Godzilla: The New Heroes

From Zombie Hideout, Springfield MA, on Free Comic Book Day, 2025.

Title: Godzilla: The New Heroes
Date: May, 2025
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Tim Seeley, Ethan S. Parker, Griffin Sheridan, Chris Gooch
Art: Nikola Cizmesija, Pablo Tunica, Oliver Ono
Colorist: Marissa Louise
Letterer: Brian Kolek
Editor: Jake Williams

IDW's Free Comic Book Day offering for 2025 soft-reboots their Godzilla universe, which is not the same universe as Legendary's Monsterverse, and actually ends up feeling an awful lot like Pacific Rim, with some elements of the Toho films.

There are three stories here, each previewing a new series. The flagship Godzilla title introduces G-Force USA, which immediately feels like more like a superhero team than a military/science operation, and only becomes more so with the addition of  "G-mutant" Jacen Braid. Also on the team is Jet Jaguar (from Godzilla Versus Megalon; I'm not sure if he's made previous comic appearances), who is inexplicably providing comic relief by (*checks notes*) speaking only in rhymes that are apparently set to the tune of its theme-song. Let's just say that I've met Etrigan, and you, sir, are no Etrigan.

Building on the mutation theme, the second story introduces the Dead Zone, an area of the Pacific Northwest that has been turned into a mutant-populated wasteland by kaiju attacks. We really just get a glimpse of the setting here, but if you just picture "mutant-populated wasteland" you've pretty much got it. A mysterious being called the Wanderer is shown battling a maybe T-Rex-sized kaiju, but we don't get too much beyond a basic peek.

The third feature is Starship Godzilla, but it really seems to be Starship Mechagodzilla, and it feels a bit like Guardians of the Galaxy with a heist in space and Mechagodzilla as the getaway vehicle.

I wanted to like this, but it all felt a bit off from what I think of as a Godzilla story, and while I commend IDW for trying some different directions, none of it felt all that original either. Everything felt too reliant on superhero-team tropes, space-opera tropes, and post-apocalyptic tropes. Just a lot of tropes here, and only five pages of actual Godzilla. I think there's potential for this to still come together, but this was not as strong a start as it could have been.

Rating: 4.5/10

Star Wars Forces of Destiny: Rose & Paige

The Kiddo got this one for Christmas. It was purchased at Merrymac Games and Comics in Merrimack NH.

Title: Star Wars Forces of Destiny: Rose & Paige
Date: January 2018
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Delilah S. Dawson
Artist: Nicoletta Baldari
Colorist: Nicoletta Baldari
Letterer: Tom B. Long
Editor: Bobby Curnow, Denton J. Tipton, Peter Adrian Behravesh
Cover: Nicoletta Baldari

This is an all-ages Star Wars one-shot featuring the Tico sisters before the events of The Last Jedi.

Faced with the task of gathering needed supplies on an uninhabited planet, and lacking equipment, Rose cobbles together wheeled vehicles to scout the planet's jungles. Resistance General Lazslo is skeptical, and Rose's own self-doubts are one of her biggest obstacles, but she goes ahead with her plan, and ends up having to save her sister from some unexpected danger.

This was one of the least violent Star Wars stories I've run across. Just Rose and Paige against nature and bad luck. The real conflict is Rose's struggle for her own self-confidence.

It's a bit more wordy than it really needs to be, and I would have liked to have seen a bit more focus on Paige, since she is the character that we know less about, but it still manages to be a charming adventure that feels fresh and different while still unmistakably Star Wars.

Nicoletta Baldari's artwork is wonderfully expressive, and a nice fit with this feel-good story.

Rating: 7.5/10

Star Wars Adventures #1

From last summer's purchases.

