Written by: Bob Eggleton
Art by: Bob Eggleton
Publisher: IDW
Godzilla in Hell is an interesting concept for an anthology series as we get to see hugely different interpretations of everyone’s favourite goliath in a setting where the freakier the artist makes it look, the better. Issue one went off with a bit of a dull start, there was almost no story, Godzilla seemed a bit goofy and although there were interesting ideas in the depiction of hell the landscape often looked barren and uninteresting. I was therefore entering issue two with some low expectations and along came Bob eggleton to raise the stakes and then some.
The art hits you right off the bat, with large shots of Godzilla in your typical hell environment, red and fire, which is pretty standard but it has this beautiful painted style that just stays with you. The splash panel on the third page is by far my favourite image in the comic, showing a city that had been brought down with Godzilla with Rodan flying overhead which does give you a good feeling of the enormity of the monsters, unlike issue 1 where they could just be human sized for all I knew. The issue mostly consists of Godzilla going through different areas of hell, with good variety shown in locations’ designs, managing to catch your eye and keep your attention. In each different are Godzilla will fight a monster from his past and a good explanation is given for why these are here, they have been possessed by demons which is good as it allows any other monster to be pitted against Godzilla. The fights between the monsters seem a bit clunky and slow, but that’s how they really should be and this lends itself to the style of the book much better. The pacing of the book actually manages to keep up a good speed, when we are not being introduced to a new area either a new enemy is showing up or there is a fight going on bringing about a good sense of action.
Unlike the previous book, issue #2 does feature narration and is all the better for it as the scenario would not be as interesting without it. The style of the language used is somewhat archaic and goes into great detail, fitting the tone of the setting and story. For example, Godzilla is never referred to in the book as just Godzilla, it’s always ‘The Leviathan, Godzilla’ or just ‘The Leviathan’ and it’s little details like this that makes me think so highly of the book. My only problem with this book is how it connects to the previous one which ends in Godzilla falling through the floor of hell into another layer below but this one begins with him seeming to have only just arrived in hell. At first I thought that this was because each issue was going to more or less be standalone but this issue ended in a similar fashion, with Godzilla diving underwater to enter another area of hell and I certainly hope that the start of the next issue meshes better with its predecessor’s ending better than issue 2 did.
Godzilla In Hell #2 is a fantastic journey from start to finish and is laden with fan favourites of the series. If you missed #1 then this is still the perfect opportunity to jump on board (I’d even say a better opportunity) and you won’t be disappointed. I really can’t stress how impressed I am by the art, it’s so cool that I’m planning on buying two copies; one to keep and read and another to take my favourite panels from and create a sort of collage.
