Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Godzilla In Hell #1
IDW Comics
Stokoe
James Stokoe writes and draws the opening issue to the "Godzilla In Hell" comic. For those that are familiar with Stokoe's art style may find this to be lacking from his previous Godzilla work or his underrated "Orc Stain." The comic contains no dialogue, which means the story is entirely up to the reader's interpretation of the art. I found this to be a very average comic book. Hopefully things will turn around in the next issue.
The book opens with Godzilla falling. He apparently lands in Hell somewhere. He walks around and finds some grizzly sights and eventually finds himself in a brawl with a mutated Godzilla. Things get ugly and the book ends without a cliffhanger.
There isn't much analysis on the plot. It appears Godzilla is being tested. It appears he's angry and willing to fight to the death in Hell. It also seems that he's drawn to walk in a certain direction. Perhaps he is wandering. It's difficult to tell.
The book is a disappointment because there is no set up to any of this. Even a paragraph to frame up how Godzilla died and what his focus is while in Hell would have helped. Let's say that he has no purpose in Hell then it could simply be, "Godzilla lost a battle and is doomed to spend an eternity fighting off monsters in Hell." Otherwise I'm left to question if this is a dream, is he looking for a way out, is he looking for the ruler of Hell to kick that guy's ass and on and on.
Stokoe's artwork stops well short of his usual ultra-detailed pencils with a crazy array of colors. Even his work on the other Godzilla book took painful details in the scales on Godzilla's back and shaded each of them just slightly differently. This comic book looks like a lot of other Godzilla books. It's cool, it's detailed, but it is not James Stokoe-like details. Perhaps the inks killed the detailing? Perhaps the colors were toned down on purpose? It's not clear but the presentation could have been so much more wonderful than it was. On the other hand, the several page battle in the comic is worth the price of admission. This is the highlight of the book and definitely is enhanced nicely with Stokoe's layouts.
"Godzilla In Hell" serves up a silent issue. Godzilla finds a creature to fight shortly after arriving in Hell. The comic doesn't provide too many details in the hows and whys but the battle is definitely something that is enjoyable. Stokoe provides some nice detailed pencil work and a decent, but limited color scheme. Rather than a lot of close-ups, we seem to get a bunch of distance shots that prevents the details from shining through. The comic is a decent read but nothing memorable. Give it a shot.
3 out of 5 Geek Goggles