Title: Star Wars Adventures
Issue: 1
Date: September 2017
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Cavan Scott
Artist: Derek Charm, Jon Sommariva, Sean Parsons
Colorist: Charlie Kirchoff
Letterer: Tom B. Long
Editor: Bobby Curnow, Denton J. Tipton, Peter Adrian Behravesh
Cover: Jon Sommariva

The copy I got is the "RI-B" cover variant.

The opening chapters of two stories here, set in the Star Wars universe with an all-ages style.

First up is "Better the Devil You Know" featuring a pre-Force-Awakens Rey, living as a scavenger on Jakku and forced into a situation where she must save her Junkboss, Unkar Plutt from enemies or risk having him replaced by an even worse local mobster. I really loved the art style on this story, especially the cute and fierce interpretation of Rey, who is portrayed as confident and capable even while stuck in the bad situation has was in on Jakku,

The second story featured Emil Graf an explorer traveling through "Wild Space" with a small crew of odball companions. Emil doesn't get much to do in this story, as the bulk of it is a flashback to prequels-era Coruscant and an adventure involving a pickpocket who tries to steal from Obi Wan Kenobi.The flashback story was fun, and the framing sequences did a good job of introducing Emil and his crew with a nice sprinkling of humor.

In the end, I was more interested in reading more of Rey's story, but I did enjoy both.

Rating: 7.5/10

Magic: The Gathering #4

We're back in Shanghai, and I brought about 50 or so comics from the random box of unread comics in our storage unit to add to the supply we have here. This comic comes from that batch.

Title: Magic: The Gathering
Issue: 4
Date: March 2012
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Matt Forbeck
Artist: Martin Coccolo, Christian Duce
Colorist: J. Edwin Stevens, Baileigh Bolten
Letterer: Shawn Lee
Editor: Carol Guzman
Cover: Karl Kopinski

Hero isn't ready to fight villain. Villain threatens innocent townspeople. Hero bravely fights villain. Villain is winning. Help arrives for the hero in the nick of time.

I'm pretty sure I mentioned (in my review of the second issue) that this story feels very generic. (Note, I also reviewed #1 here; I apparently skipped #3, but that does not seem to have been a problem).

Unfortunately, with the big confrontation between reluctantly heroic planeswalker Dack Fayden, and evil planeswalker Sifa Grent taking up all of this issue, there really isn't a chance for much character development, or even to see more aspects of the Innistrad world beyond "generic gothic horror setting".

There was nothing terrible about this. The art was good. The use of a purple wash to convey "night" looked a bit odd but the visual storytelling was generally fine. There was some action and heroism, but in the end the story was just not all that special or memorable.

Rating: 5.5/10

Locke & Key: Alpha #1 (Newbury Comics Retailer Variant)

Third book in today's review marathon. Nine to go to finish the stack. Four more to get me back on track for one per day to finish the stack before we leave on Friday.

Title: Locke & Key: Alpha
Issue: #1
Date: August, 2013
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Joe Hill
Artist: Gabriel Rodriguez
Colorist: Jay Fotos
Letterer: Robbie Robbins
Editor: Chris Ryall

Newbury Comics retailer variant cover!

This is a big climactic battle, and, having not read much of what led up to this, I was a bit lost in terms of who everyone was. No fault of the comic's. It even provided a quick recap on the inside front cover. I would just point out that if you are new to Locke & Key, as I was, this is probably not the best jumping-in point, in spite of the "issue #1" on the front cover (which I am guessing is why I bought this in the first place).

All of that being said, this was an awesomely epic good vs. evil confrontation, featuring a really horrifying villain, a seemingly hopeless situation for the good guys, and a heroic final stand. It was fun, with plenty of gore and horror elements, all used very well.

I wasn't even too bothered by the villain's excessive talking about his plans for world domination when he should probably just have been getting on with making good on his threats to the captive heroes. The villain here is so obnoxious that it's worth it hearing some of his over-the-top soliloquizing, even if he's playing into a classic trope.

I need to go back and read some of what lead up to this.

Rating: 8/10

Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #729

From the random stack of unread comics.

