MEGA #2 – Review

MEGA #2, from Red 5 Comics on January 19th, 2022, brings for the Sentinel, nicknamed “Mega”, to stop the Salamander before it destroys the world and releases its brethren.

The Details

• Written By: Salvador Sanz
• Art By: Salvador Sanz
• Colors By: Salvador Sanz
• Letters By: Martin Casanova
• Cover Art By: Salvador Sanz
• Cover Price: $3.99
• Release Date: January 19, 2022

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Was It Good?

How do write a Godzilla comic without writing a Godzilla comic? This is how you do it.

Bookending this two-part story from Salvador Sanz, MEGA #2 concludes Earth’s first encounter with the giant Kaiju known secretly as the Jackals. We were impressed with the immense size and scope in the first issue and with how well Sanz managed to tell a small, intimate story about a little girl while tying her story into a monster invasion of world-ending proportions. In every way, this story captures the dramatic essence of the best Godzilla films by combining the awe-inspiring devastation with a human drama.

MEGA #2 continues from the events in issue #1 but stands out in two key areas. First, say it with me – “Kaiju Fight”. Sanz’s art in this issue is outstanding. The Kaijus look massive. They look terrifying. And their movements feel BIG. The way Sanz meticulously renders tiny grooves, textures, and minute details on every panel to give the scenery a sense of distance are amazing. You feel like you’re viewing the battle from miles away, and the way the monsters are added into the scenery at just the right scale makes them look even bigger. The art in this issue is a masterclass in creating scale through proportion and perspective.

Second, the pacing is breakneck for a double-sized issue. There are multiple pages with multiple panels that don’t have a single word of dialog because the action is doing all the talking. To be clear, the action isn’t cartoony rock ’em sock ’em action. It’s massive destruction that feels like the devastation from a natural disaster such as a tsunami or an earthquake. But somehow, the slow, rolling, building destruction moves at a sprint that never lets up. You could almost run through the 40+ pages while holding your breath and have time to spare. The scale and scope could be one masterclass, but the pacing could be a masterclass all on its own.

If it wasn’t clear by now, everything about this two-parter is impressive. Thankfully, the last pages leave the door open for more destruction to come in the future. Let’s hope so.

What’s It About?

[SPOILERS AHEAD – Click here if you just want the score without spoilers]

If you’re not sure where these monsters came from and why they’ve emerged now, first read our MEGA #1 review to get primed.

When last we left the story, Tina blew the horn her grandfather left for her to awaken and call the Sentinel, the giant monster left to guard the prison cells holding the evil Kaiju collectively known to her grandfather as the Jackals. We begin the issue with the Sentinel’s emergence from its slumber. It takes up its weapon and heads toward the large Kaiju the publicly has nicknamed the Salamander.

Meanwhile, Tina’s father finds her dog outside. It’s dead and its eyes are missing. When Tina comes looking for the dog, her father tries to tell a white lie to explain the death, but Tina already knows it was killed by the, as she calls it, Bat-spider monster outside her window. We learn later the monster at her window is a small member of the Jackals that’s come looking for the Sentinel horn.

Soon, the Sentinel arrives onshore and heads to the Salamander to begin an epic battle in every sense of the word. We conclude the issue with a titanic battle with an uncertain outcome, Tina speaking to her grandfather in her dreams and receiving a warning about what’s to come, and a repeat of the ritual that freed the Salamander.

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