Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong 2 #2
Scheduled to arrive in stores: July 2, 2025
Cover date: September 2025
“Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong 2”
Writer: Brian Buccellato
Artist: Christian Duce
Cover: Christian Duce
Variant Cover: Yasmine Putri, Alan Quah, Stephen Segovia, and Lucas Meyer
1:25 Variant Cover: Kevin Maguire
Reviewed by: JP Rocha
At the end of the last issue, the liaison of the Human Defense Corps, Colonel Leland Lafayette Shaw III, shoots and kills Amanda Waller to take full control of the Anti-Titan operation. Lex Luthor, knowing he cannot trust Shaw, elects for diplomacy, at least for now.
Lex suggests that they should first address the Justice League and Kong problem. As we saw in the last issue, Kong does not remember Supergirl or the rest of the Justice League, but before he can attack them, a tech/magic-powered-up Killer Croc attacks Kong. In spite of the team trying to stop the fight, Kong will not back down. Finding no other solution, Superman and Supergirl push Kong away from the battle. Unfortunately, it was not in time. Killer Croc died from the injuries he sustained in the fight.
The team finds that Killer Croc is radiating with the same Radiological Mutation as Godzilla. Superman believes that Lex is behind this. He then listens for Lex’s heartbeat, and the team goes to confront Lex, only to find it was a trap. Waiting for the team is Task Force X.
During the fight with the Suicide Squad, Lex and Shaw escape. Regardless, the Suicide Squad seems to have the advantage as Enchantress rips the arms off of Batman’s Batmech, and Peacemaker gets a lucky shot on Flash.
Batman is quick to take out Peacemaker while Superman rushes to Flash. Using his X-Ray Vision, Superman is able to see that the bullet only grazed Flash. Still, Superman is concerned that Barry might have suffered a concussion. Batman says that he will tend to Barry, and Superman leaves to deal with the problem at its root, Luthor.
Again using his heartbeat, Superman traces Lex to Hollow Earth, the original home of Kong. Luthor is there to confront The Man of Steel alone. Luthor is confident because he knows that Superman and Supergirl have weakened powers on this Earth. He also knows that Hollow Earth, which is towards the center of the Earth, has no Sun. Before Lex can capitalize on his believed advantage, they are both attacked.
Story – 3: This second issue, while good, is just okay. It does its job, though, in bringing the story forward. We do not know yet the agenda of Colonel Leland Lafayette Shaw III, or what Luthor is hoping to get out of aligning himself with Shaw. After killing Amanda Waller in the first issue, Luthor and the rest of the Suicide Squad have no allegiance to Shaw. However, Shaw does claim to have control of the incendiary devices implanted in their necks, and for this reason or for some other reason, Luthor chooses to fall in line.
Since being on the Monsterverse Earth, the heroes seem to be on their heels, largely on the defensive. It is established that Superman and Supergirl have a weakened power set on this Earth. And now with the Flash at least temporarily out of commission, and along with him, Batman. The team is split even further as Superman has confronted Luthor, leaving Wonder Woman and Supergirl to continue the fight with the Suicide Squad.
With Wonder Woman in general known as one of the strongest members of the Justice League, you would not think that is the case from this issue. There are two times that she is saved, and we do not know why she needed help either time. The first time she was saved was by the Flash. Our only context is that Killer Croc suddenly attacks Kong, and she is hovering between them. The scene has no dialogue or visual explanations that Wonder Woman needed to be saved. The second time is when Supergirl immediately stops negotiating with Kong to save Wonder Woman. There was no follow-up after Supergirl leaves Kong for us to know what help Wonder Woman needed. So maybe that will be explained in the next issue. But regardless, when Batman leaves Wonder Woman to finish up with the Suicide Squad, he says, “I assume you can handle things here.” Wonder Woman in a cool moment responds, “Of course. Did you bring my things?” After Batman takes her to his Batmech, we see her in the next panel with her sword and shield flying in to confront Captain Boomerang, Peacemaker, Enchantress, and Giganta.
Godzilla and none of the other Titans make an appearance as this is a Kong-centric issue.
Art – 4: The art is still a 4 out of 5, despite the mediocre story. I believe that the poor storytelling in this issue has more to do with the writing and not art, at least when it comes to those unexplained scenes with Wonder Woman “needing” to be saved.
Christian Duce is still able to shine in a five-page battle scene between Kong and Killer Croc. Capped by the fifth page with Duce’s excellent art and sequential storytelling. On the page, we see Kong land two devastating blows on Croc, but just before he is able to land a humongous third, Superman and Supergirl fly in to shove him miles away from the fight while at the same time immediately return in the first panel of the next page.
The fifth page is broken into thirds. In the center of the page is a horizontal inset panel showing Kong about to drop a devastating double axe-handle blow on a defenseless Croc with a bombastic “Rwoooaar”. The use of the horizontal panel works to great effect as it is able to express fast action moving to the right of the panel. With Kong and Croc in the center of the panel, we see two red streaks moving towards Kong. The final third of the page ends with an inset close-up panel revealing the red streaks as Superman and Supergirl with their hands in a forward pushing motion. In the final panel, we see Kong is being pushed with a “Whump” as Croc is left in the background. Because of Duce’s storytelling, even though we do not see what is propelling Kong, we know it is Superman and Supergirl.Cover Art – 3: The main cover by Christian Duce has the Suicide Squad as onlookers of a battle of Titans, Killer Croc is facing off against Kong. Our eyes are immediately drawn towards Killer Croc. The coloring in the cover is muted in an almost monochromatic way,
There are variant covers by Yasmine Putri, Alan Quah, and Lucas Meyer.
The Putri variant is silly but fun. As Giganta is trying to get Godzilla in a rear-naked chokehold, Harley Quinn is posing for a picture with herself and Godzilla. The photographer is Killer Croc.
The Quah variant is a stylized cover with a Bourque-Esque layout. It features Wonder Woman with Giganta and Killer Croc fighting Rodan and a horde of Skullcrawlers.
The Meyer is the best of the three variants. It is a clean, realistic, but still classic DC house style. It features this stories Suicide Squad and Mothra.
There is one Incentive Cover: Kevin Maguire (1:25). The Kevin Maguire variant is the second in a themed series. This cover, like issue one, features one Hero and one Titan. Also, like the issue one, the cover is a close-up shot of that Titan, in this case, Kong. The featured hero is Wonder Woman, who, to Kong’s surprise, is breaking out of his grip.
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