Why I Fell In Love With Comics As A Kid — Reviewing ‘Godzilla Vs. Hulk’

Welcome to the table,

Godzilla Smash! This books is double delightful to a degree that I had to make a phone call to yell about how rad it was. My editor can confirm this and probably will.

Editor’s note: Can confirm. -BA

Let’s get into it!

I don’t know what I imagined was going to occur when I was told Godzilla Vs. Hulk was coming out. I think somewhere in my brain I assumed we would get some kind of powered up giant Hulk in some kind of Kaiju fight against Godzilla. Nothing of much substance would happen across the panels and it would be tied up in a nice bow and ultimately forgotten, aside for maybe a Funko Pop in a few months.

I was totally fine with that. I like “Smash.” I like big old monster fights. I love Godzilla. So I was ready to kick back, flip through the pages, and enjoy the ride. What I got was one of the coolest “What If?” stories I have had the pleasure of reading in recent years.

Godzilla Vs Hulk is the kind of comic book that made me fall in love comics as a kid.

**Spoilers Follow** 

The book kicks off at Thunderbolt Ranch, with Thunderbolt Ross giving a press briefing about how he should capturing and pacifying Godzilla. Immediately, I am amused because my first thought was “Unless you have a giant monster on your side or some mecha you are not going to do anything against the actual King of Monster.”

Ross indeed has a giant monster!

We find out Ross has Kumonga, the giant spider, hooked up to a mind control device cooked up by Dr. Demonicus, whose lab assistant is a very in control of himself Bruce Banner. What is worse, Ross and Demonicus are currently using Kumonga to kill Mothra as part of a plan to bait Godzilla into showing up at Thunderbolt Ranch.

At this point, we are only on page 5 of the story! I was so locked in because writer Gerry Duggan, penciler Giuseppe Camuncoli, inker Daniele Orlandini, and Colorist Federico Blee have delivered a setup that has me on the edge of my actual seat.

All I can imagine is we are about to get some kind of John Wick vengeance from Godzilla because you are torturing Mothra and Godzilla loves three things… long naps, smashing things, and Mothra… and you are trying to kill his Mothra

The King of Monsters shows us and is, as expected, furious.

Ross indeed has some mecha!!

If I had not read the book myself I would have never expected this to go in the exact direction my mind wanted it to go. I was running on pure nostalgia-fueled glee while I conjured my original thoughts on this book. What this book delivers was something that could have only been sweeter if it was flashing across a TV screen while I was eating a bowl of cereal, sitting on a floor surrounded by action figures purchased from a flea market.

What are those mecha? Tony Stark built Mechagodzillas …. plural. There are two Mechagodzillas and Bruce Banner is piloting one of them while Thunderbolt Ross is in control of the other.

So now we have an out of commission Mothra at the feet of Godzilla, who is being attacked by two Mechagodzilla and Kumonga of Skull Island! Godzilla starts to wreck house on the two metal titans. While getting a bit webbed up he is still not really having much of an issue with the eight legged creepy crawler.

Ross has more up his sleeve!!!

Smog Monster Hedorah comes busting out of a tech egg and joins the fight. I no longer have any expectations. Hedorah and Godzilla clash and Hedorah grabs onto Godzilla’s face, burns through his eyes, and starts to melt his brain. This is like some kind of wild birthday party with robot rats, endless tickets, and pizza with cheese stretches a mile long. I had to check to see if I had passed out because I don’t know how this gets better and to this point we have yet to see the Hulk in all of his green gamma glory.

The Hulk does indeed show up!!!!

I feel like I’m writing up a fever dream. This next sentence is going to feel like I ‘m making something up. Banner turns into The Hulk, busts out of one of the crushed Mechagodzilla, shocks the now badly damaged Godzilla with an electrical wire. Then … stay with me her … the Incredible Hulk cuts open his veins, spills his gamma-irradiated blood into Godzilla’s open wounds, and Godzilla rises as a gamma-powered elder god , unleashing the rage of ages upon Hedorah and Thunderbolt Ranch.

I think there was something that happened to my brain along the way in regard to Marvel comics. Somewhere between the films and these massive crossover events and these “Block Buster Moments That Will Change The Marvel Universe Forever,” I stopped caring about the Marvel Universe as much as I did when I worked in a comic shop and was reading 30+ comics a month.

616 and the assorted landscape of well storied worlds with these iconic characters all feel like they have to have this weight attached to them. This weight comes from the feeling that, as a reader, I have this responsibility to know all the ins and outs of the various stories and happenings at any given time in the current iteration of the ongoing universe. If I don’t know what is happening in Spider-Man, then I won’t understand why vampires are trying to kill Magneto. If I don’t know why Iron Man is actually a space alien, then I won’t understand why Namor is now king of the moon … or something along those lines.

I used to delight in that knowledge. I read a ton of comics and small connected bits would show up here and there, but that knowledge became a responsibility, and eventually, a burden. It went from feeling like I was in on a bit of secret lore, to feeling like the single story and title I wanted to read was less important than these massive world events.

While Godzilla Vs Hulk does have a ton of little extra nods and bits to be enjoyed by someone who has knowledge of both of the worlds the characters are from, it can be enjoyed for what it is. It’s a story about the King of Monsters and the King of Smash fighting some dastardly villains in a way that is truly only able to be captured on the paneled page.

Until next time, Godzilla is, was, and will always be the King of Monsters.