It’s a pretty great time to be a Godzilla fan and it has been for ten years, since Neon Genesis Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno’s Shin Godzilla came out, joining the burgeoning American “Monsterverse” version of Japan’s favorite kaiju. We got Godzilla Minus One, a brilliant reboot of the monster, and Goji is tearing it up in the comics, having battled DC and Marvel’s greatest heroes. Meanwhile, IDW Publishing has been putting out fun Godzilla titles, ones that have taken the character across the United states for indie comics mayhem, as well as the excellent Godzilla Monsterpiece Theatrebooks. These books are both love letters to the monster’s universe from the best indie creators in the land and they’re back with a Godzilla vs. America, one that takes Goji to the San Diego Comic-Con.
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Godzilla at San Diego Comic-Con is a fun idea and this book takes it to some awesome places. It’s packed with talent, with the two headliners being Usagi Yojimbo creator Stan Sakai and Superman legend Dan Jurgens, joined by a murderer’s row of indie talent – Greg & Fake, Margeaux Pepoy, Nicole Goux, Carla Wyzgala, Dave Baker, Jared Cullum, Gavin Smith & Milena Deneno, Sean Gallaway, Patrick Horvath, Travis Mercer, Gabby Ramirez, and Alfredo Cardon – for a series of SDCC-focused Godzilla stories. These stories are love letters to both pop culture legends, and you can feel it on every page.
Pros
Cons
The sheer variety of stories in this book make it a lot of fun
So, basically, this is one of those things where none of the stories are bad, but they also aren’t amazing gamechangers. They’re above average stories, but that’s it.
Just so much great art; every page has something awesome on it
The various stories find way to subvert the standard Godzilla tropes while using them, if that makes any sense
Image Courtesy of IDW Publishing
So, right when I started reading this and saw Stan Sakai’s name on the credits page, I was excited for this book. Sakai is one of the great legends of the comic industry, with Usagi Yojimbo running since 1984. Set in Edo era Japan, it’s one of those legendary comics that every fan needs to check out. Sakai doing a Godzilla story is something that I never thought I would want so much and reading it was a blast. It set my expectations for the rest of the book perfectly. This isn’t really “serious” Godzilla; instead, most of them are fun indie comic stories using the trappings of Godzilla’s universe and the setting of San Diego Comic-Con. The first story revolved around Chuck, one of the heads of the Con, losing a CGC 9.5 Amazing Fantasy #15 to an attack by the mosnter and activating SDCC’s anti-Godzilla defenses. It feels like an old school Godzilla movie taken to the extreme, playing up the ridiculous parts of the Goji mythos.
The rest of the stories are more of the same. The next one is all about a group of cosplayers stepping forward to stop a Godzilla attack that takes the best turn ever. Then comes Dan Jurgens’ story, another one that pays homage to old school Godzilla ideas, as a booth operator’s toy he can’t sell ends up saving the day. After that, there’s a series of one page strips and images, with the strips more of the same kinds of fun the other stories gave readers. You can tell that every single creators is having a blast with their stories. Each of them shows a love for the character that comes through on every page. It’s honestly hard to pick a favorite out of them all. I love Sakai and Jurgen’s stories, but the second story by Greg & Fake has so much heart to it that I might love it the most. Meanwhile, of the one page comics at the end, there’s one that is one of those branching path where you pick which way to go by answering yes or no that I loved so much.
Image Courtesy of IDW Publishing
Kicking this book off with Stan Sakai was the right call. His cartoonish style is detailed and expressive, its opening shot of the sale floor a veritable feast for the eyes. Sakai’s style is more of a classic comic strip style and it fits into this story perfectly. His simple linework sets the scenes, with Sakai hitting readers with so much detail in every panel. Really check out his pages; there’s so much happening in every page, like in the above image. Sakai throws in a boat reminiscent of the one seen in Godzilla Minus One, a nice little Easter Egg, rewarding you for paying attention. While this story is humorous, Sakai does a great job of rendering the destruction of a Godzilla attack. The action scenes are gorgeous, wonderful little scenes from the best Godzilla cartoon you’ll never get to watch.
Greg & Fake’s story feels like something that was drawn by someone who calls themselves an “indie cartoonist” and that’s part of its charm. My favorite part of it is when the whole scene shifts, the linework changing to give the scene more weight. The third story, with art by Margeaux Pepoy, has art that reminds me the most of a mainstream comic, which makes sense since it was written by Jurgens. Pepoy’s art is crazy detailed, each page full of images that feel like they’ve stepped out of SDCC, and her action scenes feel like they came from the Marvel Godzilla comics of the Bronze Age. The one-pagers of the book are a mix of indie strips and one-page images, each of them capturing the spirit of Godzilla and San Diego Comic-Con flawlessly.
Godzilla vs. America: San Diego #1 is everything you could want an indie Godzilla comic to be. This book came from a bunch of creators who wanted to show readers how much they love the greatest kaiju ever and San Diego Comic-Con. There’s an energy to each story that captures the feel of a comic convention, all while giving readers various homages to old school Godzilla. This book isn’t going to change your life, but it’s going to keep you entertained the entire time.
Godzilla vs. America: San Diego #1 is on sale now.
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