What is your favorite Era of Godzilla Comics?

[Desghidorah]

Kinda exactly what this sounds like. I find the Marvel and Dark Horse installments a breed different than IDW and Legendary considering IDW was the first time we got Godzilla comics that had more than just the Big G featuring and Legendary is directly tied into the films. For Marvel this often resulted in Godzilla interacting with the established Marvel universe with original opponents here or there. By comparison the Dark Horse run often had entirely original plots with some expys here or there and resulted in a sort of alternate Heisei saga. IDW of course had the most familiar faces, often resembling their film versions but occasionally given a new origin or circumstance. Legendary also sets itself apart as it's the only one of the four to, at least in theory, be directly tied into an ongoing film series.

Then there is of course there is other subjects like the topic of artwork, as the IDW comics especially took some time to really get a standardized look rolling, especially before artists like Frank were given more influence. The Marvel comics had a very distinct look for the Big G which is very much YMMV on how it's received; whereas the Dark Horse comics sans a few issues were very much in the style of the 1990s Heisei suits. Legendary also has very variable styles, but post Awakening it has been pretty consistent in trying to capture the live action style of K:SI and KOTM pretty closely.

[Voyager]

Man I love me some RoE.

[ROMG4]

Marvel had the genius or insanity of injecting Godzilla directly into the Marvel universe as a part of the main line's official canon, which means thanks to that decision we have a timeline where all the Marvel Heroes, Godzilla, and Transformers exist even when you factor in the wonky time redactions here and there

It still happened

And while Dark Horse has the distinction of being the less crazy era it still had some pretty cool stories and concept. IDW is the best and most varied despite having made a lot, L O T of mistakes

[mikelcho]

Marvel had the genius or insanity of injecting Godzilla directly into the Marvel universe as a part of the main line's official canon, which means thanks to that decision we have a timeline where all the Marvel Heroes, Godzilla, and Transformers exist even when you factor in the wonky time redactions here and there

It still happened

And while Dark Horse has the distinction of being the less crazy era it still had some pretty cool stories and concept. IDW is the best and most varied despite having made a lot, L O T of mistakes

Could you please tell us all what mistakes they made? I'd like to find out myself. And are they in the ongoing storyline only, or are there some in the seven 5-issue miniseries as well?

Oh, btw, speaking of Marvel, I just got G-FAN #128 today and it's got a very interesting article on the Marvel Godzilla comic book series.

Don't forget the Shogun Warriors, the Micronauts and Rom the Spaceknight, though. They were all around at or about the same time as both Godzilla and the Transformers.

[Spuro]

IDW is the best and most varied despite having made a lot, L O T of mistakes

Could you please tell us all what mistakes they made? I'd like to find out myself. And are they in the ongoing storyline only, or are there some in the seven 5-issue miniseries as well?

I remember that the first series, Kingdom of Monsters, had some pretty strange "satirical" political undertones, and came across as being a bit misanthropic. It's usually regarded as being the worst of the IDW run, alongside the Oblivion miniseries.

[Gigantis]

I'll always have a soft spot for IDW.

[ROMG4]

]Could you please tell us all what mistakes they made? I'd like to find out myself.

Well the first ongoing series Kingdom Of Monsters was an absolute bloody mess more than half of the story is just the writer going on insanely long winded tangents about celebrity culture, at the time current politics, edgy self insert military character (who got way better in Rulers of Earth actually)

There are legitimately multiple scenes in the comic with Jersey Shore, Lady Gaga, and a bunch of other celebrities for no reason but so the author can wag his finger, and its painful, Its so incredibly painful. And when the story isn't focusing on it that's when things get really bad. The story jumps all over the place and goes through ever more bonkers tier escalations. I could try to tell you about all the things that happen in this comic the insane plot details, the manic pacing, the completely unexplained storyline, but I honestly don't think I could do it justice and its been a bit since I last read it. But I will try to run down standout moments

Godzilla comes out of the ground on a island and indirectly eats some children, the Japanese government immediately nukes him which gives him his atomic powers, Father of the children blows himself up on Godzilla's nose as he destroys Tokyo, Obama mentions his grandmother, Edgy Brody the military man complains about teenagers eating burgers and phones while walking by them and having an internal monologue about the great depression, Russian child finds Rodan's egg in moscow and takes him home, Rodan gets big and eats him, Rodan then destroys moscow, two french twins develop psychic powers and bully their schoolyard by giving them nosebleeds, Lady Gaga (who appeared before this as well) shows up in france dressed as a mantis because Battra's egg appeared in France she dies or gets eaten at some point down the line, Anguirus appears in Texas and fights some rednecks, Jersey Shore appears, Godzilla arrives in California and after beating up anguirus and incinerates Jersey Shore, Godzilla rampages through america as Obama constructs Mechagodzilla (2/93) in Detroit in like a single month or two, rest of america is somehow fine and also like the Walking Dead for some reason, evil french psychic twins mind control Battra and then Rodan to take over the world, Buddhist monk ressurects Ghidorah to save the world, and after way, way, too much stuff to cover everything goes down in DC. The psychic twins find obama's bunker and kidnap him, edgy military man gets in the bloody mechagodzilla shinji to fight Godzilla and successfully traps Ghidorah, Battra, Rodan, and Godzilla underground before escaping

If this seemed hard to follow and utterly bonkers, its because it was and because I stink at describing

It is a terrible and horrible sight to behold. Anyway after that the second ongoing series was just called Godzilla and it was a MASSIVE improvement over Kingdom of Monsters. It still suffered from quite a bit of forced edgy writing and some weird questionable story decisions (mostly carryover from Kingdom) but I think its pretty good

But seriously don't read Kingdom of monsters, don't do it. I actually think the Miniseries are the best to start with I would say Godzilla Legends > Gangsters and goliath > Half Century War > Godzilla Ongoing > Rulers of Earth is a pretty great reading order even if the miniseries aren't connected with the Ongoing and Rulers of Earth continuity because they are awesome stories

Though really if you want you can just bypass Godzilla ongoing and just go to Rulers of Earth you'll be pretty fine I think

[The Octopus]

Marvel had the genius or insanity of injecting Godzilla directly into the Marvel universe as a part of the main line's official canon

[Ivo-goji]

I'm pretty cold on every comic run Godzilla has gotten so far and struggle to understand why writers drop the ball with the character so often.

If I had to the pick the ones I find the most inoffensive it would probably be Marvel (since they were zany in a good way) followed by the Monsterverse comics (which at least feel consistent with the tone of the setting they're apart of).

[Noble Saber]

The main characters from Kingdom of Monsters make a return in Rulers of Earth, so if you're going to read Rulers of Earth I do recommend picking up Kingdom of Monsters and History's Greatest Monster with the caveat that (the former) gets better in some of the later parts and the reunion between two certain characters is that much more sweet.

Reading them in sequential order also shows how the writers realized the mistakes of their earlier issues and Rulers of Earth culminates in ending on a pretty high note anyway so might as well pick up Kingdom of Monsters if only for the continuity.

[GojiDog]

I liked Marvel and Dark Horse, but I gotta go with IDW.

The variety of stories we've gotten out of it have been a blast to experience. Half Century War and Godzilla in Hell are the standouts, and Rulers of Earth is a perfect fun and colorful ride.

Weakest is Legendary...they are just prequels to the movies. That's it. Not terrible, and they feature some interesting things, but they aren't must reads at all..