Justice League Vs Godzilla Vs Kong Issue #s 2-4 Review

Another Spoiler FILLED review.

  

  

It's not just Godzilla and Kong who have been transported to this version of the DCU, but the entire population of the Monsterverse (or so it would seem.) Superman has his hands full in Metropolis, but the rest of the Justice League have to split up to cover monster threats all over the world. Specifically at key locations important to members of the Justice League. After all Toyman's wish was to use these "toys" to "play with" the Justice League. (Good thing he didn't wish for the monsters to "destroy" the Justice League, because then this story might have ended quite differently.)

  

  

The big finish to the second issue happens in Metropolis as Billy Batson, aka Shazam arrives to help Superman. Billy decides to use his magic lightning bolt to blast Godzilla which does hurt the Titan, but not nearly enough. 

  

  

Superman is forced to place himself between Billy (who transformed in order to perform his lightning attack into his vulnerable human form) and Godzilla's atomic breath attack.

  

  

This attack is more harmful to Superman than one might hope and in the end it looks like Superman is really in trouble. That's how we end issue #2. Issue #3 is a lot more monster vs hero battles. In the end the heroes reveal that the monsters are responding to some kind of beacon. Then we change to a scene that shows said beacon as it is being discovered by none other than Lex Luthor. This seems bad.

  

  

Through the next few issues there's an ongoing search for Toyman. He and the Dreamstone have disappeared. There's a really nice scene at the start of issue #4 where Batman shows a bit of vulnerability in his concern for the fate of his friend (Clark / Superman.) It's a good moment. I really liked it.

  

  

After that, we finally get to see a bit more of Kong, who has not yet posed a threat to the heroes. There's a good bit where Supergirl attempts to commune with the giant primate before leaving to check on her cousin.

  

  

  

Next we have a huge monster battle in Atlantis, where surprise! Aquaman releases the Kraken!

  

  

PROS:

• Story by Brian Buccellato continues to entertain
• Art is still awesome. Artist Tom Derenick is listed along with Christian Duce in these issues, and while I think that I preferred the art in the first issue, the later issues give me strong Brent Anderson vibes, and I suspect that's Mr. Derenick's influence. Certainly, not a bad thing. I love Brent Anderson's work and his influence in these pages and in Tom Derenick's work is welcomed. 
• Kong and Godzilla aren't portrayed as bad guys, but Godzilla is certainly a threat.
• Release the Kraken!

CONS:

• There's a side story with the League of Assassins which just seems like one too many here. It's why I don't mention it in my overview. It just didn't grab me.