IDW's GODZILLA General Discussion

[Ryu]

Apparently the godzilla Rivals #3 king Ghidorah comic is out. Those who had the opportunity to read it can tell you how the comic ended.
It's just that my store gave up ordering the comic, due to the many times the departure was postponed.

[Shenanigans]

Godzilla Rivals: Vs. King Ghidorah was a wild ride. Certain aspects could have been fleshed out better, but it was undeniably enjoyable. The author describes it as a B-movie, and indeed it is.

Mild spoilers: It was a very busy comic; it almost had too many fun ideas. Left me wanting more of everything, especially because it ends so abruptly. Kind of wish the invasion day scenes in the beginning were cut down a little to give us something of an epilogue. The gladiatorial battles were neat I suppose, though admittedly fairly standard as far as monster fights go. Was hoping to see more advantage taken of the unique environment and general premise of an off-world colosseum battle. If nothing else, it was great seeing Godzilla on power-limiters that forced him to improvise his fight with the Kamacuras; anytime we see Godzilla demonstrating his intellect is always a plus.

The characters were a highlight. Hoshi was memorably, and a certain, perhaps somewhat familiar mad scientist was an absolute treat. And the art got the job done. On the simpler side detail-wise, but it did the trick.

Solid issue. Not sure if it was worth the extra four month wait, but it was good. Issue #1 is still my favorite of this series, but that one had truly stellar writing. Even so, I appreciate the chaotic nature of this one.

Bigger spoilers below, especially about the ideas I longed to see more of:

Spoiler:

Having world leaders being desperate enough to rely on a classic cartoony/James Bond villain was a fantastic idea, but also wish we had gotten to see more in-depth. Especially interested in learning more of his past transgressions they repeatedly referenced. It was also fascinating to see the Xiliens in this light, I guess "humanized" in a way. From seeing Xilien civilians in casual clothing to their military leaders referencing the waning support for their invasion amongst their own people, it was a distinct angle absent from a lot of alien invasion stories, especially Godzilla ones.

In the background of Dr. Hu's lab, I spotted what appears to be Mechagodzilla and Mechani-Kong (!!!), and I was a little disappointed that they didn't pop up again, especially when the base came under attack. I get the feeling that some of the problems that caused this comic's repeated delay had something to do with Dr. Hu/Who. Or maybe Mechani-Kong was to be featured in place of Jet Jaguar. Who knows?

Jet Jaguar's redesign was cool, it reminded me of a few fan redesigns I've seen floating around. But I wanted to see more of it!

[Ryu]

Well thanks for the information, Shenanigans . But I would like to know how Godzilla defeats Ghidorah, or how he returns home. And How is open end.

[gottatalktothefake]

Well thanks for the information, Shenanigans . But I would like to know how Godzilla defeats Ghidorah, or how he returns home. And How is open end.

Spoiler:

Ghidorah gets a buff and chars Godzilla, but the cosmic radiation on Mars causes Godzilla to revive in a stronger state and vaporize Ghidorah. He doesn’t get home, he’s Mars’ problem now.

[Jetty_Jags]

any links to

Spoiler:

pics of Jet Jaguar's Redesign?

[JesstrK]

Well thanks for the information, Shenanigans . But I would like to know how Godzilla defeats Ghidorah, or how he returns home. And How is open end.

Spoiler:

Ghidorah gets a buff and chars Godzilla, but the cosmic radiation on Mars causes Godzilla to revive in a stronger state and vaporize Ghidorah. He doesn’t get home, he’s Mars’ problem now.

Spoiler:

So basically the end of KOTM lol

[LSD Jellyfish]

Issue 3 was fantastic and worth the wait. Really good use of a ton of ideas in the Toho lexicon, and it felt pretty original with retooling some ideas. I guess the only issue is that how busy it is. I could see this easily as a 5 parter. I did enjoy how time was spent building up the Xillien invasion, and I sort of enjoy how Rivals has given a brief spotlight to conventional military weapons which have been largely ignored in the comic series.

Ghidorah was cool. Nice to see the Heisei-Design integrated into an alien origin. Also, isn't this the first time we've seen the Xilliens Re-United with Ghidorah?

While the Kamacuras were just jobbers, I liked their new green-alienish designs. They felt more like big alien bugs.

