Godzilla vs. X-Men #1 is a book that feels tailor made for me in many ways. First off, it features the X-Men – specifically, the ’90s roster that was the centerpiece of Chris Claremont and Jim Lee’s X-Men and more recently, X-Men ’97. Secondly, it’s the X-Men fighting a giant monster; since my first experience with them was Giant-Size X-Men #1, which featured them battling giant monsters, that’s another level of throwback. Third is how it draws a parallel between Godzilla and the X-Men.
You read that right. Though it starts off with the X-Men planning a counterattack on Godzilla at the behest of their ally Sunfire, Godzilla vs. X-Men #1 soon turns to exploring how the King of the Monsters is trying to live in a world that fears and hates him, which will sound familiar to anyone who’s a fan of the X-Men. It’s also given plenty of dramatic heft by Fabian Nicieza, who explores what happens when Professor X mentally encounters Godzilla.
Nicieza’s script also has a blast exploring familiar X-Men dynamics and what happens when the world of Godzilla collides with the Marvel Universe. You get the X-Men training in the Danger Room, but this time it’s on how to take down a kaiju. You get a unholy fusion between Sentinel and kaiju. And in the biggest surprise of all, Nicieza has a unique way to show how the X-Men actually would battle a massive radioactive lizard (while letting Gambit do what he does best.) Nicieza’s still got what it takes to write the X-Men, and he excels at the Godzilla parts of the equation too.
Marvel
But the star of Godzilla vs. X-Men #1 is artist Emilio Laiso. Laiso immediately grabs the reader’s attention from the opening page, depicting a battle between Godzilla and Sunfire. The King of the Monsters towers over everything in his path, and his atomic breath seems to outmatch Sunfire’s solar flares. Laiso also has a dynamic way of drawing the X-Men, showing them chargin into battle while also exploring the depths of their mutant powers.
His work sings thanks to Federico Blee’s colors. Blee embraces the brightness of the ’90s and gives the X-Men’s uniforms the right hues of gold and blue. But he also does a great job playing with shadow, letting it fall over Godzilla enough to make him threatening but not fully obscure his shape. And once again, the opening pages will wow you with the clash of atomic blue fire against reddish-orange solar flares – it’s literally a case of “fighting fire with fire” and it’s never looked so good. Topping things off is Clayton Cowles, who utilizes orange captions to describe the X-Men and yellow to depict Godzilla’s inner thoughts.
Godzilla vs. X-Men #1 is a different beast from its predecessors. While it does live up to its “Vs.” title, it’s more interested in seeing how the King of the Monsters and the Children of the Atom share a similar struggle. It’s still worth a read, whether you’re an X-Men fan or a Godzilla fan – or both!
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