Wednesday Comics Reviews: MOTHRA – QUEEN OF MONSTERS soars over a strong week

This week the Wednesday Comics Reviews team tackles a couple returns with Monkey Meat – Summer Batch and Usagi Yojimbo – Ten Thousand Plums, plus the crashing arrival of Mothra – Queen of Monsters, and more. We also look ahead at a new titles eligible for pre-order, specifically I Was A Fashion School Serial Killer. Plus, as always…The Prog Report!

Mothra – Queen of Monsters #1

Story by Sophie Campbell
Art by Matt Frank and Sophie Campbell
Letters by Nathan Widick
Publisher: IDW Publishing

Review by Jordan Jennings

Mothra – Queen of Monsters #1 establishes a world that is deeply unbalanced and the stakes are quickly established with Mothra’s defeat in the opening page by new kaiju Antra. Mothra has fallen in battle and with no Mothra egg in sight, the cycle of life has ground to a halt. Things are bad and they are only getting worse as more and more monsters wake up with Mothra defeated. It is up to twins Mira and Emi to bring back the Queen of Monsters and save life itself. 

Writer Sophie Campbell is best known for her work as the creative force behind a lengthy run on IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. She is one of my personal favorite writer/artists in comics and I was ecstatic to see her in this book. Campbell does a solid job establishing this derelict post-apocalyptic ant controlled world. She makes use of narration from the POV of Mira as is forced to grow up in the ruins of her city. The opening lines of “I hate you, Mothra. You changed everything that day. “ gives us a great insight to the character’s motivation and animosity towards Mothra. 

Campbell’s story is briskly paced. It is extremely efficient in setting up the world and making room for the characters and plot. The ending of the issue provides a lot of mystery and intrigue than I expected with the introduction of Antra’s own twin handmaidens. This gives Antra more weight as a developed monster with his comparable lore and elevates her above other arthropod Kaiju like Kumonga or Eibrah. 

Artist Matt Frank is a regular feature of Godzilla comics and it shows. He knows his way around kaiju and in Mothra: Queen of Monsters #1, he provides a visceral art style that just begs to be read. The character design and body language is a strong point. Mira’s emotional journey is carried by Frank’s art. Throughout the comic, Frank uses a variety of panel layouts that are manga inspired with the triangular shape. This gives a great sense of action and dynamic flow to the story. It really compliments the brisk pace that Campbell is setting out for the story. 

The colors by Matt Frank are something special as well. This is a world that is largely gray and drab but he uses bright vibrant reds to signify the supernatural be it the twins Red color motif throughout the story or Antra itself.  Additionally, the pops of red draw the readers’ eyes across the page in a great way that helps build speed. 

Campbell is credited as the artist on pages 9 and 17 and they simultaneously blend into Frank’s style while still being definitively “Sophie Cambpell”. There is a two-page spread that is set in the time of Dinosaurs that is absolutely gorgeous to look at. The continuity of the art really speaks to how the creative team complements each other. 

I am overjoyed to see a new Mothra series from IDW. The lepidopteran kaiju is one of my favorites as she is ostensibly the protector of life and Earth itself unlike its more famous reptilian counterpart. Mothra stories largely revolve around an almost mythological pattern of death and rebirth and that is no different here. Antra is an interesting Kaiju for Mothra to face off against and the ending leaves me wanting more. The writing and art complement each other in this wonderful way that makes for a near perfect first issue. This series is a must BUY for any Godzilla fan.

Usagi Yojimbo – Ten Thousand Plums #1

Writer/Artist/Letterer: Stan Sakai
Colorist: Hi-Fi Colour Design
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

Review by D. Morris

The late great British DJ John Peel once described his favorite band The Fall as “They are always different; they are always the same”. Someone could say the same about the long running masterpiece Usagi Yojimbo by Stan Sakai.

Always reliable in its excellence, but also Sakai, as a master cartoonist, always finds new ways to keep it interesting for him and readers. The last half decade has seen more stories involving yokai, a steampunked influenced team up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and the introduction of a significant new character in Usagi’s young cousin Yukichi, who is his new traveling companion.

The opening to the latest story arc, Ten Thousand Plums, provides yet another display of his agility as a storyteller. Most of the elements will be familiar to long-time readers; political intrigue, detours into Japanese folklore and magic, and the beloved rhinoceros bounty hunter Gen. Yet this story reconfigures those elements in new ways. The story opens like a folk tale before becoming a mystery of who might be destroying a town’s plum trees, plum trees favored by the shogun.

Gen’s interactions with Usagi are a staple of the series, However, this is the first story where the bounty hunter will spend significant time with Yukichi. The set up offers a lot of comic potential for a character unaware of Gen’s wily ways. This ability to reconfigure his long running series is why Usagi Yojimbo remains a series that only seems to get better with age.