Title: Walt Disney's Comics and Stories
Issue: #729
Date: March, 2016
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Bruno Sarda, Carl Barks, Daan Jippes, Frank Jonker
Artist: Franco Valussi, Daan Jippes, Freddy Milton
Colorist: Nea Aktina A. E., Digikore Studios, Nicole Seitler, Travis Seitler, Sanoma
Letterer: Nicole Seitler, Travis Seitler
Editor:Sarah Gaydos
Cover: Massimo Asaro, Mario Perrotta

Three stories here, all reprints from foreign Disney publications, with original publication dates ranging from 1990 to 2011.

Up first is the main story of the book, part of an ongoing series that has various Disney characters searching from a set of precious zodiac-related pendants. This is the ninth of the series, and the featured pendant is for the sign of Cancer.

Mickey Mouse has just about secured the pendant, but has been enlisted to help the brother of the pendant's owner, who is being stalked by an old nemesis from his days as a spy: a master of disguise known as the Chameleon. With help from Minnie, several suspects are identified, but as it turns out, there is more than one reason why a guest at the beach resort might want to disguise themself,

This was a bit predictable, but still reasonably entertaining.

The second story is a one-page gag strip featuring Gyro Gearloose having some confusion between a couple of machines he is servicing. Not much to this one.

Gyro also figures into the third story, which was just plain goofy (well, Donald, actually) fun. Donald arrived too late to ask Daisy out on a date; she's off to have a picnic lunch with Gladstone. But Donald is ready to disrupt the space/time continuum for the sake of having his date with Daisy, and Gyro's person-switching teleporter is just the thing he needs! Too bad Gladstone catches on quickly. This was a fun slapstick bit of teleporting mayhem.

Two pretty entertaining stories, and one that was okay for a quick laugh and only took up one page.

Rating: 6.5/10

Magic: The Gathering: Path of Vengeance #2

Today I found myself in Fall River MA and stopped in at Stillpoint Comics, Cards, & Games.

I picked up this MTG comic along with a few booster packs.

Title: Magic: The Gathering: Path of Vengeance
Issue: 2
Date: January, 2012
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Matt Forbeck
Artist: Martin Coccolo, Chris Evenhuis
Colorist: J. Edwin Stevens, Baileigh Bolten, Noris Sola
Letterer: Tom B. Long
Editor: Carlos Guzman
Cover: Ryan Pancoast

You know the drill. Bought it for the promo card (A lovely version of Voidmage Husher).

This is issue #2, but it may as well have been issue #1. The story was easy enough to figure out.

Planeswalker and thief Dack Fayden is being hunted down by the Rakdos Guild, while he himself is on the hunt for evil planeswalker Sifa Gent. The trail has led Dack back home to Ravnica, where his network of safehouses has apparently been compromised by, well, pretty much everyone.

Dack's old rival, Maytov, is injured in the mayhem that follows, and Dack spends a few pages musing on how he and Maytov first met while in the present, Dack has decided to get Maytov to a healer. Once there, Sifa's evil plan is figured out and it's up to Dack to not only get his revenge, but also possibly to save all of Ravnica.

This story moved the plot along without all that much actually happening. It spent a great deal of time telling, rather than showing, and the whole issue felt like a big infodump to set up the climactic battle. I do continue to like Dack as a character. He is thoughtful and fun. I also thought the flashback sequence had some good moments.

On a side note, couldn't they have come up with a more interesting name for the Mcguffin that starts this whole mess than the "Ancient Fang"?

Rating: 5/10

Magic: The Gathering: Theros #4

Last of my three recent purchases at Newbury Comics in Hyannis.

Title: Magic: The Gathering: Theros
Issue: 4
Date: January, 2014
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Jason Ciaramella
Artist: Chris Evenhuis
Colorist: Joana Lafuente
Letterer: Tom B. Long
Editor: Carlos Guzman
Cover: Anthony Francisco


So, the cover has gone pretty much full-on Infinity Gauntlet. Oh, and the promo card is Acquire. Which I totally bought this comic for.

