really wanted to like this series, and I gave it PLENTY of chances (and second-chances, and THIRD-chances...), but I lost my patience with this nonsense around 6 months ago now. NOTHING HAPPENED. 

FOUR SPLASH PAGES. The only characters to appear at all were Minette and Mallory, and they do essentially nothing (which, if I recall, what little they DID do was just a repeat of last week). This issue did almost nothing to move the plot forward. As much as some people hated the socio-political commentary in the first half of KOM, at least the first half had a PLOT and CHARACTERS - their attempt to create a post-apocalyptic world in the second half has been an abysmal failure. 

Here's to hoping the next ongoing will be better.

Godzilla:  Kingdom of Monsters #12

That's IT?!!

After all of this nonsense, THAT is how they decide to end this?  No resolution, no real finale, just narration and shots of the world ruined?

UGH.

Final Score:  1 out of 5 (D-)

As much as I liked some of the earliest issues, this series spiraled so far down the drain in the end that now I don't think anything could have saved.  This was an unmitigated disaster of a comic book, but to IMMENSE shame by how much better Godzilla:  Gangsters & Goliaths and Godzilla Legends turned out to be.  IDW has proved it can produce better, so the terrible writing of this series is completely unforgivable.

Here's hoping the follow-up series is much more on par with their two mini-series and far superior than their first attempt at a Godzilla ongoing.

Ressurection!

Geez, I never intended to let this blog die so fast!  Sorry about that to all two of you who follow me.  ^_^()

With Summer rolling around again and Grad school coming to a (nearly) final end, I think it's time I start setting up a more consistent schedule for everything that I do.  To that end, you can expect some sort of update on this blog at least once a week, every week, from now on.  I've seen plenty of Giant Monster movies in the last few months that I've been dying to talk about, so you can expect a new review some time soon!

Again, sorry about letting this die.  Let's try to revive it, shall we?  ^_~