You’ve probably heard the expression “into the belly of the beast”, but Behemoth #2 takes that quite literally. Having seemingly survived a kaiju’s rampage, a small group of people on a city bus now find themselves inside said kaiju, surrounded on all sides by danger. As tensions run high, the survivors will have to learn to work together to navigate their new environment…but they aren’t the only people who dwell in the kaiju’s innards.
I have to give Grant Sputore and Ryan Engle plenty of credit; I’d have never expected a kaiju comic to explore the innards of a giant monster. Yet the duo push their creativity to its limits, imagining how a kaiju’s digestive system would work. Stomach acid eats away at metal and flesh, and it forms a massive sea populated by the wreckage of vehicles and buildings. And if that wasn’t frightening enough, there’s a swarm of insectoid creatures who hunger for human flesh. One character puts it the best: “This is perfect! Inside the thing that ate us are other things that want to eat us!”
Sputore and Engle’s script truly thrives when it comes to the group of survivors, as they come from different walks of life. Returning from the first issue is workaholic Sara, who puts her energy into a new cause when she learns that her friend Manny suffered a potentially fatal wound in the kaiju’s attack. Another passenger, Naomi, is a nurse, which comes in handly while treating Manny. Yet another, Ayako, seems to have knowledge of kaiju attacks. These interactions, far from feeling contrived, are all too human as the survivors share a common experience and have varying levels of response to it.
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But once again, it’s Jay Martin who proves to be the series MVP. Having dedicated most of Behemoth’s opening issue to the chaos the kaiju wrought, this time Martin spends his time closing in on the survivors as they get their bearings. When Sara goes searching for supplies to help Manny, she ends up entering an ambulance…and discovering half of a corpse in it. Martin closes in on her face, which has the thousand-yard stare of someone who’s been smacked with the cold reality that they’ve seen a dead body. It’s the image that stands out the most, and considering what else goes on in this comic that’s saying a lot.
Martin also plays with two different sets of colors; red for the kaiju’s innards and blue for the inside of vehicles. The former creates a hellish environment that only gets worse as the comic progresses, while the latter provides a sense of security (or as much as the survivors can find.) Finally, Frank Cvetkovic deserves props for the different lettering he uses, going big in moments of panic and small in the quieter ones. The decision to depict Ayako’s dialogue as actual Japanese is also an inspired choice.
Behemoth #2 continues its unique take on a monster movie, diving deep into the belly of the beast to reveal the dangers within. It’s the kind of story that only comes along once in a while, and it’s one worth reading – kaiju fan or not.
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