This is the beginning of a new story arc. Dack Fayden is having nightmares. Unfortunately, as it turns out, these days in Theros, nightmares lead to sleepwalking, followed by sleepspellcasting, including sleepfireballing and other sleepmayhem.

Dack manages to stop a mage in the midst of most of the above, and she repays his kindness by conveniently infodumping.

And that is pretty much it. The new story has been set up, if perhaps a bit heavyhandedly. I did like the artwork on the people and scenery of Theros in this issue. The city setting provided a nice opportunity to showcase that.

Rating: 5.5/10

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic #9

I took the Kiddo to Newbury Comics in Hyannis recently. I was looking for a couple of the new Magic: The Gathering comics (one of those was reviewed here, the second is up for review sometime in the next few days), and I let him pick out one comic from the all-ages shelf. This was his choice.

Title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
Issue: 9
Date: July 2013
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Katie Cook
Artist: Andy Price
Colorist: Heather Breckel
Letterer: Neil Uyetake
Editor: Bobby Curnow

This is the Newbury Comics retailer variant cover for this comic.

Big Mac has to repair the gazebo at the apple farm, but he's run out of nails. So it's into town for a hardware store run. Unfortunately, it's festival day in town, and everyone wants something from him. There are also repeating encounters with a group of ponies who are trying to launch a large package of fireworks from a catapult.

The most amusing aspect of this story is that Mac's dialogue consists almost entirely of "yup" and "nope", no matter what manner of mayhem (and there is plenty!) that he gets recruited into. He does get a bit more internal monologue via the captions, but whenever he's talking to anyone else it's just "yup" or "nope".

There were also a lot of nice little bits of side dialogue that added some good laughs to the story, and a very amusing full-page map panel showing a bunch of quick adventures that added to the excitement (or exhaustion) of Mac's day.

I felt that this dragged in places, but part of that was from not knowing the minor characters very well. There were some good jokes, and the overall storyline of Mac being unable to get his simple errand done was effective.

The kiddo enjoyed the parts involving things blowing up.

Rating: 6/10

Magic: The Gathering: Theros #3

Back to Newbury Comics in Hyannis tonight with the Kiddo. Picked up two more MTG comics for me (for the promo cards!), and a comic for the Kiddo. Here is the first of those reviews.

Title: Magic: The Gathering: Theros
Issue: 3
Date: December, 2013
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Jason Ciaramella
Artist: Martin Coccolo, Chris Evenhuis
Colorist: Joana Lafuente
Letterer: Tom B. Long
Editor: Carlos Guzman
Cover: Volkan Baga

This wrapped up the storyline, which came as a surprise to me, since I bought the fourth issue at the same time as I bought this one. I'm not sure how many issues this is scheduled to run.

Promo card was Wash Out. Yes, I bought this for the promo card. But you knew that.

So, Dack Fayden has assembled the two pieces of his mysterious artifact and it's, well actually it bears a rather striking resemblance to the Infinity Gauntlet. A Gauntlet of Might or Gauntlet of Power, maybe? The Gauntlet of Power makes more sense since it seems to boost Dack's blue magic.

We start things off in the midst of last issue's kraken-unleashing, and there is some degree of mayhem until Dack goes all Infinity Gauntlet on the Kraken's posterior region. There is a gorgeous two-page spread of the kraken battle, but the rest of the action was rather stale with the Kraken mostly just looming there without really doing all that much.

Then we get some annoyingly vague backstory on Captain Vog and all of a sudden we are epiloguing. That felt way too quick.

Which is how I will keep this review.

Rating: 5/10

Magic: The Gathering: Theros #2

Bought this one tonight at Newbury Comics at the Independence Mall in Kingston MA. And yes, bought it for the promo card (which was a nice version of Gaze of Granite).

