4 out of 5

This should be simple. In the wake of IDW’s various bombastic, action-heavy godzilla books, and Zander Cannon’s fantastic procedural tokusatsu mash-up Kaijumax, serious sci-fi / fantasy Spanish creator Salvador Sanz strips the big monster battle down to something more awe-inspiring: Lovecraftian-tinged unknown-world lore; creatures from the deep,nwordlessly nattling while we wee himans rin acreaming, fae below. 

Sanz somber art style relies heavily on acting and framing, and he does an excellent job of stepping through his story with as little exposition as possible: a young girl has dreams of her missing grandfather speaking with her, explaining to her about events to come; the first event is the “salamander,” a giant, armored creature which takes up residence in a large city and creates a fire-strewn roost; and the next event is Mega, the creature who lumbers forth with a mighty weapon to battle the salamander. 

Yes, that means pages of clashing, but we’re quite often with the girl and her dreams, learning bits and pieces of Sanz’s twists on a godzilla tale, building in promises of future secrets… 

The aforementioned feeling of awe is palpable, and we feel the worry and fear of our featured characters. While the creature origins are, on one hand, fascinating, and unique, their facelessness (as drawn) makes them hard to “read” at the scale at which they’re depicted, which make some of the action slightly lack impact. However, even though I’m considering it a minus, I also think it makes sense – these are ancient creatures, and perhaps they shouldn’t quite look like anything we recognize. 

Mega feels like an event itself. In the hands of Sanz, something “typical” takes on new shape, not just visually, but with the world building of which he’s capable, between his story’s panels and lines.