Rapid Wednesday Comics Reviews

• Blade Forger #1 (Mad Cave Studios): At a pretty quick pace writers Inaki Miranda (who is the artist) and Roy Miranda with colors by Eve De La Cruz and letters by Dave Sharpe craft a story of changing hands of power, imperialism, resource scarcity and a desperate people looking for change. We see a population whose faith in utopia is placed on the back of one man (Owada) with an incredible gift in the form of his summoned battle kaiser and incredible swordsmanship. The concept of the battle kaisers doesn’t have a ton of explanation in this first issue but the idea quickly falls into place especially with the understanding that these are summoned spirits that definitely feel influenced by stands in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. The art is energetic and the characters are expressive, weaving between big action set pieces to quiet, tender moments; I love Miranada’s line work, the sense of movement and choice of moment on the pages as we move through Owada’s life. This is only made better by De La Cruz’s saturated colors and Sharpe’s lettering really pulling it all together. We get a very quick exploration of his journey but he is presented as someone likeable, someone easy to root for, at least up until the close of the book where things are left pretty ambiguous and with a lot of intrigue for how the rest of the series will shape out. Blade Forger #1 gives us a lot in a short time, establishing an imperial conflict with a desperate populace and based on the creators’ inspiration, its connections to our reality are no coincidence. I think this story is worth engaging with. —Khalid Johnson
• Monkey Meat – The Summer Batch #1 (Image Comics): When the first five issues of Monkey Meat were published in 2022, it felt like we as readers were lucky to be getting such an imaginative and idiosyncratic set of comics. The book was an anthology series, unified by its setting and the Monkey Meat Company that presided over it. The singular vision of cartoonist Juni Ba, those five issues established Monkey Meat as a great canvas for telling stories that could go from offering deep commentary on world power structures to telling character-driven stories that felt (relatively) grounded and relatable. In this week’s Monkey Meat – The Summer Batch the book picks up right where it felt off: by pushing in fun and fascinating new directions. In this issue, Ba is playing with comics in really interesting ways. There’s basically two stories in this book, one that entirely lack dialouge and uses the cartooning, SFX, and symbology to tell its story; and another is text heavy. But there’s a sense of fun and kinetic cartooning throughout that tie them both together. The end result is a comic that will feel both familiar and new to fans of Monkey Meat, and it’s one that’s also an excellent jumping on point for new readers. —Zack Quaintance

FOC Watch

This book is available for pre-order now.

I Was a Fashion School Serial Killer #1

Writer: Doug Wagner
Artist: Daniel Hillyard
Letterer: Ed Dukeshire
Colorist: Michelle Madsen
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: April 2, 2025

Review by Jared Bird

Starting somewhere new is always an awfully complicated experience. Particularly when you’ve got a penchant for fashion and an insatiable need to kill. I Was a Fashion School Serial Killer #1 sees Doug Warner and Daniel Hillyard, the team behind comics such as Plush and Plastic, present the world with a brand new serial killer story for readers to fall in love with.

Rennie Bethary’s just been accepted into the most prestigious fashion school in all of New York. She exclusively wears clothes she makes, and stands out for her visceral and unique designs. Little do those surrounding her know, her clothes are made from body parts, and she’s got an insatiable need to kill, even if she just wants to focus on fashion. Part teen drama, part mystery, and part horror, the series reminds me a lot of 1990’s and 2000’s classics like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. It takes that tone and goes further with it, really pushing on what the audience might be expecting and dedicating itself to committing to its tone. That alone makes it worthwhile to check out if you have any interest in the premise.

Doug Wagner’s writing is tight and energetic. Rennie’s internal narration is the highlight of the issue in my opinion, a totally immersive and engaging element of the story that really adds depth to some of the sequences that otherwise could seem frivolous. He balances the various tones well in the dialogue and sets up a lot of potential plot dynamics and story elements without feeling heavy handed or overly dramatic.

Daniel Hillyard’s artwork particularly shines during the expressive character sequences and the explosive moments of violence and gore, particularly towards the end of the issue. He also has a skill in character design, which helps the setting of the book feel more well realised and thought out. Some sequences feel a little bare in terms of backgrounds, but it’s never distracting enough that you notice unless you look really closely. Colorist Michelle Madsen adds a vibrant energy to the book befitting its teen-drama style, and the two work well in sync with each other.

Overall, I Was a Fashion School Serial Killer #1 is a fun read and seems to be building to something interesting. Even hardened horror genre fans will find something to latch on to, and the series has a solid emotional throughline that makes it feel fresh and interesting, even if in premise the book seems familiar. Two talented creators are giving it their all and that’s always an exciting thing to read and see on the page, and the series’ unique setting sets up an exciting story to come.

The Prog Report

• 2000AD 2422 (Rebellion Publishing): The first thing to note this week is that one of the ongoing strips has come to an end, with that being Hawk The Slayer: Last of Her Kind by writer Alec Worley, artist Simon Coleby, colorist Gary Caldwell, and letterer Annie Parkhouse. I wrote about this one last week, and how much I was enjoying it as a sort of throw-back gritty high fantasy comic. This finale is well in line with that, right from the bloody action of its very first panel. I should also note that in this last chapter Coleby and Caldwell do great work within several pages that are just absolutely packed with crowd scenes. It all left me excited for more comics set in this world. The real standout for me this week though was the latest installment of Full Tilt Boogie Book Three, by writer Alex De Campi, artist Eduardo Ocana, colorist Giulia Brusco, and letterer Simon Bowland. I’ve been loving this strip from the start but I got a real kick out of this week’s chapter, especially the long footnote at the bottom of its second page, which boasts the exact kind of dense sci-fi worldbuilding I really love. Great stuff. This week’s cover (above) is by Cliff Robinson with colors by Dylan Teague. As always, you can pick up a digital copy of The Prog here. —Zack Quaintance

Read more entries in the weekly Wednesday Comics reviews series!

Next week, The World of Minor Threats returns with Welcome to Twilight City #1. Plus, Dark Pyramid #1, Assorted Crisis Events #1, and more!