Spoiler:

I really liked the idea of Godzilla absorbing martian radiation. It was also cool to see something, that while reminiscent of the Burning/Fire Godzilla forms. The weird touch of having the red surge throughout, and the "core", as well as designs with the character, made it representative of Shin. Also, straight up a solid Red Beam, not the Spiral Heat Ray. While Toho has been restrictive with fan content, this was amazing. For the same reasons, I liked Ghidorah's blue electricity blast, and it was cool how it pretty much just one-shots Godzilla.

Anyways, yeah I'm going to assume the Mecha-Kong/Hu thing was what caused the delay. The mech on page 11 is clearly supposed to be Mechani-Kong. The instant I saw it, I thought it was Mechani-Kong until I looked much closer. They got it to a point where it's legally distinct, but totally not. While I appreciated Jet Jaguar, given that he only appears for two panels, and is considerably bulkier, it's likely that was originally Mechani-Kong. I'll appreciate the bone thrown for this issue.

Man real excited for issue 4 now.

Added in 8 minutes 47 seconds:

Apparently the godzilla Rivals #3 king Ghidorah comic is out. Those who had the opportunity to read it can tell you how the comic ended.
It's just that my store gave up ordering the comic, due to the many times the departure was postponed.

You can order it digitally on Amazon. I recommend that to anyone that has had issues with that. You may need an American Amazon Account though.

[KingCornetto]

I don’t want to say too much, as it would largely be parroting what everyone else has said, but what a fantastic issue. Damn well worth the wait. Just wish it were longer. I would like to ask, is Hoshi a reference to someone? The only thing I could guess was being named after Yuriko Hoshi. And the lead, I assumed she was a reference to the leads of Megaguirus and GMK.

Also, Adam Gorham also illustrated New Mutants: Dead Souls for Marvel that, if anyone wants to check out his other work. It’s quite good,although that book does heavily rely on familiarity with the characters for its emotional beats to work and ends on a cliffhanger resolved in the main X-Men series… but if you have that familiarity, recommended!

[Shenanigans]

So Adam Gorham just did a Reddit AMA the other day and shed some light on a few things, including more reasons for the delay. He also confirms that the surprising background character was indeed altered and thus not exactly who it looks like. I had long been wondering about the legal status of that character, and it looks like Toho is still gun-shy about using him in any capacity if even a little easter egg is too much.

Spoilers:

Spoiler:

https://www.reddit.com/r/GODZILLA/comme ... nd_artist/

Hi, nice to have you here!

Can you tell his what toho‘s demands where that lead to the postponed release?

Thank you very much for doing this AMA.

The first delay was due to my being behind on art. I was drawing a monthly comic while working on Godzilla and illustrating various covers. I own that.

Later one, after final art was handed in, Toho noticed a few things they wanted changed. This happens. It's the nature of working with a licensed property. Mostly they wanted some Easter eggs removed. Another change they requested concerned the way I depicted the Xilien population.

In the movies, the Xiliens are a rigid, cold monoculture. For the purposes of my story, I wanted the Xiliens to be a caste system. The lower caste enjoyed all the Earth culture arriving to Mars/Xilia during the invasion, and I drew panels of Xiliens wearing Earth clothing that referenced 90's culture. Toho didn't like that, and even though I felt those elements were important to my story, the changes still had to be made. It is what it is, but those kinds of hiccups cause delays to production.

Still, when the artwork is late, everyone else on down the line still needs time to do their job effectively, so I believe the decision to push our release back was to also give other people on the book room to breathe. Fair is fair!

Hi Adam, what made you decide to resurrect the character of Dr. Who (Dr. Hu now) from King Kong Escapes?

Also, considering Kong's popularity lately, why was Mechani-Kong not included in the final plot?

Once I got the assignment, I took it upon myself to soak up as much Godzilla content I was could. I watched all the films, read a handful of the comics, read the Wikis and whatever behind the scenes info I could. I also looked at lots of material unrelated to Godzilla. When I decided to make one of the characters a super villain, I eventually settled on Dr. Who.

