Godzilla Rulers of Earth Vol 3 (IDW Publishing)
Story by: Chris Mowry & Matt Frank
Written by: Chris Mowry
Art by: Matt Frank & Jeff Zornow
Up from the depths and thirty stories high (though that is probably an understatement), Godzilla must prove he is the King of Monsters once again. With a cast of 11 kaiju and a couple quick cameos by a few other monsters, be ready for a lot of chaos and destruction. The plot is the usual monster vs. monster, with humans interfering basically stealing the credit for making the final blows.
I really enjoy the art style of this Godzilla and the accompanying storyline. The monsters, 
being the main focus are wonderfully detailed, even with their size. The fights and deconstruction they cause are nicely visualized and it’s clear to see what is happening. It all looks very crisp and clean, while being full of debris and rubble. Of course you need a storyline and not just monster vs. monster for 100+ pages (though I would totally read that, well look at that). Like every previous Godzilla storyline, there is some monster threating the world and it’s explained as basically being Yin and Yang affect each time there is a monster that attacks the other will defend the world.
So this volume has intriguing art, a decent story (and if you know Godzilla movies you can expect alien race at any point) and an interesting new theory or categorizing of the monsters, which as a lifelong Godzilla fan (from ’85-’97, ’99-current) I had never thought of. To go along with the interesting new state of mind, this volume has an art gallery at the end (and many cover worthy images throughout), I particularly like the sketching’s showing the process of developing the covers and images. This book is another fantastic entry into the Godzilla mythos.
GI Joe special missions (IDW Publishing)
Written by: Chuck Dixon
Art by: Paul Gulacy (#10-#13) & Will Rasado (#14)
In typical GI Joe fashion, this collection starts off with a bang. Just like the Joes selected for this mission, you are quickly debriefed on the specifics. Cobra’s research and development department, MARS, headed by Destro who is attempting to perfect their Battle Android Troops, or B.A.T.s., your mission is to find and stop him.
The espionage and high tech warfare we are used to from this series travels all over the 
globe as the special missions force uses a vengeance seeking Cobra prisoner to find and put a stop to Destro. Page by page, you are stunned by the action packed story and the wonderful illustrations that really keep the action high tempo, and each chapter (issue) ends with poster worthy final panel(s). With a secondary storyline of Frankenstein’s monster, or rather Destro’s monster mucking up the special mission’s “easy in easy out”, I couldn’t stop reading once the action started.
As a bonus special mission, we get to follow a prisoner transport that gets ambushed by Cobra. What follows is a very tense, high stakes sniper/counter sniper episode that would make any big blockbuster, wartime movie an unforgettable experience. As enjoyable as the “Destro Must Die” arc was, this one issue at the end of the collection was just as good. You get to see a handful of the vehicles and figures you played with as a kid (or yesterday) blowing each other up without worrying about their collectable value. Having so many creative hands touch this book it’s impressive to see the final product.