Kaiju Score #1 - Review

Writer: James Patrick

Artist: Rem Broo

Letterer: Dave Sharpe

Published by: Aftershock Comics

I’ll be honest, I asked to review this comic solely on the basis that Kaiju was in the title. And you know what, I’m glad that I did, because Patrick and Broo have thought up a pretty interesting concept that kept my attention throughout the issue. 

The premise of the comic is simple: a man named Marco wants to put together a crew to pull off a heist, which sounds pretty typical of a heist story. However, there is the added caveat that the world he inhabits has Kaiju (large-scale monsters) that are tracked and make landfall like you would see with hurricanes and that the heist he is planning will be done during one of these Kaiju landfalls.

The first issue follows quite closely the typical blueprint of a heist story, with each character with a certain quirk. Partick introduces the reader to the main character Marco,the idea man who keeps forgetting one detail; this is followed by the crew he’ll have: the safe-cracker who is not who they seem, the equipment guy who has earned the nickname Black Cat because he’s become a jinx during jobs, and the money man and his bodyguard (?) who is the lowest of the low. 

It’s a very fun premise that I enjoyed quite a bit as I read. The addition of Kaiju to the story allows for some unpredictability once the heist is underway- as this issue is used solely as set up. The dialogue is pretty sharp as well throughout, and I quite enjoyed it for the most part, though the overuse of a certain four-letter word was a little much to my tastes. 

Broo’s art is a real selling point to this issue. The character work is really sharp and you are never trying to figure out who is who. When the character of Marco is explaining to the reader aspects of the migration of the mullet fish, Broo’s art style changes and it some of the prettiest pages I’ve seen in a while - his color work using reds is really, really nice. The kaiju design, of the one we see in this issue, is also really cool looking.