Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #2

More giant monsters begin making their appearances on the scene, with Rodan emerging in Moscow and Anguirus in Mexico. A distraught father arms himself in an attempt to get revenge on Godzilla, the president tries to figure out how to do anything to the monsters when nuclear weapons have proven to make them stronger, and the Texas governor builds a border wall to keep out the giant illegal immigrants.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Several things I was pretty fond of — the father’s misguided quest for revenge was pretty well-done, as was the Russian psycho kid’s comeuppance when it came to Rodan. But I do wish they’d gone with something other than the standard blowhard Texas cowboy stereotype for the Texas governor — considering that the president pictured in the comic is very clearly Obama, couldn’t they have used Texas’ own blowdried nincompoop? They wouldn’t even have had to change his dialogue…

American Vampire #14

Henry Preston has joined up with a crack military squad from the vampire-hunting Vassals of the Morning Star to clear out a nest of vampires on Taipan ahead of the American invasion forces. They don’t realize that Skinner Sweet is tagging along incognito — mostly to make sure he’ll get to kill them himself. Pearl confronts Agent Hobbes about what’s going on. And the squad finds out that what’s taken over Taipan isn’t something they were prepared to deal with.

Verdict: Thumbs up. It’s amazing how consistently awesome this series is. Lots of good character work, and Rafael Albuquerque’s art is, as always, amazingly fun.

Batman Inc. #5

This one was a bit all over the place for me. Everyone ends up on the Falklands, Batwoman kicks Scorpiana’s butt, there’s a guy who may or may not be a Nazi super-spy, there’s a guy called the Hood who’s another British version of Batman (and he may be working against the good guys), Batman and the Gaucho make nice, and at the end, there’s a from-outta-nowhere Batman from Central Africa.

Verdict: Thumbs down. I couldn’t keep track of everything going on, and it’s pretty rare that a Grant Morrison comic does that to me.

Today’s Cool Links:

• First of all, can I get a whoop-whoop for Bin Laden kicking the bucket? WHOOP-WHOOP!
• An excellent examination of the recent abortion revelations from Robert Kirkman’s “Invincible.”
• David Brothers ponders violence in crime comics, war comics, and superhero comics.
• Mike Sterling’s postmortem on his long-running Sluggo Saturdays includes the funniest sci-fi mashup of Nancy and Sluggo I’ve ever seen.
• Snell dredges up an old anti-comics polemic from the ’50s directed by the guy who directed “The Empire Strikes Back.”

Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #1

Holy cow, it’s Godzilla! Written by Goon creator Eric Powell! With a sweet Alex Ross cover! Do you even have to ask me to describe it beyond that?!

Okay, okay, it’s basically a reboot of the Godzilla legend, with the monster’s initial emergence in the modern day. When the Japanese government, desperate to stop its rampage, hits it with an atomic bomb, it not only survives, but acquires the ability to breathe nuclear fire. But though Godzilla may be a disaster for Japan, it’s certainly going to cause problems around the world, too…

Verdict: Thumbs up? Oh, yeah, thumbs up. Good giant monster action, with some nice dramatic touches and even a bit of comedy here and there. I’m disturbingly excited about this title — I don’t know if I’m just more of a Godzilla fan than I thought, or if I’m just jazzed about seeing Eric Powell put his stamp on the Big G.

American Vampire #13

A new storyarc for this series. American vampire Pearl Jones has been with her human husband Henry Preston for about 20 years — he’s getting older, and she’s still staying young. Henry’s joined the military, hoping to fight against the Axis powers in World War II, but he’s considered too old for combat, so he and Pearl (she’s serving as a nurse) are stationed in Hawaii. But Henry gets a visit from Agent Hobbes of the vampire-hunting Vassals of the Morning Star — he offers Henry a chance to serve the war effort by accompanying a squad of the organization’s soldiers on a visit to Taipan to wipe out nests of vampires in advance of the U.S. invasion forces. And unbeknownst to the rest of the squad, they’ve got someone following them — the original American vampire, Skinner Sweet.

Verdict: Thumbs up. The series starts its second year with a great beginning for a new story. Excellent dialogue, characterization, and intrigue. Not a whole lot of fanged monsters running around this time, but the excellent personality work for both Henry and Pearl makes this a solid winner.

Today’s Cool Links:

• This is both hilarious and horrifying. Of course I loved it.
• Kalinara writes about gender and competence in fantasy parodies.
• Here’s an awesome video for Jonathan Coulton’s great zombie tune “Re: Your Brains.”
• Getting close enough for Easter yet? Time to start being terrified of the Easter Bunny.

Okay, it’s Friday evening, and that means many things to many people. It’s the start of the weekend and… and… Well, okay, it’s the start of the weekend, and that’s all that really matters to most of us. But that alone is reason enough to celebrate with some FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!

So SpaceBooger wants all the fights to focus on kicks, stomps, and the like. That’s why he’s been calling this newest incarnation of Friday Night Fights “Feet of Fury.”

Well, I think I’ve just found the ultimate stomp. Sure, Shiang Chi, Master of Kung Fu may kick guys all over the place. Sure, Spider-Man and Batman are pretty good with nailing bad guys with well-aimed kicks. They can all do a lot of damage with those kicks.

But none of them can do this:

Godzilla, from September 1977’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters #2 by Doug Moench, Herb Trimpe, Frank Giacoia, and George Tuska, stomps Seattle to rubble without even trying.

Try to beat that with your lame crane stance, Karate Kid.