In this review of Godzilla #5, a battle begins between Godzilla and Yacumama. But there’s another one also brewing.
Godzilla #5
Writer: Tim Seeley
Art and Main Cover: Nikola Čižmešija
Variant Covers: Isaac Sánchez, Bob Eggleton
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: December 3, 2025
This review contains spoilers
Godzilla #5 opens with a battle between Godzilla and Yacumama, a giant luke-worm kaiju, deep underground, with the G-Force caught in the middle. An argument breaks out between Dr. Chiba and Riviera regarding their opposing tactics on how to quell these monsters. Riviera believes if Yacumama is successful in killing the Jolly-Green-Giant, than their biggest problem will be solved. However, Dr. Chiba knows that a larger plot is afoot, and that the Yacumama was actually causing Godzilla to attack major American cities.
A sudden psychic backlash to Dr. Chiba interrupts their discussion, revealing that experimentation in Kai-sei energy led tot eh development of an anti-kai-sei, which could be used to destroy the planet. Godzilla was seeking to destroy it’s avatar, which developed in the form of Yacumama.
Yacumama’s mutant disciple, Lament, urges the beast and G-Force to finally kill Godzilla, but Chiba’s pleas to Jacen’s logic works and the team rallies against the giant worms. Because Yacumama absorbs Kai-Sei energy, Jacen can’t attack the monster directly. Chiba urges Godzilla to retreat in order to starve the worms. Nuki is kidnapped by some of Yacumama’s tendrils, and the team is forced to go after her.
Jacen reaches the beast, but is at an impasses as he can’t use his powers without feeding the worms. Godzilla appears and the two team up, with Jacen overclocking ‘Zilla’s heat ray enough to split up the worm in two. They run into the tunnels to starve one of the worms of energy, and the rest of G-force destroy the other.
After Yacumama’s defeat, Lament taunts Jacen with the truth of his origins: the facility his mother was working at was experimenting of Kai-sei energy to develop a cure for cancer. Envious of the capacity of the facility, Godzilla attacked, using the full force of his atomic breath. This combined with the treatment mutated Jacen’s mother into Lament herself. Jacen, enraged, attacks Godzilla, closing out the issue to be continued in the next.
If I had to pick one word to describe Godzilla #5, it’s “visual”. Pretty broad and neutral, I know, but apt considering the sheer amount of images and eye popping effects on display. This sometimes leans into the realm of sensory overload. There’s more than a few times where the flow of reading is interrupted by chaotic paneling and the hyper-saturation of the images. The panel order on the double page splash of page 2-3, while flashy and big in scope, is hard to read.
What is also confusing is the space in which the action is happening and where characters inhabit. While I sympathize the instinct to set a major action sequence somewhere with sparse backgrounds (in this issue’s case, under the earth), it also makes blocking, perspective and scale ambiguous. This is a hinderance when considering we’re dealing with kaiju-sized antagonists, not mention goes against the spirit of the genre. Isn’t the whole point to see these guys smash up cities or watercrafts?
That being said, there’s still a lot to enjoy about the art. All the digital effects really sell the lasers, psychic energies, missiles and atomic breath that make up the action scenes. The lettering has come a long way since the first issue as well, onomatopoeia and sound effects (as well as custom word balloons and caption boxes) make the work feel intentional.
Godzilla #5, more than any previous issue of the seires, leans the most into Seeley’s big-two writing instincts, for better or for worse. The plan to split Yacumama into multiple parts to starve it out feels like it’s been used in any number of genre film or superhero comic in the past. It’s a little cliche heavy, but the action heavy pacing of this issue evens it out. What I don’t think I can abide is the twist that Lament is really Jacen’s mother. Not only do I not buy it, I’m completely baffled if there was any setup for it at all. You can’t just rip off the biggest twist in cinematic history and not have me notice.
Overall, while an exciting comic visually, Godzilla #5’s writing choices bring it down to a so-so experience. With plot contrivances out of the way, however, next issue promises to be more drag-out fighting, which I do look forward to.
