This is the year of Godzilla. Whether you’re a longtime fan like me, a casual who knows the name, or someone who doesn’t know what a Godzilla is, it’s a great time. It’s unknown how IDW will capitalize on the film. What we do know is that they have green-lit a couple more issues for Rulers of Earth. Assuming the movie is a mega hit, that could perhaps open the door to more issues. But should you pay money and actually read this series? Yes, and here’s why.

IT CONTAINS LARGER THAN LIFE MONSTER BATTLES

There are two things that generally come to mind when one thinks of Godzilla. One is an allegory for the atomic bomb, the other is giant monster fights. The latter has become a staple in Japanese culture. After all, there’s a good number of ‘Godzilla vs.’ films. Sadly the previous two Ongoings lacked epic, consistent battles. Rulers of Earth changed that. There’s nearly a battle every issue, finally we’re getting the Godzilla action we crave.

IT’S DONE BY FANS

Not to mock the previous two Ongoings too much, but it seems like the writers and artists didn’t really have a firm understanding of the franchise. Eric Powell was too concerned with satire instead of actually telling a Godzilla story. Jason Ciaramella fared slightly better, but it was kinda late to save that series. Duane Swierczynski of the next Ongoing (now called History‘s Greatest Monster) told an average story (monsters actually lost to humans!) until the exciting climax. It’s obvious Chris Mowry and Matt Frank are BIG fans of the franchise. If you follow them on Twitter or know them beforehand, you can see they had already liked Godzilla and know the movies. It’s always great when you have people knowing the series writing the comic, because they know what readers want to see.

MATT FRANK’S ART IS AWESOME

Matt Frank has a very distinctive art style when it comes to drawing kaiju. He created the popular Godzilla NEO and has been doing covers for all the Ongoings. Many fans dreamed of him doing the interiors for a whole series. (He did the art for the fantastic Godzilla Legends #1.) So this is a triumph for fans, and Matt himself. Every issue’s he’s drawn has some of the best looking kaiju in comics. It can often be hard to make the monsters characters, but with Frank’s art, the kaiju convey such great emotion that no other comic, or even some of the films, have replicated.

JET JAGUAR IS AWESOME

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Rulers of Earth isn’t a perfect series, but it’s an extremely fun one. You won’t find a comic with as much larger than life fights than this. Godzilla fans especially have no excuse not to be picking this up. For the first time, we’re getting the things we’ve wanted in very issue. In just 9 issues Godzilla has battled his America counterpart, Destoroyah, Gigan, Biollante, and many more! With the new film coming up in just two months, it’s hard to think of a better comic series to get into beforehand.