Radiant Comics

Sickness hit me this week and I din’t get to go to the comic shop on Thursday. Maybe I’ll make it today. Meanwhile.

And now for a review of something I’ve read recently.

”Godzilla: The Half Century War” Issues 1-5 by James Stokoe

I’m actually writing this after reading issue number four. The fifth and final issues of this mini-series hasn’t even been published yet but from the first four I know that I like it. I don’t think I’ve payed much attention to Godzilla comics since the Herb Trimpe drawn Marvel Comics series from back in the late 1970s. The only reason I payed attention to this one is that someone on a comic book web sit was really excited that James Stokoe was doing a Godzilla comic. I had never heard of James Stokoe before then but it stuck with me and when I saw the comic at my local shop I liked the way it looked and bought it.

”Godzilla: The Half Century War” follows a Japanese soldier who is assigned to the squad that’s tasked with taking down Godzilla. The story takes place over that half century as our lead character ages without ever being able to take Godzilla out. The story is more about the soldier than Godzilla but the monster is still in it a lot wrecking all sorts of cities. Other monsters come and go and there is a human villain who is using science to direct Godzilla but the story is still the soldier’s. And it’s a well told tale.

The art work is also very good. Like I said I had never heard of James Stokoe before be he is a good cartoonist. His work here is very Manga influenced except Godzilla is a bit more illustrative than the human characters. He really goes all out to make Godzilla look powerful and draw all the scales that make up his skin. Stokoe’s Godzilla looks very much like the a guy in a Godzilla suit yet also very real. I’m not sure how he pulls that off but I like his Godzilla better than any other I’ve seen.

I’ve never been a huge Godzilla fan and I don’t even know all the names of the other monsters he was fighting in this comic but I’m sure there is stuff that a fan would catch that I didn’t. But that didn’t stop me from liking this comic one bit. If your a fan of Godzilla or a fan of comics this is a good series to pick up. Give it a read.