Official Dark Horse Godzilla discussion

[Breakdown]

Discuss!

Personally I love this comic series, it's a real shame it was so shortlived. I have Godzilla: Past, Present, and Future that a bought a long while back and it's still really fun to read. I owned Issue 2 of Terror of Godzilla as a child but unfortunatly it fell apart over time. Terror of Godzilla was my favorite entry of theirs even if it wasn actually their own creation, rather a translated, colored version of the manga for Return of Godzilla. Regardless I still enjoyed Terror of Godzilla and to this day Im looking for all issues belonging to it. My favorite kaiju from the DH Godzilla series would have to be Cybersaur, Burtannis, and the Lord Howe Monster. I love how the Simeons played a signifigant role in the Target: Godzilla! story arc.

[VamprisArachne]

I've only had the opportunity to read the Godzilla Color Special and I have to say it was the best Godzilla comic I've read, the art was great and Gekido-Jin was awesome kind of had a Daimajin vibe to him

[Destroyer]

Not too long ago I bought all the issues at MyComicShop.com. Great series, it got the Godzilla character right. Other than the time travel arc, a strong series. Some really great fights. The final issue is also interesting because there are no humans, it's from G's point of view.

[kaijukurt]

Great series overall; with imaginative new creations such as Gekido-Jin; great story ideas (Color Special; issue # 16,etc.) and great art from Art Adams!

[Captain Aktion]

I've read the series and mini, plus the various one-shots several times over the years and I gotta say...they get worse the more I read them. There's some really great stuff scattered throughout, and the Color Special is truly the best single issue of a G comic, but the series itself is pretty rough going after the first couple of issues. I remember that the Steven Bissette drawn single and the issue drawn by Bob Eggleton stood up pretty well.

I dunno, and I know, I know, I'm in the minority, but I think the work that IDW has done so far is certainly no worse than the DH issues. Whether or not they're better is up for debate, but DH certainly didn't try to tread too much ground that the Marvel series hadn't already done (G-Force, studying G, etc.), so at least it's something different for a change.

All and all, the DH issues were fun for me when I was younger, but it's really the stand-alone stories that stick out now.

[xenotactics]

They didn't feel enormously like Godzilla to me. I liked them. I wanted to like them more, but it would have been easier to imagine a comic book icon (like Spiderman or Batman) showing up in the series than it would be to imagine King Ghidorah. They did a good job, but the series was too colorful and too "comic book," overall (albeit tasteful) for my tastes.

[Gorosaurus Rex]

I really enjoyed the arc about the giant alien big game hunters attempting to bring down Godzilla. I thought that was a really fun arc. The series lost me at some point around the time travel stuff, which I was not a fan of.

[ZillaMaster91]

Same here.

I purchased the Godzilla: Age of Monsters book when I was 10 years old so I would have something to read when my family and I moved from Missouri to Virginia. Prior to that, I had no idea that there were any Godzilla comic books out there, so for me at that age was a treat. Funny, I didn't buy nor read the next volume, Godzilla: Past Present and Future until I was 16.

[antovald20]

Do the two TPB's collect the entire Godzilla Dark Hours run?

[kaijukurt]

Actually, three tpbs; and there's one issue that hasn't been collected in a TPB (Godzilla vs Charles Barkely)
The three are:
Godzilla: Age of Monsters
Godzilla: Past Present Future
and the third one; Godzilla which collects Dark Horse's reprints of the Godzilla 1985 manga; nothing from the DH continuity.
http://www.amazon.com/Godzilla-Kazuhisa ... 49&sr=1-10

[antovald20]

^Right thanks. I don't know if i should get all the dark horse TPB or wait for IDW to release them? I don't know if IDW will do that or if Dark horse will allow it?

[darkcancer]

I liked the "Stranger" story in issue 16 and the Cybersaur design, even though Toho has plenty of mechs already.

[attilagodzilla]

I like the dark horse run plus it has one of my favorite godzilla comics: http://www.tohokingdom.com/comics/dh_godz_kotm.htm
I have the color reprint I love that issue mainley because of the dark atmosphere.
I also like the issue were godzilla fights batragor.

