Godzilla in Hell. Let that idea sink in. Let it permeate every corner of your mind. Let it consume you, body and soul. Now you’re ready to see a behemoth from the dawn of the nuclear age barrel through Dante’s Circles of Hell with sheer force.
Story by: James Stokoe
Art by: James Stokoe
Publisher: IDW
Release Date: July 15, 2015
Price: $3.99
Each issue will be created by an entirely different creative team, consisting of faces old and new to the Godzilla franchise. Now if that’s not something you’re into then we can never be friends.
This is an entirely visual book, there’s a couple words near the beginning but they’re more a part of the world than your classic narration boxes. James Stokoe absolutely kills it on every single page, it actually makes me sad that he’s not doing the entire series. That’s not a knock against any of the other talented individuals who’re involved but just from an overwhelming desire for more art from Stokoe. (Maybe someday we’ll get more Orc Stain)
The issue wastes no time on what would surely have been a superfluous prologue, instead Stokoe opens the first page with Godzilla already free falling into the depths of hell. Excuse my words as they will never be able to fully convey how unbelievably RAD every page of this book is. After Godzilla’s legendary plumet he turns to see a massive stone crash behind him. Upon this towering slab of stone is inscribed “Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here.” This angers Godzilla, presumably because he can’t read and felt embarrassed, so he wrecks the shit out of it. It’s worth noting that we’re about as clued in as Godzilla is, the who, why and how are mysteries. Not that any of these questions ever need to be answered, issue #5 could end with Godzilla eating Satan and becoming King of Hell and I’d be 100% satisfied.
That’s just a taste of the first few pages, later Godzilla faces off against something that’ll remind people of that storm from Mad Max Road Fury, only with bodies instead of sand. Honestly it’s all fucking fantastic. It’s like reading an amazing fanfiction you created in your head while playing with action figures when you were 8, if you were raised on equal parts catholicism and Godzilla films.
5/5 – Torin