Title: Magic: The Gathering: Theros
Issue: 2
Date: November, 2013
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Jason Ciaramella
Artist: Martin Coccolo
Colorist: Joana Lafuente
Letterer: Tom B. Long
Editor: Carlos Guzman
Cover: Dan Scott

This goes a long way toward fixing the problems of the first issue. In fact, it is perfectly possible to start the series here. As it turns out, there was nothing in issue #1 that couldn't be summarized.

I love the fact that planeswalker Dack Fayden turns out to be prone to seasickness. Please let them remember this in future continuity!

After spending a voyage leaning over the lee rail, Fayden arrives at a mysterious island which houses part of an artifact that he is seeking. He slings spells at a gorgon and some sort of sorceress and manages to make his escape with the goods.

The villains then proceed to the unleashing-the-kraken portion of our adventure.

This was fun and well-paced, with some good character development sprinkled in.

Rating: 7/10

Magic: The Gathering: Theros #1

Before I get to the review, here are a couple pics of the box I decorated for my son today to hold his fledgeling comic book collection:

When I bought the latest two comics for my son, I also picked up two comics for me. This is the first of those.


Title: Magic: The Gathering: Theros
Issue: 1
Date: October 2013
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Jason Ciaramella
Artist: Martin Coccolo
Colorist: Joana Lafuente
Letterer: Robbie Robbins
Editor: Carlos Guzman
Cover: Eric Deschamps

Once again, only bought this for the promo card, (which was an absolutely awesome version of High Tide, using the regular cover art from the comic).

So, Dirk Fayden (thief and planeswalker extraordinaire) has returned to Ravnica for a comic book based on the Magic: the Gathering set Return To Ravnica Theros. Okay, actually, Dirk does get to Theros eventually, but we start with him returning to Ravnica after having just prevented a new Guild War from breaking out.

His new mission: To steal a gem that could cause a new Guild War to break out.

Really? Does anything ever happen on Ravnica besides Guild War near-misses?

Anyway, Dirk's brilliant plan is to sneak past the angels guarding Sunhome, the Boros Legion headquarters. When that doesn't work, he tries brawling with the angels. With predictable results.

He does manage to grab a bit of a consolation prize while beating a hasty retreat, and it turns out to be a magical artifact in its own right. This is what leads him to Theros, where he gets into a street brawl, meets a hero-worshiping kid (or perhaps just a sneaky one), and attempts to hire a ship.

For all that goes on here, it really didn't feel like all that much happened. Theros is presented beautifully in terms of the visuals, but we get almost no sense of its culture. It's a fantasy world where an adventurer walking down the street gets into a brawl. Pretty generic.

In generally, this issue was visually impressive, but didn't deliver much in terms of story.

That promotional version High Tide was quite lovely, though.

Rating: 4.5/10

My Little Pony Micro Series #6

Things have been busy with the day job lately, so I haven't had a chance to read or review very much.

One new development, though, is that my son (age 5) has started to show an interest in comics. So lately there have been a few occasions where we've been at a comic shop and he's asked me to buy him one. I let him pick what he wants from among the kids' comics I'm going to feature those for  next few reviews.

I'll start with what could be my (and his!) official first step toward becoming a brony.

Title: My Little Pony Micro Series
Issue: 6
Date: July 2013
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Bobby Curnow, Brenda Hickey
Artist: Brenda Hickey
Colorist: Heather Breckel
Letterer: Neil Uyetake
Editor: Bobby Curnow

It's time to get ready for Hearth's Warming Eve, and Applejack is determined to make this the best holiday ever. And we all know that making a holiday the best holiday ever is something that seldom ends well.

Sure enough, among all of the apple sorting, apple peeling, apple coring, apple baking, apple mashing, and apple... um... is "cidering" a word? Anyway, suffice it to say there is a lot of work to be done mostly involving apples. And that is a problem, because some strange and mysterious creature is replacing all of the apples with squashes.

