It all comes down to dumb luck.
Creative Staff:
Story: James Patrick
Art: Rem Broo
Colors: Rem Broo
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
What They Say:
The good news is that the crew for the Kaiju Score is very close to pulling off a heist that will set them up for the rest of their lives. The bad news is that two kaiju are tearing the city apart as they try to finish the job. It’s all on the line now: tens of millions in art, their very lives, and even their souls. It’s going to end one way or another, and not everyone is going to make it out alive.
The final chapter in the first story arc of this exciting franchise being developed as a film by Sony Pictures!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Kaiju Score comes in with its fourth and final issue that lets James Patrick roll with some big set piece moments here but with all the right kind of humanity. I’ve definitely enjoyed his run on this book and one of the biggest pluses, weird to say, is that it clocks in at four issues. Too many series stretch things out to six and it just doesn’t work, feeling too padded instead. Unsurprisingly, Rem Broo gets to put together a great looking book with some really great action material across the board with the kaiju but also the smaller and more personal pieces between the human cast. And it even managed to get in a full epilogue piece while setting up for the future.
The tension is right there from the start with this issue as we get Marco and Michelle working on dealing with the safe in trying to get to it while the two kaiju prepare to fight. Michelle’s not sure she can do this with as tense as it is and that doesn’t help when Pierson shows up and reveals that he killed Palmiero and is intent on cleaning up some loose ends here as well with the plan to get into the safe. We know what he’s all about after his spiel in the previous issue and seeing how Michelle works on the safe just as the kaiju start up with their fight really does a great job in building all of this tension. Nothing is going right and they’re so close to getting everything that they’re after, but the kaiju started fighting too early and there’s even a twist in the fight that makes the final getaway even harder.
Of course, Pierson has to make his threats along the way as well as he intends to take the whole score and kill everyone so that he can be fully and finally out. It’s understandable to a degree because he knows the crowd he’s running with but he just makes everything harder with the reveals coming before everything is done. Especially in that he knows that Michelle isn’t Gina even if he can’t pin down the truth of it. I love how it unfolds but also because of what we get from the kaiju in not operating as predicted in that it surprises everyone. The kaiju definitely bring their own problems to bear on the heist but I love the way the fight to the death plays out, from the intense stillness at the start as they prepare to the twist in what they’re truly capable of. And with a great epilogue that gives us a look at how everyone ends up in classic heist style, it’s the perfect sendoff.
In Summary:
Well, I’m looking forward to this, or a variant of this, to make it to the big screen eventually. There are a lot of stories that can be told about kaiju and James Patrick put together a good world concept for them here as a top-level concept but then got into the real fun of what it would be like to try and pull off a heist amid the arrival of not just one but two kaiju. The cast was straightforward heist style material but it played well against the backdrop as well as with the interactions between them. The series coming in at four issues was also incredibly smart as it didn’t overstay its welcome and instead kept its energy tight and secure rather than with a ton of downtime that became boring. I can easily see how it can be expanded theatrically as well that will enhance and tell the story better for that medium. Regardless, the book stands on its own and I hope we get a return to this world for a lot more.
Grade: A-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: AfterShock Comics
Release Date: February 24th, 2021
MSRP: $4.99
