Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong

The hope with a title like that is that you’re going to get some insane kaiju-fighting action as the  greatest heroes of the DCU (and some of its villains) mix it up with Godzilla and Kong (and some of the other creatures bumming around the Monsterverse).  No one is going in here expecting to see quality character work or storytelling and writer Brian Buccellato doesn’t disappoint in that regard.  After Superman’s proposal to Lois is interrupted by the Big G, it’s just one big fight after another for this story.  The only thing I can really knock the writer for is that he doesn’t let this alternate-universe story get really crazy in the way something like “DCeased” did.  There’s one bit at the end involving Kong that’s remarkably silly, but the story should’ve featured it sooner and built on the craziness that it implies.

Still, anyone who picked up this collection clearly came to see some quality fights rendered on the page, and does it deliver?  Ehhhhhh… kinda, sorta.  Christian Duce handles the majority of the art with professional fill-in guy Tom Derenick helping out as of issue #4.  There are striking images throughout:  From Superman’s first encounter with Godzilla, to the three-way encounter between Godzilla, an underwater Monsterverse creation, and an Atlantean creature whose release here makes perfect sense.  Yet nearly everything that doesn’t involve monsters or superpowered humans fighting feels disappointingly humdrum.  It all makes you wish that artists with a real flair for action, like Daniel Warren Johnson or Jock, had done this rather than just provide variant covers.

It all adds up to a final product that’s not terrible, but not nearly as entertaining as the three-way battle the title advertises would imply.  This is a safe, straightforward superhero fight comic that understood its assignment and does the bare minimum to get it across on the page.  If you’re fine with that, then go pick this up; though, I’d personally wait for the softcover edition first as this definitely isn’t worthy of paying the hardcover tax.