Godzilla: Escape the Deadzone hasn’t shied away from how deadly – and how bizarre – the titular apocalyptic landscape is. In addition to the kaiju wandering the irradiated ruins of the Pacific Northwest, there’s a building-sized little girl with a crush on Godzilla, a cult that worships the King of the Monsters, and half-machine, half-men. Godzilla: Escape the Deadzone #5 cranks that weirdness up to 11 with a few new plot twists.
The first concerns the Wanderer and Glasseater, who are hot on the trail of Runt and Sherry (the aforementioned building sized little girl with a crush on Godzilla). During their journey, they encounter what appears to be an idyllic American town hiding a dark secret: it enslaves kaiju and forces them to fight in cage matches. The Wanderer happens to be their latest contestant, which leads him to once again fight for his life.
It also means that Godzilla fans will get to see some familiar kaiju in the ring, like Baragon from Frankenstein vs. Baragon. (Yes, that’s an actual film.) Baragon isn’t the only major kaiju making an appearance, as the last page features a character I’d never expected to see in the Kai-Sei universe. Yet it plays to the creative team’s strengths that they’re able to fold these characters into the narrative in a way that makes sense and plays into its post-apocayptic themes.
Speaking of the creative team, Ethan Parker and Griffin Sheridan continue to deliver dialogue that’s a mix of hilarious and heartfelt. The hilarious part comes from Glasseater, who slings profanity and insults like bullets, including a tangent about not picking up “new party members”. The heartfelt part comes from Runt, who in his own elequent way manages to talk himself to freedom. If that wasn’t enough, Parker and Sheridan also open the issue with two mutated figures talking about the ups and downs of selling screenplays. It’s the kind of conversation you’d probably hear in a coffee shop in LA, not the end times, which adds to the absurdity.
IDW
The absurdity cranks up a notch with Pablo Tunica’s artwork. Tunica draws a variety of mutated characters, including an odd scientist-like creature with three eyes covered by spectacles, not to mention a pair of spindly robot legs. Similarly, the town that the Wanderer and Glasseater encounter feels like a scene from a Norman Rockwell painting, albeit fringed with radiation-soaked destruction. It isn’t under the Wanderer reveals he’s a mutant that they rip off their clothing to reveal outfits that are a little less Pleasantville and a lot more Mad Max: Fury Road.
Tunica really shines during the moment where the Wanderer has to take on Baragon, as he once again showcases the combination of strength and speed that makes him such a formidable threat. But he also has to protect Sherry, who gets dumped into the pit to shake up the stakes. The sheer annoyance on the Wanderer’s face is utterly hilarious, thanks to Tunica closing in on his face during a series of panels.
Godzilla: Escape the Deadzone #5 introduces a collection of new faces into the story, including some familiar Kaiju from the Godzilla mythos. It also continues the mix of dark humor, bloody action, and arresting imagery that’s made this a standout not just in IDW’s Godzilla lineup, but its entire catalog.
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