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Tom Scioli’s Godzilla Monsterpiece theater is three issues of pretty much everything you could want from a comic. What is probably evident from the covers is that you’re getting Godzilla up against characters from classic fiction that you likely never imagined he would meet. Great Gatsby. Sherlock Holmes. Dracula. Wolfman. Mummy. Frankenstein. H.G. Wells Time Traveler.

If yer thinkin’ “This has great potential for being a league of extraordinary gentlemen vs Godzilla comic” yer not too far off the mark. But that would betray the genius that Tom Scioli brings to this story. He has an enthusiasm for the material and a genius execution of layouts that sell the action beautifully on every single page. Seriously if you want to dismiss his work as crude you’re not paying attention. Here’s a master of the craft at work. The story telling is fast and dense, making the most of the medium. Again Tom makes these layouts REALLY work for him.

Where a League vs Godzilla story would provide classic characters getting smashed against Godzilla and that might be enough, we find a surprisingly interesting anchor for the title in Gatsby. His love leads him into this whole troublesome affair and even as the Godzilla spectacle comes in hot and heavy, you’re wondering what’s going to happen with Gatsby next. By the way you won’t guess where it goes, but it escalates brilliantly by issue 3.

The last thing I’ll say is that Tom’s Godzilla is delightfully off model in many pages, but what I came to realize is he’s selling you not any specific version of Godzilla, but instead his own. Godzilla is treated as a fearsome unstoppable force and it was a wise choice because you get renderings and compositions that only Tom could bring you thanks to his unique take. Needlessly to say I loved Tom’s take and would love to see more (though if I never did this is a fantastic 3 issue run that says everything you could want). He could just as easily walk away forever and be satisfied that he knocked it out of the park.

So do I recommend it? Fuckin of course I do. Pick it up. You won’t regret it.

-Raven

I am pulling back from social media. Not to say I’m abandoning it. I’m just investing less energy into creating ‘content’ for them. Considering the awful relationship social media has ALWAYS had with creatives I think it’s a natural move to give them less of my time and energy.

Raven’s Dojo is my forever home. Always will be.

This domain (Ravenperez.com) will be largely a thought dump for things that don’t quite fit at the dojo. Movie reviews. Music reviews. Random thoughts on comics of course. Stuff like that. It will not be monetized. As always please subscribe to the dojo for art and comics.

This will largely be a place for text. Thoughts. There won’t really be art here.

So far that’s the vision moving forward. Here’s to trying new things!

Cheers!

-Raven