What’s coming in IDW’s Godzilla?

I’m making that into my official Godzilla banner. It’s so darn cool. With IDW’s comic mere weeks away from either enriching my reading experience or killing my dreams, information is coming out. Bleeding Cool showcased all 80 covers for the upcoming comic (most of them being store variants of the same Godzilla foot smashing their particular shop, so not as awesome as it sounds) and Toho Kingdom has gathered the solicits for the first three issues from Newsarama. So it only makes sense for me to look them over and try to ascertain my future. Will it disappoint me like Transformers (my favorite fiction) currently does or make me very happy like Doctor Who (second favorite)does? It’s time for the 3rd favorite fiction to get its day. Let’s prejudge.

Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #1
Release: March 23rd, 2011
Writer: Eric Powell and Tracy Marsh
Artist: Phil Hester
The King of the Monsters rises again, and for the first time in comics, he’s bringing lots of other beloved Toho monsters with him in one destructive saga, and The Goon‘s Eric Powell is sounding the alarm. Powell will also paint covers for each issue of this new ongoing series, including a wraparound cover to kick things off! Acclaimed artist Phil Hester signs on for the first storyline, and Alex Ross supplies a painted 50/50 variant cover! This is the Big G storyline you’ve been waiting for!

So they’re going with “Kingdom of Monsters and not “Monster World” as previous preview covers have stated. I could have gone with either one, but this solicit tells me nothing. Let’s see what issue #2 has in store.

Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #2
Release: April 27th, 2011
Writer: Eric Powell and Tracy Marsh
Artist: Phil Hester
The world is in panic as Godzilla reduces Tokyo to rubble. No one knows where the giant lizard has come from and even the most extreme military counter-measures prove useless. As the people of Japan struggle to survive Godzilla’s wrath, the world’s governments start thinking outside the box. Unfortunately, Godzilla may not be the only monster-sized threat the world faces…

So if I follow this correctly it’s a total reboot? Even the first movie isn’t canon in this series? That could be a positive, although both reboots (including the so-called “Millennium Series”, which from what I can tell are mostly retellings of Godzilla’s return but not the original fight) seem to keep the original film as canon and ignore the rest of the franchise until the start of that timeline. Do radioactive explosives tests still factor in the creation of Godzilla, the one thing the Tri-Star film got right? And what other “monster-sized threat” will debut? Maybe issue #3 will spoil us with the answer? And yes, there ARE spoilers, so I’m going to use last week’s Jake & Leon as spoiler space.

And he has a message for a certain whiny girl, too.

Hey, my Godzilla is getting better. You’ll have to take my word for it, since I poorly mapped this for a word balloon I decided to add at the last minute, but I’m getting better. Or I could just post a dialog-free panel.

See? Better than I have been. Still have a ways to go, though.

Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #3
Release: May, 2011
Writer: Eric Powell and Tracy Marsh
Artist: Phil Hester
Godzilla, Rodan, and Anguirus continue their devastation, and the worldwide media begins to chime in. As people around the globe suffer, celebrities band together to save the monsters from human counterattack, and the president is criticized for being “soft on monsters.” Meanwhile… a mysterious giant egg washes ashore in France. And what’s with those creepy little twin girls?

Well, any G-Fan knows that means Mothra and the fairies (or whatever name other continuities come up with for them) will be showing up. I hope it’s not too many classic monsters too fast if this is indeed a full reboot. My problem is the “celebrities band together” and the part with the president. This seems the wrong time for social/political commentary and if the US isn’t under attack (issue #2’s solicit mentions only Tokyo and Japan) what is the US being expected to do? If Japan asked for our help in smashing Godzilla (which they seldom if ever do in the movies), I’m betting Obama would offer military help, and I’m a conservative.

As far as the celebrities coming to call for not destroying the monsters…really? Would there be some scientist or Greenpeace type group interfering? I wouldn’t put it past them, but it seems unlikely. I’d rather see a group like Dark Horse’s “G-Force” that would take Godzilla down if they could but now can only study it. I can just see this coming off as an unnecessary distraction from the monster-fighting in order to take a swipe at Hollywood (not that they don’t deserve it), but I’ll see what happens when the issue is in my hands.

That’s my take over all, actually. I’ll see what happens when it comes out and I read the comic for myself. Solicits only tell you so much by design but you can expect a review when it hits shelves at the end of March. In the meantime, I’m still giddy with anticipation. I love me some Godzilla.

And don’t forget my own Godzilla concepts:

• Tronix’s Ideas For IDW’s Godzilla pt.1: what I want to see (bwmedia.wordpress.com)
• Tronix’s Ideas For IDW Godzilla pt 2: Team Godzilla (bwmedia.wordpress.com)
• Tronix’s Ideas For IDW Godzilla finale: the bad guys (bwmedia.wordpress.com)