4 out of 5

In the backmatter of Kaijumax, Season 3, Zander – besides the Godzilla movie reviews that keep making me want to watch every Godzilla flick; besides his engaging answer to readers’ twittery letters – does some deep diving into his process, both from a practical and psychological perspective.  And, as opposed to seeming indulgent – the writer is very confident in his methods – this offered info rather just underlines why this series has proven to be so much more than just a silly genre mash-up: because Zander is a reader, and wants to do right by his readers.  It’s exemplified in a blurb in issue 6’s extras, in which Cannon talks about the balance between making the writing matter (making it have consequence) but not burying it in lore; i.e. making it accessible, but purposeful.

That’s the nutshell.

I have exactly zero history with kaiju flicks from any culture.  The references in KM go over my head, but I get their context; more importantly, Zander has made sure to make his characters a careful balance of graspable genre archetypes (both from monster movies and prison tales) and balanced personas which are actually growing with his story.  And so here we are in another brilliant season, with Electrogor returning with his son and trying to elicit the assistance of Mechazonn for protection from Zonn… who’s running a drug-scheme manipulation with a human “girlfriend” prison doctor.  And is there a riot fomenting?  You know there is.  It should be silly, and yeah, it is, in all its bright, bubbly colors and mustache-twirling villains and musical numbers, but it’s somehow grounded as well.  It makes it hilarious that other writers can’t manage drama or storylines this compelling with a much more balanced plate of characters and settings, while Zander can step in with a devil goat and murderous volcano and make us weep.

The season is a bit cluttered in its middle; that musical number is impressive as hell in composition but I didn’t quite feel its place in the narrative transition from Electrogor’s return, and the relationship drama with Zonn is edited almost too slicky – some further scenes fleshing out his manipulations would’ve made the ebb and flow of that plotline more effective.

But, hey, I still read this in one page-turning, fully entertained session.  Meaning: it’s fantastic, and good lord I can’t wait for Season 4.