Godzilla: The Half-Century War #5

by James Stokoe

Godzilla, King Ghidorah, Gigan, and a new Mechagodzilla fight it out for the last time in a battle that includes a gigantic cannon that shoots miniaturized black holes.  In a comic drawn by James Stokoe.

I'm not usually one of those readers who gets totally swept up in the potential for excessive grandeur in comics; I prefer a nicely drawn character-driven piece more often than not, but this is a freaking awesome comic.  James Stokoe has taken a property that I've long associated with little potential for real drama, and put together a mini-series that told a solidly entertaining story.

We follow the narrator of the story from his first encounter with Godzilla in post-war Japan through a half-century of escalating monster-threats, and ever-more destruction across the globe.  In this final story, set in 2002, he's an old man who knows that he doesn't have much time left, but he's determined to go out fighting.

Sure, in that sense the story is kind of conventional, but none of that matters once you look at Stokoe's stunning artwork.  And the best thing about this series?  Now that it's done, hopefully Stokoe will go back to his brilliant Orc Stain...

Godzilla: The Half-Century War #4

by James Stokoe

With this, the penultimate issue in his mind-blowing Godzilla mini-series, James Stokoe asks the question that many monster-hunters are probably afraid to ask themselves - how do you retire when you've never been able to accomplish your mission?

This issue is set in India in 1987, and Ota, the man whose story we've been following since the end of the Second World War, is starting to feel both his age and the futility in his mission.  Just about the only two constants in his life have been Godzilla and failure, and he's getting a little tired of both of them.

Of course, this is the 80s, so science has progressed to the point where the people in the AMF have built their own Mechagodzilla, a Shogun Warriors style giant robot to fight the lizard.  Ota has almost nothing to do on this mission, until he happens to notice Deverich, the bad guy with the monster-luring device we met last issue.  The device brings a new type of Godzilla to the sub-continent, and things get pretty crazy.

Stokoe is so good at books like this that it could be illegal.  His hyper-detailed art looks fantastic here, as it has in every issue of this series, but I'm noticing that his writing is really growing as well.  I've mentioned before how difficult it is to make anyone care about anything in a monster comic, but now I'm quite looking forward to seeing how Ota's half-century war with Godzilla ends next issue.

Godzilla: The Half-Century War #3

by James Stokoe

It's hard to describe how wonderful this comic is.  James Stokoe, an artist like few others, is telling a long story about the people who have worked for half a century to stop Godzilla, and the other monsters like him.

This issue is set in Accra, Ghana, in 1975.  All of the various monsters - Mothra, Hedorah (MF Doom taught me the name was Geedorah, but whatver), Rodan, and all the others, have been summoned to this massive example of 70s urban African sprawl, along with Godzilla.  They haven't come there by chance - there is a clear reason for their behaviour, and it involves an American scientist who has betrayed the AMF (I don't remember what that stands for) and set out for personal gain.

Stokoe quickly introduces a number of new characters, who make up the specialist teams tasked with stopping each of the monsters.  My favourite is the pair who are assigned to Mothra, an afro'ed Black Power type and his bearded hippie companion, who drive around in a tricked out VW van.

Stokoe's work is always visually inventive and almost overpoweringly detailed, and that continues here.  This book is a lot of fun, and is absolutely gorgeous.

Godzilla: The Half-Century War #2

by James Stokoe

The longevity and popularity is something that doesn't make a lot of sense to me.  Ultimately, all Godzilla stories have to be about the people trying to kill the giant monster, and they can never succeed in their mission.  There's not a lot there that makes for sustained runs in comics or movies, unless a stream of new monsters is introduced.

Why then, if I have no real interest in the franchise, am I buying Godzilla comics?  The answer is easy - James Stokoe.  This gifted and unique cartoonist brings his wonderfully detailed and strange art style to the big green monster, and therefore is keeping me captivated.

