Godzilla: Heist, the Comic Story

Godzilla is surprisingly fast for his size and he is always furious. Still, he is not an obvious accomplice for a caper, because he is impossible to control. Nevertheless, there is no denying he can create quite a distraction. That is what Jai will count on in the collected issues of Van Jensen’s Godzilla: Heist, illustrated by Kelsey Ramsay, which goes on-sale this Tuesday.

The highly motivated Jai discovered how to use radio frequencies to lure Godzilla to a location, like a casino in Macau, and to employ an energy beam focus his fury on a specific area, like a vault. Jai’s fleet of spherical drones also help lead Godzilla back to the sea, once he has secured the loot. It goes off like clockwork thanks to the big guy, but it is only a warm up for the main event.

Soon, a professional crew of hardboiled thieves and mercs approaches Jai for help with a really big score. They don’t explain why, but they want Godzilla’s help (via Jai) to break into a vault underneath the British Defense Ministry at Whitehall. Jai plays it cool, but that was his plan all along.

Obviously, Jai intends to double-cross them at some point, so it is a safe bet the Roman Letter Gang (Alpha, Beta, Kappa, Chi) would double-cross him too. The question is where will the inevitable triple-cross come into play. Of course, none of this matters to Godzilla, who will be smashing things regardless.

These are bulish days for Godzilla. On the big screen, Godzilla Minus One was a breakout hit, while in comics, Godzilla has encountered Marvel and DC superheroes—and even the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. Jensen’s Heist is a clever concept and the execution clearly shows a deep understanding and affection for the Kaiju genre. It is fun in an aptly capery way, but Jensen still addresses the human collateral damage (including a lot of British servicemen guarding Whitehall).

Frankly, Jai is really the only character who gets much development, but his motivations are fully explained. Most of the bad guys are basically stock figures, but seriously, they are going to be overshadowed by Godzilla anyway.

Ramsay’s human character designs are a bit “cartoonier” than you might expect, but he does full justice to the shock and awe of Godzilla. Still, the way Heist translated to digital galleys suggests some of the lettering could have been cleaner.

The important thing is Godzilla: Heist lives up to its title. There is plenty of Godzilla, and a big messy heist. It is a fan-pleasing way to present the King that would probably be too idiosyncratic for Legendary’s Monsterverse films and series. Recommended for fans, the bind-up of Godzilla: Heist releases this Tuesday (1/13).