Godzilla’s Monsterpiece Theater #3, written and drawn by Tom Scioli, ends the miniseries with the ultimate monster spectacle as Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, The Mummy, and The Wolf Man face off against Godzilla. And if you think that’s the most lopsided battle since Godzilla stomped on Bambi, think again, because the issue’s loaded with some fantastic twists that will keep you guessing until the conclusion.
This miniseries has been a joy, a variation of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, as great figures from real life and fiction (including Jay Gatsby, Sherlock Holmes, Jules Verne, and Thomas Edison) hunt Godzilla across the globe, zipping around the Earth in the M.A.S.E.R, a Nautilus-style transport that can change from submarine to bus to aircraft on a dime. It’s pretty swanky technology for 1922, but in this world of vampires, steampunk time-travelers and massive rampaging monsters, it never feels out-of-place or hyperbolic.
Sure, any story with Godzilla is great, but the real fun of this issue is watching all these legendary characters interact with each other. Who hasn’t dreamed of Sherlock Holmes facing off against Dracula or the Time Traveler from H. G. Wells’ novel “The Time Machine” battle werewolves?
I enjoyed this Avengers-style banding together of the characters, though Jay Gatsby, who’s the leader of the group, is written a bit goofy at times. In some ways, he reminds me of Adam West’s Batman – relentlessly good and noble, but stiff in the most awkward ways. He’s definitely the type of guy who’d walk into a bar and order a tall glass of milk.
His only weakness is Daisy Buchanan, the woman he’s pined over for years but who forever rebuffs him. When Dracula kidnaps her and takes her to Castle Dracula, Gatsby and his team head there with Godzilla also headed in that direction, setting the stage for an epic final showdown in Transylvania.
IDW Publishing
Tom Scioli’s art is similar to Jack Kirby’s Silver Age Marvel art in many ways, but different enough to make it uniquely his own. It’s not as detailed as Kirby’s always-amazing work, but Scioli injects a lot of personality into the people and monsters. Sherlock Holmes is drawn with an impossibly long nose and resembles Basil Rathbone’s screen version of the character. Jay Gatsby is a blonde All-American style Adonis, and if this were a film he could easily be played by a young Robert Redford (who actually did play the character in the 1974 adaptation of The Great Gatsby). Dracula looks almost identical to Satan and Dracula’s rarely been more evil than he is here.
Most interesting and totally off-the-wall looking is Baron Von Frankenstein, who looks like a background extra from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, puffing on skinny cigarettes with his Lou Reed-style shades, billowing hair and fashionable trench coat. He looks wonderfully anachronistic within the Jazz Age era of the book.
The issue’s climax has an epic battle with Godzilla and it’s everything any lover of old-fashioned creature feature films will love.
I hope Tom Scioli does another miniseries similar to this. There’s an endless array of public domain literary figures that he could pull from – imagine Tarzan fighting Cthulhu, or Jane Austen’s Elizabeth Bennet teaming with characters from Charles Dickens to face monsters from ancient Greek mythology.
If you’re a fan of literature or just love watching monsters knock the heck out of each other, check out this miniseries. It’ll put a Godzilla-sized smile on your face!
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