Godzilla: Kingdom of the Monsters has been a mixed bag at best. It started out strong, took a dive at issue three, and started to improve at issue 6. I haven't reviewed all the issues, and I'm not going to go back and do it now, but now that we have a new writer on the series it seems like a good time to begin reviewing it. The first question is: can Jason Ciaramella improve on Eric Powell's uneven writing? The answer seems to be yes.
The issue starts out with an awesome narration about how human's time on Earth has finally come to an end. We get an awesome splash page of little girl standing in front of Mecha-Godzilla. Mecha-Godzilla is being controlled by Steven Woods(the only likable character in the series so far besides the little girl)who is trying to get a hang of the controls. I like that they show Woods trying to learn to pilot Mecha-Godzilla instead of having him just climb in and immediately kick ass. That doesn't mean that he doesn't kick ass, however. There's a pretty awesome battle with Anguirus here that kind of serves as a learning curve for Woods(if Woods just tried to take down Godzilla without any prior battles that would be ridiculous). The President gets word that Mecha-Godzilla is operational again and manages to get in contact with Woods. Woods talks about how Godzilla killed everything he loved and that now he wants to get even with the Big G. On one hand, I like that Woods has some personal stake in the matter of taking down Godzilla, but on the other hand, this hasn't really been mentioned before so it seems kind of weird to bring it up all of the sudden. I think its something the new writer wanted to do so he added it in, overall its a welcome character adjustment. At the end of the issue(SPOILERS)Mecha-Godzilla is about to face off with Godzilla in what appears to be a final showdown. I know some people prefer their comics to be fast paced, but I wish we had maybe one more issue of build-up until the big battle between Godzilla and Woods. Instead we get, "Godzilla destroyed everything I loved! Let's finish this!" without any build-up to the final confrontation. But some would argue that all 8 issues before this were build-up, so I'll let it slide. One more thing on the story, what happened to the creepy little psychic girls? The president's people mention that the monsters have stopped attacking Paris so I guess they moved on, but with the next issue looking a big final showdown, I have to wonder what's going to happen with them. Kumonga, the giant spider, has also been brushed aside ever since his appearance in issue 6. On a side note, I hope Ghidorah isn't down for the count, he's a great monster and that would be disappointing if we has defeated that quickly.
The art on this book is certainly not going to be enjoyed by most people. It's not at all realistic, but I don't really know how to describe it. Personally, I like the art, but it's a matter of personal preference. The monster battles have all looked really cool so I'm fine with the way it looks.
Overall, this is a great issue by the new Ciaramella. It really looks like he can turn this series around. Next issue is going to be an epic monster showdown!
8.5/10