While IDW encouraged me to use creature and characters from the Toho wheelhouse, I did not ask permission to use Who. I didn't know if there would be any rights issues. Instead I created my own character, Dr Ogilvy Hu, who bears a resemblance to the character in King Kong Escapes. Ogilvy is the only character named in H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds, so I took that name as a nod to one my inspirations. I was very happy I got to do this. Hu was perhaps my favourite character to write, and in my head canon, he has whole other stories that never get told.

Mechani-Kong and Mecha Godzilla both appear in Hu's lair, but were altered last minute at Toho's insistence, along with a few other Easter eggs.

The relative "humanity" of the Xiliens surprised me, so no surprise Toho took some issue with that. I appreciate a departure from the usual "hive mind" approach Toho almost always have with its aliens, and it feels appropriate with Xiliens given Miss Namikawa from Astro-Monster. At the same time, a big part of the Xiliens' depiction in film is that computers/AI control their lives, unlike other Toho aliens. Regardless, I hope to see more like this with Toho aliens in the future.

And I'm surprised they took issue with certain Easter eggs. Wonder what other ones besides Mechani-Kong were altered. Rulers of Earth had Easter eggs on every damn page. But as far as Mechani-Kong goes, guess I'll take this as confirmation that Toho doesn't want to use him anymore. Though, perhaps they simply don't want him in a story without King Kong, so maybe there's still hope for a Monsterverse story? I don't know.

[DirektorSplennic]

Got the Rivals comic a few days ago, not even knowing IDW was making new Godzilla stuff after Rage Across Time. I really enjoyed it! A fun story that works well as a one shot. Good to see IDW making new Goji stuff. Are there other Rivals issues or is this the first one?

[King of the Monsters]

Got the Rivals comic a few days ago, not even knowing IDW was making new Godzilla stuff after Rage Across Time. I really enjoyed it! A fun story that works well as a one shot. Good to see IDW making new Goji stuff. Are there other Rivals issues or is this the first one?

This is the third issue of Rivals so far, the first two (Vs. Hedorah and Vs. Mothra) both came out last year. There's at least two more announced, Vs. Gigan and Vs. Battra.

[gottatalktothefake]

I liked vs Ghidorah. Was not a fan of vs hedorah and vs Mothra. Guess third times the charm

[daveblackeye15]

I haven't read the Mothra one. Yeah Ghidorah one I'd love to see as a five issue series. Hedorah one as a mini-series? No I'd say it's damn near perfect...Hell how good is it? I barely remember Godzilla and Hedorah's fighting and so much about the human characters and their situation. Top-tier Godzilla comic I'd say.

[Shenanigans]

IDW's August solicitations are out with no new Godzilla series set to release after the Power Rangers crossover - not immediately at least. Hope they have more series in the works. There was a giant gap between Monsters & Protectors and this crossover that lasted over half a year with only a single issue of Rivals released during that period; it'd be nice to have a steadier stream of new Godzilla comics like that used to have many years back. Plus, if the Power Rangers crossover is doing well, it might be smart to capitalize on potential interest newcomers might have in more Godzilla comics.

Anyways, here's the variant cover of the Battra issue. Looks like the Rivals II logo was dropped? IDK.

[darkcancer]

Battra is an interesting choice. Might be a sign of Heisei kaiju for Rivals II (if II is even what its going to be called now ^)

I was hoping to see Megalon, but if the anniversary trend continues we may see that next year.

[Shenanigans]

Battra is an interesting choice. Might be a sign of Heisei kaiju for Rivals II (if II is even what its going to be called now ^)

I was hoping to see Megalon, but if the anniversary trend continues we may see that next year.

Megalon's definitely happening next year (and hopefully Jet Jaguar too). It actually dawned on me that most of these issues are honoring character anniversaries.

In 2021 we had a Hedorah issue for his 50th, and a Mothra issue for her 60th. Now this year we get a Gigan issue for his 50th and a Battra issue for his 30th. The Ghidorah issue seems to be the exception. Could be a coincidence since only the Hedorah and Gigan issues actually have little anniversary logos on the covers, but it would help explain the choices a little.

On the subject, a third cover for Battra's issue has been revealed, this one by Tradd Moore. Love the style on display here, weird iguana picture aside.

[Mac Daddy MM]

A little late here, but I finally stared Godzilla: Monsters & Protectors. And this is exactly what I thought it was going to be. Just throwing it out there, but this is the most cringe-y bad, officially released piece of Godzilla media I have ever had the displeasure of slogging through. I burned through the first three issues before stopping and deciding to just do one a day until done entirely... I got one issue left, and I'm 100% sure I know exactly what's going to happen.

