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A review by crookedtreehouse
Kaijumax Season One, Volume 1: Terror and Respect by Zander Cannon
3.0
I'm really not sure how to rate this book.
The cartoony nature of the art style for a book about kaiju monsters imprisoned on an island, suggested this would be a light satirical book. So when I picked up issue three and saw a prison shower rape scene, I assumed it was being played for comedy, and put the book down, deciding it was not for me.
I don't remember when or why I bought the trade, but when I picked it off the shelf to read, I completely forgot about the prison rape scene.
Reading from the beginning, you realize that, while it does fit the definition of satire, the series is not played for humor. This is like HBO's Oz but with kaiju.
I'm not sure how to rate this book because I think the story beats are very well done. Both the human and kaiju characters are pretty well fleshed out, and the art is excellent, if tonally confusing. But I'm ok with tonally confusing. A conflict between the story's tone and the visual look of the book is interesting. What bothers me about the book is the language. The use of the word "zilla", short for Godzilla is clearly a substitute for a racial epithet that the author would be chastised for if they used it, it not being a word traditionally use against people like him.
I can't decide whether this is supposed to be edgy, or whether it's supposed to make the reader uncomfortable whenever it's used. Either way, I don't like it. It feels similar to when you read a book or see a movie about prisons where it's very clear the author has never been in one, but has seen other peoples' movies, or read other peoples' books, and has mimicked their language. It feels disingenuous.
Why do I care that someone who has not been in a prison is writing a prison story using prison language when I don't give a fuck that Zander Cannon is not a kaiju, and yet is writing a kaiju story using kaiju language? Because the world is a complex and confusing place.
I think I have to come back and reread this book before I know who to recommend it to, and how many stars to give it.
The cartoony nature of the art style for a book about kaiju monsters imprisoned on an island, suggested this would be a light satirical book. So when I picked up issue three and saw a prison shower rape scene, I assumed it was being played for comedy, and put the book down, deciding it was not for me.
I don't remember when or why I bought the trade, but when I picked it off the shelf to read, I completely forgot about the prison rape scene.
Reading from the beginning, you realize that, while it does fit the definition of satire, the series is not played for humor. This is like HBO's Oz but with kaiju.
I'm not sure how to rate this book because I think the story beats are very well done. Both the human and kaiju characters are pretty well fleshed out, and the art is excellent, if tonally confusing. But I'm ok with tonally confusing. A conflict between the story's tone and the visual look of the book is interesting. What bothers me about the book is the language. The use of the word "zilla", short for Godzilla is clearly a substitute for a racial epithet that the author would be chastised for if they used it, it not being a word traditionally use against people like him.
I can't decide whether this is supposed to be edgy, or whether it's supposed to make the reader uncomfortable whenever it's used. Either way, I don't like it. It feels similar to when you read a book or see a movie about prisons where it's very clear the author has never been in one, but has seen other peoples' movies, or read other peoples' books, and has mimicked their language. It feels disingenuous.
Why do I care that someone who has not been in a prison is writing a prison story using prison language when I don't give a fuck that Zander Cannon is not a kaiju, and yet is writing a kaiju story using kaiju language? Because the world is a complex and confusing place.
I think I have to come back and reread this book before I know who to recommend it to, and how many stars to give it.