Godzilla: The Half-Century War #5

by James Stokoe

Godzilla, King Ghidorah, Gigan, and a new Mechagodzilla fight it out for the last time in a battle that includes a gigantic cannon that shoots miniaturized black holes.  In a comic drawn by James Stokoe.

I'm not usually one of those readers who gets totally swept up in the potential for excessive grandeur in comics; I prefer a nicely drawn character-driven piece more often than not, but this is a freaking awesome comic.  James Stokoe has taken a property that I've long associated with little potential for real drama, and put together a mini-series that told a solidly entertaining story.

We follow the narrator of the story from his first encounter with Godzilla in post-war Japan through a half-century of escalating monster-threats, and ever-more destruction across the globe.  In this final story, set in 2002, he's an old man who knows that he doesn't have much time left, but he's determined to go out fighting.

Sure, in that sense the story is kind of conventional, but none of that matters once you look at Stokoe's stunning artwork.  And the best thing about this series?  Now that it's done, hopefully Stokoe will go back to his brilliant Orc Stain...