IDW has a lot to live up to now that it’s acquired the rights to bring Godzilla over to American comic readers. The Big G has been through the wringer twice before: first, in a widely beloved, if short-lived, stint in the Marvel Universe, and once again, courtesy of Dark Horse Comics, which produced some of the most enjoyable adventures starring the King of the Monsters yet, owing to an incarnation that far exceeded the House of Ideas’ degree of faithfulness to the source. This time, IDW hopes to one up these previous efforts by bringing over, not just Godzilla, but the entirety of the kaiju eiga franchise’s rogues gallery.
Finally, Godzilla will get to tangle with the comic book counterparts of the likes of Mothra, Rodan and King Ghidorah, and IDW’s marketing strategy points towards showcasing as many of them as possible, all at once. It’s an ambitious endeavor that, unfortunately, mars Godzilla: Gangsters and Goliaths (unappealing title notwithstanding), an otherwise excellent miniseries from John Layman, writer of the critically acclaimed Chew, and artist Alberto Ponticelli. While all the elements are as good, if not better, than can be expected, the last issue of the recently concluded series proves that the comic simply isn’t big enough to contain all these giant monsters in a meager five-issue run.