5 out of 5

Can a comic be too good?  Like, where it’s almost unreasonably enjoyable, where it seems unfair to other comics?

No, of course not, I’ve just been, eh, ‘spoiled’ by books where I sort of have to make self-justifications to determine their quality – like maybe it’s not for me; maybe it’s better if I read book X before it, etc.  It’s refreshing to read something without any such qualifiers, and something that also doesn’t force you to acknowledge its awesomeness; Kaijumax just is.

I find it amusing that there’s a quote from Alan Moore bandied about in praise of Kaijumax.  I mean, of course, use that, because it gets readers (myself included) to be interested, but the way in which Zander is subsuming and repurposing kaiju lore from all over time and subgenres is very similar to the way Moore has often adapted his fictional worlds to those adjacent to his, whether in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, or, recently, in Cinema Purgatoria.  The difference, though, is that there’s almost always a level of remove with Moore.  Sometimes, that can work wonders, if it’s in sync with his characters – Top 10, some of his Lovecraft stuff, LXG vol. 1 – but often, and especially lately, it just goes down a rabbit hole of referencing, and you’re reading experience, if not supplemented by annotations, can be… lacking.

While Kaijumax was gathering steam in its first arc, finding its tonal footing, this layer of “here are countless nods to godzilla” just… doesn’t exist.  You don’t even have to know who Godzilla is.  You never have had to have seen a single kaiju flick.  This book simply works as a monsters in prison drama, milking the ridiculousness of its setup for its juxtapositions against OZ-type story tropes, then kicking your ass by actually developing characters and situations we get fully invested in.  It’s ridiculously good.  Cannon’s layouts (and design, and lettering, and colour – here assisted by Jason Fischer) have been sharp from the get-go, but four seasons in, now that we’re used to the visual language of the series, it seems even better mapped to its half-soapy, half-drop-yer-jaw intensely brilliant hijinks.

In this arc, we shift to the women’s kaiju prison.  On the one hand, we reset with new characters and new problems – namely an upstart inmate who causes an intra-gang rebellion – but on the other hand, we’re comparing to the male prison and inmates, and not solely in what might be considered ‘expected’ male versus female ways.  And then on the other, other hand are the surprising connections that link the two locations, including a mic drop twist.

I keep leaving these books wanting to run out and watch every kaiju flick so that I can appreciate it even deeper – all those references that I am missing, and that my missing hasn’t (obviously) mattered a lick in regards to my enjoyment.  But it’s kinda nice walking in blind and loving the heck out of this book anyway.