Godzilla, King of the Monsters (comic book)
Godzilla, King of the Monsters | |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
Schedule | Monthly |
Format | Ongoing series |
Genre |
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Publication date | August 1977 - July 1979 |
No. of issues | 24 |
Main character(s) | Godzilla |
Creative team | |
Written by | Doug Moench |
Artist(s) | Herb Trimpe |
Godzilla, King of the Monsters is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics. Running for 24 issues from 1977 to 1979, the series starred Godzilla, a Japanese monster film character licensed from Toho. The series is set in the publishers' shared Marvel Universe and was the first regular American comic book based on Godzilla.
In November 2023, Marvel reacquired the rights to publish the omnibus edition collecting all 24 issues of the Godzilla comic.[1][2]
Creation
While the initial cycle of Godzilla films had ended following the commercial failure of 1975's Terror of Mechagodzilla, dubbed versions remained popular attractions on American television, particularly with younger viewers. Marvel editor-in-chief Stan Lee was also a fan of the character, and arranged for a licence of the character in 1976; the deal struck was for Godzilla himself only, with none of the other Toho monsters which had appeared in the film series included.[3] Toho themselves would pay no further attention to the series.[4]
Incredible Hulk artist Herb Trimpe was assigned to draw the series, and would later reflect on the similarities between the two characters. He was sent movie stills by Toho for reference, and attempted to keep the film version's personality by drawing Godzilla as "a guy in a rubber suit". Lee tapped Doug Moench to write it after hearing the latter was after working in a lighter tone following his work on Master of Kung Fu and Moon Knight.[4]
Lee took him to a screening of a Godzilla film which left Moench largely unimpressed;[3] however he felt that Marvel's Silver Age audience had grown up with the company and saw Godzilla as an opportunity for the publisher to reconnect with a younger audience, and was able to successfully convince Lee of his plan.[4] To meet the challenge of adapting the scale of the character in films to the comic book medium, Moench planned to humanise Godzilla by adding a supporting cast.[3] To this end, and inspired by the role of children in the films, Moench devised the character of Rob Takiguchi (named after a highschool friend of the writer's) to befriend Godzilla. The robot Red Ronin was also created for the series[4] at the suggestion of Goodwin, who was aware of the success of super robots in Japan. Goodwin also came up with the plan of setting the series in Marvel's shared universe, allowing potential new readers to experience the company's other titles and appeal to other Marvel readers.[3]
Another challenge was posed by the series being set in the Marvel Universe; having the monster consistently defeat the company's flagship superheroes would reflect badly on them.
Publishing history
The series ran for 24 issues between August 1977 and July 1979.
The first issue sold 200,000 copies.[7] After two years of minimal communication with Marvel, Toho abruptly raised the fee for renewing the Godzilla licence. Wary of the impact it would have on the series' profitability and unwilling to sink a larger amount of money into a property they didn't own, Marvel withdrew from negotiations and Godzilla, King of the Monsters was cancelled after 24 issues.[4]
After cancellation
A planned fill-in issue of the title by
Characters from the series such as Doctor Demonicus, Yetrigar and Red Ronin would go on to appear in other Marvel titles. Demonicus was a major villain in Shogun Warriors and later appeared during
Following the discontinuation of Toho's deal with Marvel, the American comic licence for Godzilla was dormant until 1986, when Dark Horse Comics took it up after a revival of interest in the character brought on by new film Godzilla 1985.[9]
In 2007, Godzilla appeared in an unauthorized cameo in The Mighty Avengers #31.[10]
Plot
Having been awakened and mutated by a nuclear explosion, Godzilla first appears by bursting out of an iceberg near Alaska and was soon confronted by S.H.I.E.L.D., who unsuccessfully attempted to restrain the monster with Stark Industries technology. Nick Fury tasks Dum Dum Dugan with forming a 'Godzilla Squad' to stop the kaiju, including fellow agents Jimmy Woo and Gabe Jones, scientist Doctor Yuriko Takiguchi and his grandson Robert "Little Rob" Takiguchi, and genius Tamara Hashioka.[11] Joined by Gabe Jones, they successfully drive Godzilla back into the sea when the monster attacks Seattle.[12] Godzilla re-emerges in San Francisco and destroys the Golden Gate Bridge before being driven off by the combined efforts of the Godzilla Squad and Champions, with Hercules able to best the monster in combat.[13]
The Godzilla Squad then had to deal with the similar creations of the evil
Following further appearances by Godzilla - the destruction of the
In order to cut down the damage caused by Godzilla's rampages, the Godzilla Squad expose the creature to
Collected editions
Due to the use of Godzilla and a number of prominent Marvel characters, the series has only been reprinted once in 2006, when the whole run was collected in a single volume as art of Marvel's budget price Essential series. As such the reprints were in black-and-white. As of 2024 the comic licence for Godzilla has been held by IDW Publishing, preventing any subsequent reprints of the Marvel material.[34]
Title | ISBN | Release date | Contents |
---|---|---|---|
Essential Godzilla, King of the Monsters | 9780785121534 | 15 March 2006 | Godzilla, King of the Monsters #1-24 |
Reception
In an overview of the series for Amazing Heroes, David Annandale felt the series occasionally veered towards ridiculousness, particularly the cattle rustler storyline, but felt it "was never less than entertaining" and compared it positively to some of the later entries in the original film series. He also noted that the mass property destruction without any sign of civilian casualties was "super-brawl syndrome taken to the extreme" due to the requirements of the young target audience and the Comics Code Authority.[9]
Moench was later interviewed about writing the series for fanzine G-Fan Magazine, and discovered Godzilla fandom was evenly split between those who "loved" the Marvel version and those who felt it trivialised the character.[4] The Marvel version of Godzilla was ranked 23rd on Den of Geek's listing of Marvel Comics' 31 best monster characters in 2015.[35]
References
- ^ https://www.marvel.com/articles/comics/godzilla-omnibus-original-marvel-comic-series
- ^ https://comicbook.com/anime/amp/news/godzilla-comics-original-marvel-years-omnibus/
- ^ a b c d e f g Buxton, Mark (October 2019). "Godzilla vs. the Marvel Universe". Back Issue!. No. 116. TwoMorrows Publishing.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Stewart, Tom (October 2004). "Godzilla vs. Marvel Comics!". Back Issue!. No. 6. TwoMorrows Publishing.