That's right, it's the dreaded Sass Squash. No, I'm not making that up. Sass Squash.

Applejack becomes obsessed with catching the Sass Squash, and she's going to do it with no help from anyone because this is going to be the best Hearth's Warming Eve ever! Yeah, that is not likely to end well either. Hopefully the other ponies can keep Applejack from going, well, out of her gourd. (Sorry. I'll stop now. Don't squash me. Okay, really stopping now.)

The slapstick bits were silly and obvious, but the plot had enough twists to keep it interesting, and this was my first look at the MLP world, which is fun and well thought out with just the littlest hints of pagan flavor to it.

This issue had the Newbury Comics retailer exclusive variant cover.

Fun story, if somewhat predictable.

Rating: 6/10

Magic: The Gathering #2

Title: Magic: The Gathering
Issue: 2
Date: January 2012
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Matt Forbeck
Artist: Martin Coccolo, Christian Duce
Colorist: J. Edwin Stevens, Baileigh Bolten, J.S. Holt
Letterer: Shawn Lee
Editor: Carol Guzman, John Barber
Cover: Karl Kopinski

Promo card for this issue is Faithless Looting. And yes, I'm still buying this series for the promo cards.

Planeswalker Dack Fayden planeswalks (as opposed to plainswalking, which also happens in MTG, but is something entirely different) into the middle of a fight between two Cathars and a pack of hungry vampires.

Wait, correction. Make that one cathar. The vampires made rather quick work of one of the two. The remaining one seems to have entered the fight thinking she was Buffy, but is now starting to feel more like another famous blonde: General Custer. Fortunately, Dack arrives and proceeds to set the tavern where this all takes place on fire. Who does he think he is? Jaya Ballard?

Mayhem follows, then a fast getaway, then a bunch of infodump. We're on Innistrad now. If you don't play MTG (but you do play D&D) , just think Ravenloft and you get the idea. Everyone else just think Transylvania. Vampires can fly here, a fact that Dack finds inconvenient. Fortunately, last issue's maguffin proves to be made of garlic or something because the lead vampire wants nothing to do with that.

Infodump continues pack at the home of Ingrid the Cathar, and the ending of the story essentially serves to introduce the villain.

This story isn't bad. Actually quite a bit of it was fun. But it was also incredibly generic. I'm hoping to see the story move in some more interesting directions now that the preliminaries have been dispensed with.

Rating: 6/10

Magic: The Gathering #1

This had a mainstream national release this week, but I did buy my copy from one of the Templecon vendors.

Title: Magic: The Gathering
Issue: 1
Date: December, 2011
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Matt Forbeck
Artist: Martin Coccolo
Colorist: J. Edwin Stevens
Letterer: Shawn Lee
Editor: Carol Guzman, John Barber
Cover: Aleksi Briclot

Okay, fine. I admit it. I bought this for the promo card. I would guess I'm probably not the only one.

Magic: The Gathering has been failing to translate well into comic form since around the release of Ice Age. This is the latest attempt, with the offer spiced up by the addition of an alternate art promo card (in this case, the card is Treasure Hunt, and the artwork on the card is the cover art for the comic).

The lead character here is Dack Fayden, a roguish planeswalker, who seems to be in some sort of trouble pretty much everywhere he goes. In this sense, Dack is a fairly generic loveable rogue, and much of the book is spent with him on the run from various enemies including Ravnica's cult of Rakdos, from whom Dack has just stolen an artifact.

Stealing artifacts is Dack's business, as it turns out, although he describes it as stealing spells. And Dack discovers that this particular artifact holds a link to his own past, and the first clue on a mission of vengeance that Dack had once followed until the trail went cold. Now, the new clue is leading him to (wait for it...) Innistrad.

The story was fast paced, and there were enough hints of depth to Dack that I was left with hope that he might be more than the cliche that is mostly evident here. I was pleased that writer Matt Forbeck generally kept game mechanics out of the story, as there are few things dumber than a game-based comic getting bogged down in game-mechanics references.

