Review: Justice League Vs Godzilla Vs Kong #4

Justice League Vs Godzilla Vs Kong #4 came out this week and was another funtastic romp through this Elseworlds tale mixing the Monsterverse with a sort of Super Friends style DCU. Without a doubt, this has been the most bananas and therefore most entertaining book I have read in a while. And this issue keeps up that frenetic pace with some great character moments.

Writer Brian Buccellato continues to mix the two universes well. The Justice League are trying to deal with these souped up kaijus who seem able to stand up to the most powerful of them. With Superman off the table, Supergirl remains a focal point which makes me smile. We get a rather emotional Batman and a solid Lois moment as well. But the best part of this is the insane Legion of Doom, who act like old school robbers rather than world conquerors here. Only Lex seems to rise above it all.

Christian Duce splits art with Tom Derenick. Each have a unique style making the pages easy to discern. Duce bringing a finer line and a more refined touch to the proceedings. This works well with the Supergirl pages and the insane Atlantis scenes. Derenick is on the Fortress scenes and brings appropriate gravitas to the Lois scene. I had to pick up the Whilce Portacio cover seen above. Is this the first time Portacio has drawn Supergirl?

On to the book.

At the Fortress, Superman is still pulseless and basically dead despite the solar array bath he's getting. Batman is rather upset about the whole thing, wearing his emotions on his sleeve. It is very strange, not exactly in character. Although I suppose some emotion might be expected if your best friend has died.

This one moment stuck out as a bit of a stretch. The team notices the Dreamstone missing and immediately link it to Toyman? Seems a bit like a stretch. Any number of the Legion of Doomers might want a weapon of that power.

Back on Kong Island, blonde, beautiful Supergirl is in a staring contest with Kong himself. Supergirl is portrayed so excellently in this book. Strong, proactive, and a leader. 

But like many a beautiful blonde, she has some connection with the ape. In fact, he seems to understand her concerns about Superman and stands down. 

I love this classic Kong theme of being enraptured by a beauty. I hope we get a Kara/Kong team up in a battle in a future issue. 

Duce's art sparkles here.

Once Supergirl leaves, a squad of assassins from the League Of Shadows streams from the forest to fight Green Arrow. 

If you were ever hoping to see Kong beat the snot out of ninjas, you're in luck. Kong seems to have a sense of who the bad guys are. Love this scene too. 

Almost overrun by the villains, Ollie spies the tanker they arrived on and stows away.

Now my guess is that Lex is working with the League. But maybe there is another player on the board? An ecologically minded villain like Ra's Al Ghul might like the idea of a kaiju like Godzilla acting as nature's restorer.

Despite his lack of a pulse and movement, the heroes still think Superman is alive. I guess (at least on one Earth) he has come back from the dead. No one seems to know enough about his physiology to know what is happening. Perhaps he is in some chrysalis state? 

At the very least we hear that the radiation of Godzilla's atomic breath is what is behind his injuries. But perhaps in the end it'll be some sort of energizer? His body processing it?

It is the end of the scene that has some emotional weight. Remember, Godzilla showed up at a dinner where Clark was planning to propose. Lois is brought to the Fortress where she tells the comatose/dead Kal that he has to wake up and put that ring on her finger.

Nice moment.

The slapstick part of the book is definitely the Legion of Doom.

The Penguin and Clayface are cackling about how the monsters will allow the villains to live a wonderfully dishonest life. Funny how in the face of kaijus stomping around Earth out of control, the villains are thinking about petty crimes.

But the laugh out loud moment is how Giganta responds when the Legion says that they are in control of their own decisions, not Lex. She reminds them they are literally waiting for Lex to tell them what to do. 

Yes. I laughed out loud.

Then a twist right out of the movies. It looks like Lex pilfered some tech from the Earth-Monster. We see a sort of robotic giant spine. He's building a mechanized titan strong enough to defeat the greatest monster, Godzilla. Lex has also learned that Godzilla is some sort of equalizer for nature and not a simple rampaging beast.

Get ready ... just like in the last movie ... Mechagodzilla  or some mecha-kaiju is on the way.

Pretty classic of Lex. He has his own plans. Who cares about the d-listers he was hanging with.

As for the heroes, they are called into duty to protect Atlantis which is under attack from a massive sea serpent.

Even the combined might of the Justice League and Godzilla (who joins the fray) can't keep the dome from being in peril.

So Aquaman takes a bold step .. he releases the Kraken.

Holy 'Clash of the Titans' !! Just tremendous.

Duce really shines here with massive splashes with gigantic monsters. 

And then a further clue. 

Ollie discovers the tanker is bringing a giant skull somewhere. Surely this is the biological material needed to complete Lex's mechanized titan. So maybe it isn't Ra's.

I freely admit this book makes me giddy. I grew up watching the 'Creature Double Feature', a steady diet of Gamera and Godzilla flicks. I love the Justice League. I love when folks treat Supergirl right. I feel like I should pop some popcorn when I read this. 

Overall grade: A