Mild Mannered Reviews – Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong #5

Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong #5 [of 7]

Scheduled to arrive in stores: February 20, 2024
Cover date: April 2024

“Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong”

Writer: Brian Buccellato
Artist: Christian Duce and Tom Derenick
Cover: Drew Johnson and Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Variant Cover: Jock
Variant Cover: Michael Cho
1:25 Variant Cover: Puppeteer Lee
1:50 Variant Cover: E.M. Gist

Reviewed by: JP Rocha

In this world at least, Lois has a working relationship with Mercy Graves. This issue starts off with Lois trying to persuade Mercy into helping. Mercy shares information on Godzilla and the monsters that Lex has captured from Monarch in their world. Also after being missing for most of the last issue, Supergirl is at the Fortress of Solitude with Lois. Supergirl reveals that Superman, who is still out of commission, is not dead, but he is dying.

Picking up from the last issue in Atlantis, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern are with Aquaman and Mera as they try to protect Atlantis from one of the monsters and Godzilla. The Kraken was released to help draw the monsters away from Atlantis. Meanwhile, Flash is looking for the beacon that has drawn the monsters to Atlantis in the first place. Wonder Woman and Green Lantern do what they can to protect the city from being destroyed.

The story then cuts to the South Pacific Ocean aboard the cargo ship with Green Arrow and the giant skull. Green Arrow is not alone though, as he is found by the League of Assassins. After doing everything he can, he is forced to create a diversion and escape the ship into the open waters of the Pacific Ocean. As Cyborg and Batman discuss strategy, Batman and the Titans are constructing something large that can help them against the monsters.

Supergirl has returned to Skull Island to find Green Arrow missing and Gorilla Grodd with an army of gorilla warriors at the gate. Looking to control Kong, Grodd’s mind powers fail him. Instead, he settles to control Supergirl who he then uses to knock Kong out.

The Legion of Doom who is still looking for Toyman, keeps coming up empty handed as they only left to assume that Toyman just disappeared. Batman and Cyborg have been trying to get a hold of Shazam who has gone silent since Superman’s infirmity. They finally get in contact with Shazam but a little too late as he has turned on their orders. Shazam has arrived at the Legion of Doom arctic headquarters in an attempt to defeat the whole group by himself or die trying.

Cutting back to Atlantis, Green Lantern is using his ring to plug a hole in the cracking dome of Atlantis while Mera and her team work to fix the damage made by the rampaging monsters. Feeling exhausted and alone, Hal is joined just in time by John Steward, Guy Gardner, Simon Baz, and Jessica Cruz who help fix the destruction.

The story ends with Lex finishing and plugging into his Mechagodzilla and with Ra’s al Ghul greeting the arrival of the giant skull.

Story – 4: While the story has never dropped in quality, it really is starting to pick up pace again. All the pieces are starting to fall in place building up to the book’s conclusion. Although Superman has been out of commission since the end of the second issue, we know he will be back to play a major role in the conclusion of the story. While everyone would like to find Toyman and the Dreamstone, it seems he must be hiding back in the Legendary Monster World. By no surprise, Ra’s al Ghul took the giant head most likely to resurrect King Ghidorah.


Art – 3: Christian Duce’s art, especially his monster drawings, is just great. We get a splash page of Mechagodzilla to showcase Duce’s design. Although it is dark and static, I am looking forward to seeing this design in action. Tom Derenick again, fills in for six pages.


Cover Art – 4: This is a very intriguing layout drawn by Drew Johnson. We see members of the Justice League facing us as they react to Godzilla. It is apparent that the heroes are reacting to Godzilla because his reflection is in the Hall of Justice behind them. Some of the characters look a little wonky as we see Superman’s reaction and Wonder Woman’s arm and dagger (sorry sword).

This is a great set of variant covers. The best is the Michael Cho variant, with Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Batman, and Kong. The Puppeteer Lee is an interesting variant with a high quality drawn Godzilla, Wonder Woman, and Batman. The problem with the variant is the characters have their backs facing us. There are also issues with Lee’s Superman.


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