Review – Godzilla: Oblivion #3 (IDW Publishing)

Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Joshua Fialkov
Artwork: Brian Churilla, Jay Fotos
Release Date: June 1st, 2016

Godzilla is a property that has really banked on monster fights, something that is utilized in motion pictures and television. That’s why I was so curious to read a Godzilla comic book, seeing the potential for Godzilla world building excited me. The first two issues of Godzilla: Oblivion haven’t exactly been that, but maybe this week’s issue can resolve that problem.

In issue #3 of Godzilla: Oblivion, we pick up where we left our scientists last month, who haven’t been put in an easy situation. They’ve gone back into their treacherous portal to bring back a weapon of some kind to fight King Ghidora, the monster that has been tearing apart the coast for weeks. But what they brought back wasn’t a particle or a gun, they’ve brought back Godzilla to fight the three-headed beast.

The first two issues of Godzilla: Oblivion have been very rushed in their storytelling, with a lot of running around yelling bad dialogue at each other just to further the story. Well, that problem is gone from this issue because this issue literally has no story. I’ve been staring at this keyboard for five minutes trying to figure out what to say about this book because it’s just so simplistic. The whole issue is literally just Godzilla fighting King Ghidora, with very minimal dialogue from the humans, which may be for the better.

The character designs have bothered me since issue #1, where there was a darker story being told with this very cartoony, kiddy coloring and design. It’s a style that’s a staple of the IDW comics and it may work for something like Ghostbusters International because it fits the tone of that book better, but for a Godzilla story it came off as tonally weird. That being said, I felt like the artwork actually fit this particular issue. The vibrant colors really lend themselves to the battle scenes here, so I want to praise Brian Churilla (artwork) and Jay Fotos (colors) for their work on this book. It’s not that their artwork was bad in the past issues, it just fits this particular issue better.

The structure of this book really mimics that of the classic Godzilla movies, where we have mild setup with scientists doing something stupid to unleash some monster unto the city, so then they have to enlist the help of the monster Godzilla to take it down. The entire issue is the monster fight as we cut back to scientists in front of monitors talking about the monsters and what it could mean for mankind, generic stuff like that. As homage to the old school Godzilla movies, it works. But for someone like me who looks for comic adaptations to expand the world, it was lacking. Sure, it’s just like the old movies and that’s cool, but it’s not 1954 anymore and I need something different. If I want to see Godzilla fight King Ghidora, I can just watch that movie again. Because of that, it renders this book kind of pointless.

What disappoints me so much is that early on in this series, I saw potential, and I keep seeing potential pop up here and there but the writing keeps shifting towards the old school movies instead of doing something new. If you’re someone like me who’s looking for something new, this will be a disappointment to you. That being said, if you’re an old school Godzilla fan that just wants to see Godzilla fight King Ghidora again, maybe you’ll dig this more than I did. If nothing else, this issue is a quick read. It’s basically all action panels, so you’ll flip right through that, but is it worth that $3.99 price tag? For me personally, no. But for those old school Godzilla fans, maybe.

Rating: 2/5.

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