[The One and Only]

Thanks to DinoGeekProductions for locating these little gems from Dark Horse's travels through the world of Godzilla. Dark Horse's first Godzilla mag was a one-shot with art, along with a fair bit of the story by fan-favorite, and eternally bitter Steve Bissette. After this first outing with the King of the Monsters there were plans for an ongoing Godzilla with Mr. Bissette., but plans fell through. Anywho, apparently Dark Horse thought that since they got hold of the rights to Godzilla, likewise many of the other daikaiju that inhabbited Toho's pantheon. But, as things progessed, Dark Horse was informed by Toho that if they wanted to utilize the other monsters, the publisher would have to pay the same price for each one as they did for the Big-G. Apparently, the Dark Horse gang had it on their mind that there might be problems this way, so they instructed Mr. Bissette to design for the special, or for the unmade series meant to pick up where the One-Shot Special left off back in 1987, to redesign some of Godzilla's rivals, nemesises so they might still be used, without drawing the wrath of Toho's legal department.
Soooo, here's some sketches of what we might've been treated to had the plans with Steve Bissette worked out.
"King Ghidorah"-http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiec ... GSub=83071

"Mothra"-http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiec ... GSub=83071

"Anguirus"-http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiec ... GSub=83071
KING OF THE MONSTERS
Also on the unproduced front with Dark Horse. Towards the end of the short-lived ongoing Dark Horse GODZILLA:King of the Monsters ! , with sales getting to a point where the book might've had to end, Toho had, according to some rumors, was willing to let Dark Horse bring in the Big-G's arch nemesis, KING GHIDORAH, to drum up interest in the series. Another one was by artist/writer, Kevin Maguire, who had done artwork on the second-arc's covers(5-8), and wrote the book's opening arc which introduced us to Bagorah and Cybersaur. The book's editor, Rob Conte, in an interview in G-Fan, mentioned that Maguire had scripted a another four issue story arc set right after the end of Alex Cox's controversial time travel arc(9-12). The Big-G was set to battle a clone of himself in an arc entilted GODZILLA Vs. ANTI-GODZILLA. But due to a change in editors on the book this story-arc was left on the shelf in Rob Conte's house ,and the non-connected tales that rounded up the end of the series is what we got.

[H-Man]

I recently re-purchased the two trade paperbacks of the Dark Horse series (I owned them in the States, but neglected to bring them to Brazil when I moved). Re-reading them, I think I appreciate them more than I did before. Art Adams and Bob Eggleton are awesome artists.

First observation: I'm disappointed that the not-Rodan and not-Mothra-locust monster didn't show up in subsequent issues. They looked cool and would've made for good opponents for Godzilla.

[GodzillaFan1992]

I remember having Issue #15. Don't know what happened to it since I can't find it. Might of lost it or something.

I plan on collecting all the issues, only way though is by Amazon.com since I can't find any issues where I live.

[H-Man]

One of the used bookstores in Brazil (which are all linked via estantevirtual.com.br) had one of the Dark Horse issues for sale, but it looks like somebody picked it up recently. So I'd have to find the individual issues in the States, which I don't plan on doing, for monetary and time reasons.

Observation: The Stranger would make an interesting monster for Legendary Godzilla to fight.

Observation #2: Bob Eggleton kicks major butt in drawing monsters and dinosaurs, but seems to be minimalist in terms of backgrounds. Art Adams just pours heart out into every single detail of the panel.

[Pkmatrix]

A few months ago I found the first trade, Age of Monsters, at my local comic shop in perfect condition. I mean, so it was so good that my first thought was that Dark Horse had re-released it - it looks brand new! Now all I need to do is track down the second trade. ^_^

The DH ongoing was great. Nowadays I find myself constantly debating whether I prefer that or RoE as my favorite Godzilla ongoing.

[H-Man]

I have yet to read any of the IDW comics. I was going to pick up several of the trades on Amazon, but they wanted 50 bucks just for shipping! I hate Amazon shipping costs. Bunch o' crooks.

I would rather see Baggorah in a film than Mothra or Ghidorah again. After all, when was the last time cinema saw a truly giant bat? Graveyard Shift?

[H-Man]

I would rather see Baggorah in a film than Mothra or Ghidorah again. After all, when was the last time cinema saw a truly giant bat? Graveyard Shift?

Cabin in the Woods had a "dragon-bat."

Okay, I really need to see this film now.