Godzilla (comics)

Godzilla has appeared in a range of comic books and graphic novels that have been published in the United States, Japan and elsewhere.

History

Marvel Comics

In the 1970s, Godzilla starred in a 24 issue run of comics written by Doug Moench and published by Marvel Comics entitled "Godzilla, King of the Monsters", which thrust Godzilla completely into the Marvel Universe. In a nod to "King Kong vs. Godzilla", Godzilla first appears by exploding out of an iceberg. It seems that Godzilla's appearances in the Toho movies were given a nod in a few issues. In at least one issue commented that Godzilla had often 'seemed like the lesser of two evils' when he would clash with a monster far more evil in intention than Godzilla, who generally acted more like an actual animal, albeit one with unusual levels of intelligence. Godzilla encountered not only agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but also many heroes from Marvel Comic books. Among them, the now defunct group called The Champions (sans the Ghost Rider, then a member at the time), The Fantastic Four, Devil Dinosaur and Moon-Boy, and The Avengers, along with a brief, belated cameo by Spider-Man in the last issue of the series. Godzilla also fought other gigantic monsters, including Yetrigar, who was likely patterned after King Kong, and The Mega Monsters, and in defeating these three alien beasts, saved Earth and an alien world which had been at war with the masters of the Mega Monsters. In the comics he has fire breath, rather that radioactive breath as in the films. A character created specifically for the series called Red Ronin, would reappear in Avengers, Solo Avengers, and an issue of Wolverine, in which Godzilla is given a subtle nod, being referred to as 'Time Lost Dinosaur' to avoid being sued by Toho, presumably. Red Ronin would also appear in the series Earth X, a darker future of the Marvel universe, which provided frightening details about the purpose of Galactus and the origins of Earth's super powered populace. One of Godzilla's primary antagonists from the series, mad scientist Doctor Demonicus, would later capture and mutate Godzilla even further. This altered version of the monster has continued to make rare appearances into the 2000s, but never called Godzilla directly. Recently, a creature bearing a resemblance to the Heisei-era Godzilla made a cameo the opening issue of The Mighty Avengers. More than likely, however, this is simply a throwaway appearance and does not bear on Godzilla's place in Marvel canon. Recently, however, in the Marvel Comics atlas (under the article on Japan), it states that the age of monsters began in 1954, evidently a reference to Godzilla. Additionally, the entry also mentions that Godzilla had returned years later and was the reason for the construction of Red Ronin and the formation of shields' Godzilla Squadron.

S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Godzilla-hunting ship, "Behemoth", has recently resurfaced under the command of Amadeus Cho in "The Incredible Hercules" #115.

Dark Horse Comics

Dark Horse Comics eventually gained the rights to the license sometime in the 1980s, and produced several vignettes of Godzilla, before providing a translated manga of "Godzilla 1985" which was based on the Japanese version of the film rather than the Americanized version.

Godzilla, the 1990s, would also receive his own run with Dark Horse Comics in a 17 issue run which used the same name as the Marvel run; Godzilla King Of The Monsters. This series featured several new monsters for Godzilla to battle, and a story arc in which Godzilla was flung through time by a would-be arch villain, who used him to cause the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, sink the "Titanic", and even pitted him against the Spanish Armada. Godzilla would be flung into the far flung future as well and would rampage across it before returning to the modern day.

The last issue of the Dark Horse series saw Godzilla flung back into time to just a few hours before the asteroid which supposedly destroyed the dinosaurs impacted on Earth, and fought an alien creature. This issue first seemed to have the 'it was all a dream' ending, as Godzilla awoke from his slumber in the modern day. But then threw a twist onto the ending, showing Godzilla staring at a piece of his opponent's tail still in his hand from where he had ripped it off in the final moments of their battle before the impact.

List of Godzilla Comic Books and Graphic Novels

Reprint collections

Marvel Comics published "Essential Godzilla" in 2006, as part of its "Essential Marvel" line of reprint books. The 440-page "Essential Godzilla" collects all 24 issues of the "Godzilla, King of the Monsters" comic published by Marvel, spanning from 1977 to 1979.

Dark Horse published "Godzilla: Past, Present, Future" and "Godzilla: Age of Monsters" in 1998. The former collects issues #5 to #15 of the Godzilla miniseries and a short story from "Decade of Dark Horse" #4, while the latter collects the "Godzilla Special", the "Godzilla Color Special", "Godzilla" #0 to #4, "Godzilla" #16, "Godzilla vs. Hero Zero", "Godzilla vs. Barkley", and a short story from "Dark Horse Presents" #106.

See also

* Dark Horse Comics
* Gamera
* Godzilla
* Manga
* Marvel Comics
* Shogakukan

References

*comicbookdb|type=character|id=11104|title=Godzilla
* [http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/godzilla.htm Godzilla] at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe

External links

Official

* [http://www.godzilla.co.jp Godzilla]
* [http://www.darkhorse.com/search/search.php?frompage=userinput&sstring=godzilla Dark Horse Godzilla Comics]
* [http://www.darkhorse.com/search/search.php?frompage=userinput&sstring=Gamera Dark Horse Gamera Comics]

Information

* [http://www.kaijuphile.com/rodansroost/comics/comics.shtml Kaiju Comics]
* [http://www.kaijuphile.com/rodansroost/books/books.shtml Kaiju Books]
* [http://www.tohokingdom.com/comics.htm Godzilla Comics]