One of the things I love about Godzilla is that creators can do just about anything with the character. There’s a certain freedom to tell different stories that other franchises don’t offer. In Godzilla: Heist #3, Val Jensen and Kelsey Ramsay continue their story of a high-stakes smash-and-grab into one of the world’s most secure facilities.
The story begins here in flashback, as we get a bit of backstory for one of the crew. This was welcome. While the first two issues provided background on the protagonist Jai, we haven’t gotten much of anything for the supporting characters, which is a shame. When you think of classic heists, you think of memorable characterizations for all the criminals, and that’s one place that Godzilla: Heist has fallen short.
IDW
The artwork in this opening is gorgeous. Kelsey Ramsay’s line art has done well throughout the series, but there hasn’t been much monster fighting. Color artist Heather Breckel uses both contrast and complementary colors to bring out a more muted palette. This keeps the action visually interesting without abandoning the grittier tone of the book. The opening fight here between Godzilla and Anguirus is short, but sweet, serving as foreshadowing to the climax the series appears to be building towards.
The comic then cuts to the current day as Godzilla assaults London while the crew breaks into the Whitehall base. Then things begin to turn sideways. The human carnage depicted by Jensen and Ramsay is a bit shocking, as the would-be thieves prove themselves more of a match for Britain’s military. Ramsay’s artwork is really exciting in this sequence, with some very dynamic angles that are covered in mayhem. I kept returning to one panel in particular just to take in how many soldiers were being eviscerated by bullets. And that initial shock is just the first of many twists and turns in the story.
Frustratingly, not all of these twists feel well set up, and so the charm is primarily in the humor of watching these dominos fall one after the other. Many of these are staple tropes of the heist genre, but they work best when teased and built up over time. The execution here leaves a lot to be desired. This ties into the problem at the core of Godzilla: Heist – the supporting characters aren’t well developed. While the opening here started to give background to one of the team members, the payoff to this is minimal. You still don’t really know why everyone is involved or what their goals are. So when reveals of their motives are meant to be shocking, it falls flat.
IDW
One place where Godzilla: Heist #3 succeeds is integrating Godzilla into the action. There’s a sequence towards the end that shows Godzilla as a much more intentionally menacing creature than he is often depicted. It might be his most “mischievous cat” moment in a long while.
The end result is that Godzilla: Heist #3 is a bit of a mixed bag. Visually the book is a blast, but the story itself leaves a lot to be desired. If the next issues can deliver on the monster action, that will help the book where the character development has fallen a bit flat.
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