Random Happenstance

Cloverfield and its first sequel were just on PlutoTV, and then on Twitter they pointed out it was its 15th anniversary. The second sequel was pretty weak; and I think maybe underline the problem with those movies: they introduce a cool idea, just in time for the end. But, instead of those, let's try a comic that's been optioned for a film, so check it out first: from 2020, Kaiju Score #1, "Rattlesnake in the Bag" Written by James Patrick, art by Rem Broo.

The elevator pitch for this one is a Tarentino-style heist movie versus Godzilla: a heist planner realizes global warming is going to bring a bigger than usual kaiju season to Florida, which can be used as cover for a museum job. There are, of course, complications: the planner's reputation is shot after two grandiose jobs that fell apart after missing a tiny detail. The safecracker opts out of taking a loser score like this, but is then murdered by a woman who disguises herself to take the job. The tech guy's a hard-luck disaster: good at his job, but not getting any breaks. And the loan shark fronting the seed money puts his mouthy gunsel on the team to run herd on it. And remind them what'll happen if they fail...

The kaiju Mujara makes landfall, which convinces the loan shark to take a chance on the job. (Incidentally, I saw Shin Ultraman last week, and there's a brief moment where a kaiju is given an official designation, which is described as done by whim from upstairs...) A kaiju landfall is only slightly different than a hurricane would've been, in that all emergency personnel except the National Guard would be evacuated, and they would be maintaining a perimeter around the monster: this is written as not their first rodeo, they've seen that movie before! 

This is a solid first issue, and there would be a sequel series just recently, Kaiju Score: Steal from Gods.