The artwork is good mechanically, but the choice to keep everything dark and on multiple pages to use a red wash over everything does more to obscure the art than to enhance the mood.

Overall, this was a reasonable start, and it is possible that a good story can be built out of this.

And the promo card is nice.

Rating: 5.5/10

Transformers: Movie Prequel Free Comic Book Day Edition

Back to the Free Comic Book Day stack. This is another Free Comic Book Day promo from a previous year that I picked up this year as a bonus giveaway.

Title: Transformers: Movie Prequel Free Comic Book Day Edition
Date: 2007
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Chris Ryall, Simon Furman
Artist: Don Figueroa
Colorist: Josh Burcham
Letterer: Robbie Robbins
Editor: Chris Ryall

"*All dialogue (inner and outer) translated from the Cybertronian - Optimal Ed." Ha! Nice nod to Marvel on the first page.

And now, a disclaimer. I'm not a Transformers guy. I was just a bit too old to be into the toys when they came out (although I owned a few of the early transforming Shogun Warriors toys that were the predecessors of the Transformers). I was still watching a few cartoon shows at that point, but my TV routine didn't include Transformers. Maybe it was just on at a bad time. I watched G.I. Joe, although I tended to mock it. I took Robotech a lot more seriously. But I don't think I ever even sat through a full episode of Transformers.

So I'm probably not the target audience here.

The book takes place on Cybertron, some unspecified length of time before Megan Fox started running away from explosions in slow motion. This story sets up the background and the motivation for the events of the Transformers film.

See there's this thingee called the Allspark. It's sorta like a combination of God, the Force, and the One Ring. Megatron and the Decepticons are fighting a war against the Autobots in an attempt to seize the Allspark. Optimus Prime has hidden the Allspark in an obscure location while he tries to decoy the bad guys.

Most of the tension in this comes from the fact that only the leader of the badly outnumbered band of good robots who are the focus of the action actually realizes that they are, in fact, guarding the real location of the McGuffinspark.

The story take itself very seriously. Megatron has a Lucifer vibe as the former "Lord Protector" who co-ruled with Optimus prime before he turned heel.

The story isn't anything all that original, but it's effective.

What is not effective is the artwork. See the disclaimer. Maybe I'm just not used to dealing with these more-than-meets-the-eye types, but I had a really hard time telling who the heck anyone was or what was going on during most of the fight scenes.

Now I understand that if I pick up an issue of say, X-men, in the middle of some monster crossover event (say, Fall of the Mutants) that the random issue is not going to make it easy for me as a new reader to figure out a complex storyline with a huge cast at whatever point I decide to jump in.

But folks, this is a Free Comic Book Day giveaway. It is supposed to be written for the purpose of bringing new fans on board. I don't need my hand held, but could we at least make it so I can tell which robot is a good robot and which robot is a bad robot?

Rating: 5.5/10

Locke & Key: Free Comic Book Day Edition

Title: Locke & Key: Free Comic Book Day Edition
Date: 2011
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Joe Hill
Artist: Gabriel Rodriguez
Colorist: Jay Fotos
Letterer: Robbie Robbins
Editor: Chris Ryall

Three kids have become the guardians of the Keyhouse, whose keys can unlock all manner of powers and secrets. Opposing them is an evil wizard-type named Dodge, who animates the shadows of the house and sends them to attack the kids.

This issue is essentially a single fight scene, but it's a really good one that flows logically and keeps up the intensity. The characters are introduced mostly through their actions and some dialogue and we get a fairly good sense of them. It was enough to interest me in seeing more.

The art by Gabriel Rodriguez is spectacular, especially on the shadow creatures, which come off as very menacing. This was a good sample of the story and a really fun series of scenes that definitely will have me on the lookout for more Locke & Key stories.

