The blockbuster Big G miniseries comes to a violent conclusion. Is it good?
Godzilla: Cataclysm #5 (IDW Publishing)
Destroyah shows up, both as a badass kaiju and a manifestation of Hiroshi’s guilt about the part he played in the world ending cataclysm. As he, Shiori, and Artra run from Destroyah’s crabby minions, two things happen.
– A (somewhat contrived) reconciliation between Hiroshi and his grandson.
– A tragic death in the midst of a desperate prayer.
“WE’VE WAITED ON THE TOILET SEAT LONG ENOUGH! ATTACK!”
It’s never made clear if the prayer or some other force draws Godzilla into the fight, but once he appears, things really get cooking. The action gets ramped up a notch when Mothra shows up again, this time on the side of Big G.
At the conclusion of the beautifully rendered rumble, we’re left with a world that might have a chance…if the whims of its new gods allow it.
Is It Good?
For a lot of writers… a lot of very good writers… ambiguous endings are a great way to get out of trouble. You’ve written this really cool story, but you can’t wrap it up. So instead, you leave your plot threads up in the air, make a vague closing statement, and pretend it has a much deeper meaning than you ever truly intended.
It’s frustrating as hell. Luckily, that is not what Cullen Bunn did.
At first glance, the ending to Godzilla: Cataclysm seems like a bit of a deus ex machina — especially when you’ve got monsters changing sides and seeming to shift their motivations.
But if you look at the story carefully, Bunn planted the seeds (pun intended) for this ending throughout the entire story. Hiroshi’s mental connection to the monsters was his greatest ability and his worst sin. Could it have also been his salvation in the form of a prayer?
Another theme that runs a bit more along the Lovecraftian side of things: Who the heck knows what these monstrous gods want? Maybe Hiroshi’s (maybe) psychic plea wasn’t nearly as effective as Destroyah showing up and tiring Godzilla out. Perhaps Mothra helped her former adversary because as much as she hated Big G, Destroyah was a much bigger douche. There’s a very good chance that a human’s prayers mean nothing to these cosmic forces of destruction that took our planet for themselves.
Destroyah doesn’t care about your gluten allergy!
All these ideas were explored, expanded, and agitated to a fever pitch by the series’ end. It not only makes the conclusion fair, but incredibly poignant as well. To be honest, I was a lot more offended by the too quick reconciliation between Hiroshi and his grandson then I was by the beautifully haunting final pages.
It should also go without saying by this point that the art by David Wachter is out of this world. He and Bunn have combined for a classic entry in Godzilla’s rich comic history. Whether you’re an old school fan of the Toho monsters or just got into it after the 2014, this is a series that you’re sure to enjoy.
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