MOTW- Beta-Beast

 

The Betans transport Godzilla to the Moon and have him battle their deadliest monster, the Beta-Beast.  This thing can shoot fire from the top of it's head, and has deadly missiles that it can shoot from its tentacles.  It can also survive on an airless planet.  Godzilla defeats it in short order, and then explains to Godzilla why they brought him to the moon.  Their enemies, the Megans, are about to win the long war, and are sending their top three monsters, the Mega Monsters to Earth so they can take all the resources from our planet.  It seems like it would have been a better idea to have their monster become an ally to Godzilla, but aliens gotta alien.  Godzilla seems to understand all of this and returns to Earth just as the first Mega monster attacks Red Ronin.

This three issue story arc is probably the best story of the series.  It has drama, character development, monsters and tons of action.  It takes place in Salt Lake City, which is a highly unusual place for a giant monster battle.  The only thing I didn't like was that Godzilla's appearance had been altered.  I actually wrote Marvel a letter asking why his arms had been shrunk and his head enlarged.  It never got printed.  I would think now that this was to make him appear more dinosaur like, which predated the "Godzillasaurus" by about 15 years.  I got over it, and then the title was canceled.  

Herb did a great job with the Beta Beast, though.  It looks thoroughly alien, and also like something Toho could have used to fight Godzilla in a 70s movie.