Godzilla Rivals: Vs. Manda

by Jake Lawrence

Genres: Comics

Kindle Edition

Published July 31, 2024

Reviews

[Jon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I recently found these Rivals comics, so I figured I’d start out with this one and the Mothra vs Hedorah issues. The coolest thing about them is the art work, this one in particular kind of veered into, “okay, this is borderline unprofessional, but I’ll stick with it.” The art for the monsters was cool, and I liked the brief moments that Manda and Goji were able to fight. The weakness of these comics lies in their story. Between this one and the Mothra/Hedorah one, even though we’re in a fantasy world, there’s just something unbelievable about the way they’re telling the story. For Manda, we get a woman who is wanting to keep her fishing boat career going despite it being a dying business. Would have been more believable if it was a guy, but hey, it’s the world of comics where we’re stomping on gender roles like Goji stomps enemies. Overall, it’s not a terrible way to spend a few minutes, and you’ll see some cool monster art. Story is very weak and they’d be better off making the monsters fight more. An example of a comic that nailed it was Godzilla in Hell. After reading both issues, I feel like the goal of each insular story is to produce the dumbest human story possible.

[Nicholas Driscoll · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this a lot--the childlike art, the quirky but funny characters, the adventures at sea, the big fish tales. It feels like a tie-in with Dave the Diver, which I still really need to try out. Just a lot of fun to read, a quick adventure that feels satisfying and exciting without overstaying its welcome.

[Valéria. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and quick story. Ordered it without even looking at what’s inside, was shocked but kinda nicely surprised what kind of artwork was in there.

[mooniepal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now this 🤌 This was very good!! Immediately got the vibes this story was trying to deliver. The characters were quirky & fun; plus I love the art style ❤️‍🩹

[Anthony Crabtree · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a simple story with some really cool artwork. The artwork might not necessarily fit the typical Godzilla tale, but here? It works.