First and foremost, the art style is just DREADFUL. You know why I don't want an American Godzilla cartoon now days? Because of art styles like this. If this wasn't Godzilla, the detailing given to him would make me think he was covered in fur. A brief shot of Anguirus has the same exact detailing despite both characters having drastically different skin textures. I know this is extremely nitpicky, but it simply drives me nuts how bad this art looks. It'd be fine for something on Deviant Art, sure. But to know someone actually got to do this while there's HUNDREDS of unknown artists floating around dying for this type of opportunity infuriates me.

But Mothra looks good... So yay?

The human designs are just as generic as you'd think, with typical broad-shouldered, slick back hair cardboard cutout CEO villain. He's virtually just an even lamer Walter Simons from GvK, if that was even possible. And the kid characters range from tolerable to just annoying... But let's get to the priestesses, in which we have to pound into our head for some reason that they're not fairies! Their magic characters that have the convenient ability to not be seen nor heard by anyone else in the story, but they are surely NOT FAIRIES. Jesus Christ, this whole dialogue is just pure cringe.

If this series was actually a live action film/series, it'd rank right up there with Gamera vs. Jiger and Gamera vs. Zigra in the amounts of cringe.

It is so god damn awful. Being "aimed at kids" isn't a valid excuse for this just being as poorly done as its written and drawn. Just ask any number of other comics. I fully admit I'm not a huge comic reader, but this is a whole new level of just bad everything.

Looking forward to starting Rivals whenever I get the chance.

[Shenanigans]

A few pages from Rivals: Vs. Battra have been shared; looks pretty distinct from a visual standpoint. The Godzilla design is also neat with the big fins on the tail, don't usually see that.



https://nerdist.com/article/godzilla-ri ... overs-idw/

Also, I figured Vs. Gigan was coming out this week, but I checked and it seems that it's been delayed again... to November. IDW's got to get their shit together with this series. I hope that's a placeholder date. Vs. Battra seems to be in better shape though and still has its August date... for now...

[LSD Jellyfish]

Very strange these delays keep happening. It broke the momentum of what otherwise would be a fantastic run of comics. It’ll be funny if Battra comes out first.

[SonOfGorgo]

A little late here, but I finally stared Godzilla: Monsters & Protectors. And this is exactly what I thought it was going to be. Just throwing it out there, but this is the most cringe-y bad, officially released piece of Godzilla media I have ever had the displeasure of slogging through. I burned through the first three issues before stopping and deciding to just do one a day until done entirely... I got one issue left, and I'm 100% sure I know exactly what's going to happen.

First and foremost, the art style is just DREADFUL. You know why I don't want an American Godzilla cartoon now days? Because of art styles like this. If this wasn't Godzilla, the detailing given to him would make me think he was covered in fur. A brief shot of Anguirus has the same exact detailing despite both characters having drastically different skin textures. I know this is extremely nitpicky, but it simply drives me nuts how bad this art looks. It'd be fine for something on Deviant Art, sure. But to know someone actually got to do this while there's HUNDREDS of unknown artists floating around dying for this type of opportunity infuriates me.

But Mothra looks good... So yay?

The human designs are just as generic as you'd think, with typical broad-shouldered, slick back hair cardboard cutout CEO villain. He's virtually just an even lamer Walter Simons from GvK, if that was even possible. And the kid characters range from tolerable to just annoying... But let's get to the priestesses, in which we have to pound into our head for some reason that they're not fairies! Their magic characters that have the convenient ability to not be seen nor heard by anyone else in the story, but they are surely NOT FAIRIES. Jesus Christ, this whole dialogue is just pure cringe.

If this series was actually a live action film/series, it'd rank right up there with Gamera vs. Jiger and Gamera vs. Zigra in the amounts of cringe.

It is so god damn awful. Being "aimed at kids" isn't a valid excuse for this just being as poorly done as its written and drawn. Just ask any number of other comics. I fully admit I'm not a huge comic reader, but this is a whole new level of just bad everything.

Looking forward to starting Rivals whenever I get the chance.

blimey, harsh.

How would you improve it? just outta curiosity.