Thunderbolts vs. American Kaiju (2024)

 

I found this comic at All C's when I was scoping out what I would buy from them on Free Comic Book Day. I decided to pick up this comic to also start to prepare for the release of the Thunderbolts movie.

To start off with I was not familiar with American Kaiju before reading this comic, and to be truthful even after reading this comic I didn't have any real info on the character. When I looked him up, it looks like he was another test subject that received a super soldier serum that was a knock off the original.

What attracted me to this comic was that it had Bucky on it, but I didn't think about the size of him... I just thought it was some type of artistic forced perspective or artistic license they were taking for the cover art. But no, Bucky really does grow to kaiju size to try and control American Kaiju. He is given an artifact by Shang Chi that makes him bigger. The comic fails in explaining either the artifact or where it came from. Readers just need to take it on face value as to why Shang Chi had that object with him and how/why it works. This comic was lacking in storyline development, character development, or even world understanding. Comics are a short form of entertainment, but this one was so short that it basically has no value to readers and could be entirely forgotten. 

The only positive was interesting possibilities with Bucky having a magical artifact that can make him grow, but I don't think that he got to keep it. 1 star out of 5 or a F- because of how useless this volume was.

American Kaiju info from: https://comicvine.gamespot.com/american-kaiju/4005-127836/

#thunderbolts #bucky #buckybarnes