4 out of 5

Pathos in a Godzilla book?  From one of the new school masters of wacked-out quirky surreal oddity, James Stokoe?  But it happened.  I don’t know much about Godzilla, but I believe that Stokoe does. ‘Half-Century War’ is an apt subtitle, as our 5 issue mini follows a couple of specialized monsters task-forcers through several decades of hunting – and then moreso managing the appearances of – ‘Zilla.  Stokoe’s art makes this an awesome journey.  We’ve seen the beast in comic form before (including an ongoing that’s happening while this mini was released), and obviously we’ve had years of fantastic artists doing fantastic things in paneled art, but as James has shown in Orc Stain, his sense of scope can be quite amazing.  And yet its drawn with such focus that it doesn’t just come across as a slather of extraneous details.  A lot of work was also put in to try and set the tone properly for Half-Century.  It has the same energy as Wonton Soup and Orc, but his framing is less frenetic since this is a bit more character focused.  It also gives the battles a heftier feeling, as compared to the sort of chaos that happens in Stain.  Similar updates to the coloring: Orc Stain uses this gorgeous pastel palette, and you can pick out the same style here but it leans more toward realism.  (Y’know, with giant lizards)

There’s an interesting subplot of a dude who develops a device that can summon Godzilla and his attempts to sell that technology, but the story is definitely more about the effect that dealing with an unstoppable force for most of your life can cause.  It’s breezy and action-packed, but this extra layer just adds an unusually ponderous element where you wouldn’t expect it.  The ending, for better or worse, is expected, ’cause it’s the only style ending that comes with such stories, but it still comes with a good send-off.

Despite these shifts to James’ style, the overall feel is just slightly off, though, because Stokoe’s penciling maintains that somewhat comedic look to it and his dialogue is still sort of off-the-cuff feeling.  Which is very natural, but makes you uncertain whether to smile at some points and just flip through this book or to sit and ponder any of it.  There’s also not quite enough difference between each century to make the issues unique.  The characters age and new tech shows up, but it would’ve been cool for each era to have a distinct look to it, further embellishing the passage of time that’s a component of the story’s point.  These are minor nits, though, for what’s a pretty sweet, surprisingly well-plotted and paced and amazing looking 5-issue mini.