Godzilla, King of the Monsters (comic book)

From 1977 to 1979, Godzilla starred in a 24-issue run of comics written by Doug Moench, drawn by Herb Trimpe and published by Marvel Comics entitled Godzilla, King of the Monsters.[1]

Between February 1979 and July 1979, Marvel had the comic book rights to both Godzilla and the Shogun Warriors. While the characters never crossed paths in their respective series, artist Herb Trimpe (who did the artwork for both of the series) drew a variation of Godzilla and Rodan alongside Daimos, Great Mazinger, Raydeen and Gaiking on the top page of a comic book ad soliciting the Shogun Warrior toys. Mattel Toys (who had the license to the Shogun Warriors at the time) also had the license to produce toys based on Godzilla and Rodan at this time as well.[2]

The series thrusts Godzilla completely into the Marvel Universe. Godzilla first appears by bursting out of an iceberg near Alaska.[8] Over the course of the series, he crosses the continental United States and eventually ends up in New York City.[9] In at least one of the issues, Godzilla is seen as "the lesser of two evils". He has clashed with other monsters in the past and generally acts more like an actual animal, albeit one with unusual levels of intelligence.[10] This version of Godzilla, while intelligent, is not the protector of mankind; however, he does, at times, exhibit compassion for human characters, such as Dum Dum Dugan, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who is tasked with his capture, destruction, or repulsion from America, and Robert "Little Rob" Takiguchi, the grandson of Japanese scientific expert Dr. Yuriko Takiguchi, who regards Godzilla as a hero and who is depicted as being Godzilla's only human friend. Unlike other characters whose actions, thoughts and feelings are told through thought balloons, Godzilla's are narrated externally via captions.

Godzilla encounters not only the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. during the course of the series, but many other superheroes in the Marvel Comics universe. Among them are the now-defunct group the Champions[11] (minus the Ghost Rider and Darkstar, although both of them were members at the time), the Fantastic Four,[12] Devil Dinosaur and Moon-Boy[13] and the Avengers,[14] along with a brief cameo by Spider-Man in the last issue of the series.[15] Godzilla also fights other gigantic monsters, including Batragon, Ghilaron, Lepirax and Centipor, monsters created by the insane geneticist Doctor Demonicus,[16] Yetrigar, a giant Bigfoot,[17] and the alien monsters the Beta-Beast and the Mega-Monsters-Triax, Rhiahn and Krollar (which are controlled by two warring alien races called the Betans and the Megans, respectively).[18]

In 2006, Marvel reprinted the entire 24-issue run of Godzilla, King of the Monsters as a trade paperback called Essential Godzilla, King of the Monsters.[19] Like all of Marvel's Essential line, the series was published in black and white rather than color, as in its original printing.

In July 1977, Marvel revealed that the first issue had already sold 200,000 copies in its first press run. They announced that they would increase the amount of copies printed in future press runs to meet demand.[20]

This version of Godzilla was ranked No. 23 on Den of Geek's listing of Marvel Comics' 31 best monster characters in 2015.[21] Issues 1-3 were reviewed in Brad Boyle's Japanese Giants #4 by Ed Godziszewski and others.

Apart from this, Godzilla has been referenced or parodied in other Marvel comics.

• In Web of Spider-Man Annual #2 (1986), the character Warlock from The New Mutants turned into Godzilla and then into King Kong during a rampage through New York City.[22]
• In The New Mutants Annual #3 (1987), the Impossible Man turns into Godzilla during a battle with Warlock, who turns into Red Ronin.[23]
• In The Amazing Spider-Man #413 (July 1996), Spider-Man battles a giant robot toy Godzilla (among other giant robot toys) created by the villain Mysterio.[24]
• In The Mighty Avengers #1 (May 2007), a creature bearing a resemblance to the Heisei (1980s and 1990s) Godzilla appears, alongside other giant monsters sent to attack the surface world by the Mole Man.[25]
• Another monster resembling Godzilla served as the "self-destruct event" for Takiguchi's lab on Kunashir Island in X-Men: First Class (vol. 2) #3 (October 2007).
• Godzilla is also mentioned in the 2005 one-shot comic Marvel Monsters: From the Files of Ulysses Bloodstone and the Monster Hunters.[26] In Astonishing X-Men (vol. 3) #36 (April 2011), the monster Fin Fang Foom is rampaging through downtown Tokyo. In one panel, he passes by a building that has a Godzilla billboard on its roof.[27]
• The Marvel Comics Atlas (in the article on Japan) states that the Age of Monsters began in 1954, which is evidently a reference to the original film Godzilla. Additionally, the entry mentions that Godzilla returns years later in North America and is the reason for the construction of Red Ronin and the formation of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Godzilla Squad. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s anti-Godzilla helicarrier, the Behemoth, has recently resurfaced under the command of Amadeus Cho in The Incredible Hercules #115 (April 2008).

• Godzilla (comics)