After a long wait, I can finally say reading Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong in its collected edtion is better than collecting the individual issues. As a seven issue comic book miniseries, waiting for the next chapter wasn’t my cup of tea. But with this collected release, the tale Brian Buccellato crafted makes more sense.
The idea to pit superheroes with kaijus and a mighty ape is really nothing new when I know about the Showa era films; Gojira fought them all, which includes King Caesar, a different furry beast, and Jet Jaguar, who was a superhero of sorts. However, the stakes aren’t quite the same in this comic book Elseworld where Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl and et al. meet the King of the Monsters and realise they can’t take him out.
I’m not as invested when the creators reveal everything is taking place in an alternate reality, and here, the “Death” of Superman (again) is hardly a shock. After his fall, it’s up to the Justice League to figure out why a Pacific Rim type rift has formed to invite the Monsterverse in. And that’s how this kaiju was brought to the DC universe! The Toymaker’s motives falls flat, and his importance seems to be thrown away in favour of focusing on what Lex Luthor has planned for the giant radioactive monster that’s invading his city.
Overall, while I like Christian Duce‘s visual narrative more than the actual story at hand. There’s quite the number of plot holes, and all I see is that the heroes are pretty much useless for much of the tale. All they can do is prevent further collateral damage than believe they can take out Godzilla! And I couldn’t help but be reminded of the Marvel Comics version, where the Avengers couldn’t do much to save New York City.
When Kong is in the title, it’s safe to say that somehow, he’ll be goaded to wrangle Godzilla home. The sixth chapter was a let-down because it seems Supergirl is having a hard time convincing the ape to help. It’s different from what Jia did in Legendary’s last film. Whether that’s good or bad, I’m not certain.
And as for Grodd and his kind trying to honour their self-proclaimed master, that story felt like it came out of nowhere. With only one issue remaining, I hope all the subplots see some closure. Honestly, I’m not impressed with Lex Luthor’s reinvention to bring Mechagodzilla to the fore. To see him involved in that, was a let down and I’ve seen better designs.
3 Stars out of 5
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