Writer & Artist: James Stokoe
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Released: 15th July 2015
If you want a two-minute book about Godzilla falling into Hell, and smacking demons upside the head, then this is the book for you.
There is no dialogue, Godzilla doesn’t talk, he gets angry, and beats things up.
I like his attitude. Leave him alone, and he’ll leave you alone. Cause him trouble, and he’ll sort you out.
The art in this book has scope, it’s big, it’s red, it’s fiery, it’s dangerous, it’s hellish, and there’s Godzilla amidst it all, not caring one jot. It’s big here, but so what? Its bottom kicking time.
This is a fun book, but there’s one note of seriousness that I want to address. The Hell in this book is full of people, tides of people, they are faceless, grains of sand in an endless storm of misery.
Why so many people? Surely you have to be really evil to get thrown into the fiery pits of Hell? Don’t you have to do something really, really, really bad to get there?
Nope, you don’t have to be Hitler or Tony Blair to get into Hell. All you need is to be the ‘good’ sort who spends his life keeping his head down, not making waves, paying the bills, paying taxes, paying for the state.
Hell is full of people who tolerate evil, and spend their lives doing nothing to stop it. It was easier to go along to get along, rather than doing something to make the world a better place, so they do nothing, and evil continues to rule the world.
This mentality of co-operation allows tyranny to continue, not just in the past, but today as well, and the people in charge only maintain their positions because of the quiet acquiescence of the silent, cowardly masses.
That silent, cowardly acquiescence has a price, and the Hell of the afterlife is a living metaphor that becomes all too real when you put down your comic book and take a look at the world around you.
Have a look. Who is in charge of the world? Evil mate, evil is in charge of the world, and who put it there?
That was us, we put it there, and we continue to support it every single day.
Hell is not an abstract construct, a child’s story fed to you by religious leaders in order to scare and pacify you into obedience to their control system. Hell is what we have created through passive, silent, quiet acquiescence to uniformed, governmental authority figures.
Hell is not in the after-life.
Hell is this world.
We are living in Hell.
Hell is now.
Don’t kid yourself about this book. It’s very basic, very, very basic. It’s a toilet book. A book that you will flip through on the bog, enjoy the art, colouring and ass kicking, and then stick on your wall, or keep for your collection because it was a lot of fun and you really like the cover.
I got the Jeff Zornow cover (the one at the top of this review) and it’s cool, really, really cool. I love it, it’s going on my wall, and it’s going to look bloody amazing there.
I enjoyed Godzilla in Hell #1 as the two-minute funfair ride that it is. The book made me smile, that’s enough for me, making me smile is not so easy. I’m an overly serious bugger, so big kudos to Mr. James Stokoe, the artist and writer of this comic book. You achieved the damned near impossible James. You made this ranting and raving reality junkie comic book reviewer drop his guard, relax, smile and actually enjoy himself for a change.
Cheers mate. Thanks for the book, sorry about the Hell rant in this review, but that’s what I’m like. Annoying, relentless, self-righteous git that I am, one hint of real world concerns and off I go, ranting away, screaming into the vast, empty, indifferent Internet void, chopping away at the beast that controls the world, and sounding away like the only sane person left in a world-wide psychiatric ward.
Rating: 7/10 (Silly colourful comic book fun)
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