This series follows a Japanese officer, Ota Murakami, who has devoted his life to following the creature and trying to stop him from destroying cities.  This issue is set thirteen years after the last, as Godzilla wanders his way through the middle of Vietnam, during the Vietnam War.  Ota has been sent by his government to work with the US Army and a very manga-looking professor (you know you know what I mean), who has big experimental masers he wants to use.

The issue follows the standard Godzilla set ups and tropes, including the inevitable appearance of a second creature.  It's a very nice looking comic; Stokoe continues to work his usual magic, and that ensures that I'll be back next issue for more.

Godzilla: The Half-Century War #1

by James Stokoe

Much like Conan before Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan came along, Godzilla is not a character or comics property I have any interest in.  Why then am I buying this latest IDW mini-series with such a sense of excitement?  James Stokoe.

Stokoe first caught my eye with his Wonton Soup English-language manga series at Oni, but it is his Orc Stain that really exposed the depth of his comics genius.  That series, which chronicles the adventures of a nameless one-eyed Orc who may have a role in fulfilling some great prophecy, has been on a hiatus for a while, and so I'm happy to get my fix of Stokoe with this book.

Stokoe excels at pages filled with finely detailed mayhem.  His work is like a cross between Geof Darrow and Brandon Graham, and it is never boring.  This series is about a Japanese soldier, Lieutenant Ota Murakami, who first encounters Godzilla in 1954, when the monster first attacks Tokyo.  Murakami and his friend are able to protect a large number of evacuating civilians by distracting the monster, and later they are offered a job which, we are told, leads to Murakami spending half a century dealing with the giant radioactive lizard.

Story and character are secondary to visuals here, and Stokoe does not disappoint.  There are some excellent scenes of Tokyo being devastated, and the book is fun, inventive read.  I look forward to the next issue (even though I'd rather be reading Orc Stain).

Essential Godzilla

Written by Doug Moench
Art by Herb Trimpe, Tom Sutton, and a pile of inkers

I scored this as a freebie at a boxing day sale, and it's taken me a while to get through it. This is very much a classic 70s Marvel series. The art is straight-forward and unadorned with any flourishes. It tells the story effectively and simply. The story is much the same - the plots are well-paced and narrated in that classic Marvel style of bombastic (and slightly pretentious) language that I remember so fondly from my childhood.

I've never really understood the appeal of monster characters like Godzilla. Sure, it's cool to see them stomp on buildings for a while, but there's nothing else to them. You can't expect any real character development or drama surrounding the monster itself, so instead, you have to create some ancillary characters and put the burden of making the stories interesting on them.

In this case, the main characters are pretty much all stereotypes. You have Dum Dum Dugan spouting off his sailor-esque one-liners and acting consistently like the least intelligent person in the room. You have other SHIELD agents like Gabe Jones (who gets called 'black man' by one villain - ahh, the 70s) and Jimmy Woo. You get the group of Japanese scientists (old man and his pretty assistant). Somehow, there is a pipe-smoking helicarrier pilot named Hughes Howards (how did that ever seem like a good idea?). And, sadly, there's a kid, who everyone calls Little Rob, even though there isn't a big Rob; following convention for kid and his _____ (whale, robot, dog, etc) movies everywhere, the kid is the one who can get through to the robot. We also get a range of Marvel guest stars. The Fantastic Four and Avengers make sense in the context of the series. The appearance of the Champions is excellent. Devel Dinosaur and Moon Boy? Not so much.

The plot for the first year or so of the series, involving attempts to stop the monster in the western states, works really well. Things progress logically, and there is a real sense of rising tension and drama running through the series. The Red Ronin battle robot is very cool.

After that first extended story line, you start to see that Moench really had to stretch to make this series work. I'm still not sure I understand how a bunch of cowboys think they can 'rustle' up a monster Godzilla's size. The plot involving alien races is ridiculous (The Megans from planet Mega???), as is the time-travel plot. It quickly became clear that they had no idea how to keep this series going, and so then they mercifully put it down.

This is a fun collection of comics to read, but I don't think it's one I ever would have paid for.