This is it: the most interesting and beautifully conceived Godzilla tale in comics has reached its final chapter, and it’s a doozy.
Written and Illustrated by James Stokoe
Ota Murakami has fought Godzilla for fifty years. The decades have been hard on Ota, and he is seemingly no closer to his goal. Now, in the frozen wastes of Antarctica, the end of the world beckons. Ota and Ken gear up for a deadly final battle, and only one beast will be left standing at its end! This is the book you’ll be talking about for years! Don’t miss it!
Having started out as a bright young upstart eager to kick some monster butt, Ota is now an old man who feels a certain measure of respect for Godzilla. Having chased him all over the world and now, finally, to the icy plains of Antarctica, Ota may, finally, have the means to take down his monster foe. The weapon is Dimension Tide, and it creates black holes. That should do it, right?
As fun a ride as it has been, getting to this point, this story has probably always been a little stronger in terms of art than writing. Setting down five chapters, each ten years apart, is a challenge and a half, and while for the most part Stokoe has strung this story together admirably, there have been some moments where the long time span actually made the individual issues feel too compressed. Not so in this case: tracing a fairly straightforward chain of events, this issue puts Ota face to face with Godzilla for the last time, and is sure to keep their confrontation front and centre. The results are – you guessed it – epic, but also kind of sad and thought-provoking too.
Ota’s built up something of a Moby Dick-esque relationship with the monster, and the events of this issue show him beyond fear – but not beyond awe – as he confronts his lifelong nemesis. Despite the limited amount of time we’ve had to get to know Ota, and the flatness to his character for much of the proceedings up until now, there’s a genuine sense of pathos to this final showdown. Ota’s grown as a person, and has come to identify himself by his struggle, however inscrutable the force he’s had to deal with. The thoughtful attitude he demonstrates here nicely balances out his more pragmatic behavior in previous issues, hinting at – if not quite fleshing out – a sympathetic arc of development.
Visually, this issue is insane – even by Stokoe standards. The last few pages push past the limits of giant monster fun and put the story on a par with some kind of grand, mythological tale; the splash panels I’m referring to look more like the end of the world than the end of Godzilla. One of the things that has always set off Stokoe as a perfect fit for this story is his feel for scale – so many of his pages are dizzying, and have this gobsmacking sense of space and enormity to them – and these last pages are a perfect example of Stokoe created and exploiting mind-boggling spaces in order to craft a conclusion that’s impossible to forget.
As if the concluding events weren’t enough of a spectacle, Gigan and King Ghidorah are along for the ride for the duration of this issue, plus Mecha Godzilla, and it’s a delight just to see them all on the same page together. Stokoe draws such beautiful monsters that seeing his interpretation of the devastating daikaiju makes you wish he could draw a whole bunch of spin-offs featuring these guys. It’s the odd mix of copious, copious detail, and the general believability of the creatures within the context of Stokoe’s vivid world, that makes them so compelling; they’re hyperreal and extraordinary, and yet they retain something of the endearing rigidity of the man-in-a-rubber-suit creations that stand at the core of the Godzilla mythology. As I’ve said before, this comic has some aspects of homage without being overly derivative, and the myth that comes together at the end of it all still feels very much like Stokoe’s own – not least because he’s put such a novel visual signature on it.
Simply put, this is one masterfully executed final chapter to one epic story, and it’s kind of a sad thing to see it coming to an end, however spectacularly. Still, I think it’s pretty much guaranteed that we’ll be seeing Stokoe’s name on some similarly amazing titles soon. And for now, we have a tremendous title to recommend to all our monster-loving friends.
Final Verdict: 9.0 – The trade will knock your socks off and then possibly irradiate them.