Excellent example of what a Free Comic Book Day promo should be.

Rating: 8/10

Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #2

I was at a writers group meeting at the Independence Mall in Kingston MA and picked this up at the Newbury Comics store there.

Title: Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters
Issue: #2
Date: 2011
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Eric Powell, Tracy Marsh
Penciler: Phil Hester
Inker: Bruce McCorkindale
Colorist: Ronda Pattison
Letterer: Chris Mowry
Editor: Chris Ryall

Anguiras and Rodan get added to the mix as Godzilla continues his march of destruction through Tokyo. There's plenty of mayhem to be had here, and a surprising amount of comedy as well. Political satire abounds in the portrayals of President Obama (remamed to President Ogden, but very obviously Obama to the point where I wondered why they bothered with the fictional name) and the governor of Texas, who's building a wall (made of "100% pure American steel"; does such a thing even exist anymore?) to prevent illegal monster immigration across the Mexican border. You can probably guess how well that plan works.

Actually the best bit of satire was a line by the President: "What do you want me to do? Drop another nuke? It could start shooting lasers out of its eyes!" Ha! Godzilla cartoon for the win! Now all we need is an appearance by Godzookie!

Unfortunately, this book had the same problem as the first issue: No likable human characters. In fact, the character that was the focus for most of this issue is pretty thoroughly dead by time we reach the end, leaving me still wondering who the non-monster and non-politician main characters are.

Rating: 6.5/10

Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #1 Newbury Comics Edition

Taking a break from the SPACE reviews to look at a fairly well-hyped recent release.

Title: Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters
Issue: #1
Date: 2011
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Eric Powell, Tracy Marsh
Penciler: Phil Hester
Inker: Bruce McCorkindale
Colorist: Ronda Pattison
Letterer: Chris Mowry
Editor: Chris Ryall

IDW's new Godzilla book featured one of the greatest gimmicks in comic history. They created a custom cover art for any store willing to order 500 copies. Each cover showed Godzilla's foot stomping the store that placed the order. Marketing genius! Now you can see your local store get flattened by the King of the Monsters, and if you're really obsessive, there are 75 store-crushing cover variants (not to mention four cover variants for those stores who didn't pony up the bucks for the custom cover deal).

This issue also contains thumbnails of all (79!) covers, and the "standard" cover art is also reproduced in full size on the back cover.

Oh, and there's also a story in between those covers. Well, a bit of one, anyway.

Godzilla awakens and begins stomping things (by "things" here, what we really mean is "the city of Tokyo"). And people are upset about that. To be continued. This seems to be a complete reboot, rather than a "return" storyline such as many Godzilla revivals have done. There is even an "origin" sequence for Godzilla's radioactive fire breath, which involves what has to be the quickest and least agonizing decision to use a nuclear weapon in comics. Because the Japanese are certainly not the types to spend any time worrying about the possible consequences of using a nuclear weapon. Anyway, to that list of consequences, you can go ahead and add "granting radioactive breath powers to monsters".

There is also an appearance by President Obama, and an attempt to make "You have got to be %$@#ing kidding me!" into a kind of recurring catchphrase (those are the book's curse-marks, not mine). What is lacking are any sympathetic characters (Sorry, Mr. President!) other than possibly Godzilla himself.

And while there is plenty of destruction, most of it is in isolated pinup-style pages with little actual effort at transition from panel to panel. The whole comic book felt like it was rushing to get the readers past the dull stuff that they'd already seen a million times and get on with the real story, which starts next issue apparently.

I'm not sure this is the way to score points with the die-hard Godzilla fans who are plunking down their money to see Tokyo wrecked.

The artwork is quite nice, and does a good job of capturing Godzilla's size, something that has been difficult in past attempts to bring the big guy to life in comics.

The series promises more monsters (and Toho even included their little monster logos on the inside cover). Maybe with additional monsters will come likable characters and a plot.

Rating: 6/10