- ISBN 978-0756641238.
- ^ Smith, Andy (May 2014). "Shogun Warriors - The Sky-High Rise and Abrupt Fall of Three Giant Robots in Comics". Back Issue!. No. 72. TwoMorrows Publishing.
- NewspaperArchive.
Toho's American agent, Henry Saperstein (...) The films cost about $1.2 million each to make, and gross about $20 million worldwide, he says; about $5 million of that gets back to Toho, which has been releasing two films a year recently. (...) Marvel says its first Godzilla comic book sold 200,000 copies, and that future monthly press runs are being increased. Mattell says it will show its Godzilla toys next February, buoyed by a recent survey showing that 80 per cent of the male population of Los Angeles between the ages of four and nine are Godzilla fans.
- ^ Cronin, Brian (December 24, 2009). "Comic Book Legends Revealed #239". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on July 31, 2013. Retrieved January 13, 2013.
- ^ Fantagraphics Books.
- ^ http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/godzilla.htm
- ^ Doug Moench (w), Herb Trimpe (p), Jim Mooney (i). Godzilla, King of the Monsters, vol. 1, no. 1 (August 1977). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Doug Moench (w), Herb Trimpe (p), Frank Giacoia, George Tuska (i). Godzilla, King of the Monsters, vol. 1, no. 2 (September 1977). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Doug Moench (w), Herb Trimpe (p), Tony DeZuniga (i). Godzilla, King of the Monsters, vol. 1, no. 3 (October 1977). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Doug Moench (w), Tom Sutton (p), Tony DeZuniga (i). Godzilla, King of the Monsters, vol. 1, no. 4 (November 1977). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Doug Moench (w), Tom Sutton (p), Klaus Janson (i). Godzilla, King of the Monsters, vol. 1, no. 5 (December 1977). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Doug Moench (w), Herb Trimpe (a). Godzilla, King of the Monsters, vol. 1, no. 6 (January 1978). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Doug Moench (w), Herb Trimpe (p), Fred Kida (i). Godzilla, King of the Monsters, vol. 1, no. 7 (February 1978). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Doug Moench (w), Herb Trimpe (p), Fred Kida (i). Godzilla, King of the Monsters, vol. 1, no. 8 (March 1978). Marvel Comics.
- ^ a b Doug Moench (w), Herb Trimpe (p), Fred Kida (i). Godzilla, King of the Monsters, vol. 1, no. 9 (April 1978). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Doug Moench (w), Herb Trimpe (p), Fred Kida (i). Godzilla, King of the Monsters, vol. 1, no. 11 (June 1978). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Doug Moench (w), Herb Trimpe (p), Fred Kida (i). Godzilla, King of the Monsters, vol. 1, no. 12 (July 1978). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Doug Moench (w), Herb Trimpe (p), Fred Kida (i). Godzilla, King of the Monsters, vol. 1, no. 13 (August 1978). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Doug Moench (w), Herb Trimpe (p), Dan Green (i). Godzilla, King of the Monsters, vol. 1, no. 14 (September 1978). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Doug Moench (w), Herb Trimpe (p), Dan Green (i). Godzilla, King of the Monsters, vol. 1, no. 15 (October 1978). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Doug Moench (w), Herb Trimpe (p), Dan Green (i). Godzilla, King of the Monsters, vol. 1, no. 16 (November 1978). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Doug Moench (w), Herb Trimpe (p), Dan Green (i). Godzilla, King of the Monsters, vol. 1, no. 17 (December 1978). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Doug Moench (w), Herb Trimpe (p), Dan Green (i). Godzilla, King of the Monsters, vol. 1, no. 18 (January 1979). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Doug Moench (w), Herb Trimpe (p), Dan Green (i). Godzilla, King of the Monsters, vol. 1, no. 19 (February 1979). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Doug Moench (w), Herb Trimpe (p), Dan Green (i). Godzilla, King of the Monsters, vol. 1, no. 20 (March 1979). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Doug Moench (w), Herb Trimpe (p), Dan Green (i). Godzilla, King of the Monsters, vol. 1, no. 21 (April 1979). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Doug Moench (w), Herb Trimpe (p), Jack Abel (i). Godzilla, King of the Monsters, vol. 1, no. 22 (May 1979). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Doug Moench (w), Herb Trimpe (p), Dan Green (i). Godzilla, King of the Monsters, vol. 1, no. 23 (June 1979). Marvel Comics.
- ^ Doug Moench (w), Herb Trimpe (p), Dan Green (i). Godzilla, King of the Monsters, vol. 1, no. 24 (July 1979). Marvel Comics.
- ^ "Comic: Essential Godzilla King of the Monsters". www.tohokingdom.com.
- ^ Buxton, Marc (October 30, 2015). "Marvel's 31 Best Monsters". Den of Geek. Archived from the original on September 30, 2018.