CLASSIC COMICS: Godzilla King Of The Monsters Special #1

Godzilla King of the Monsters Special #1
Story & Script: Randy Stadley and Steve Bissetts
Artist(s): Steve Bissette and Ron Randall
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Released: 1987
Cover: Steve Bissette

Without a doubt, the darkest of the US Godzilla comics. There's no mention of Godzilla's past at all here, except for the fact that he is millions of years old and is full of displeasure of the world he once knew being changed into a bustling metropolis. The only mention of radioactivity pertains to a mysterious stone slab which attracts not only Godzilla to wake up every 3000-4000 years, but two other monsters (and one Anguirus rip-off, not named) called Soran the thunderbird and Inagos the locus king. Godzilla is the "Fire Monster". Basically the monsters show up after the slab is discovered and proceed to make their way to Tokyo where it is. Godzilla lands in the city first and begins his path of destruction. The scientist who discovered the secret behind the slab, along with a friend of his, load the slab onto a helicopter in an attempt to get it out of the city and out into the ocean. The scientist takes one helicopter to buy time for his friend to get away and ultimately ends up ramming his helicopter into Godzilla's head as a distraction in order to keep his wife and daughter out of Godzilla's path. The other helicopter pilot takes the slab out to sea and drops it into the ocean. Godzilla and the other monsters follow the slab into the watery depths, never to be seen again.

To put it bluntly, this is one dark comic from the artwork to the storyline. Godzilla really doesn't belong in this story, as his part could have been played by ANY monster. The story seemed very thrown together and the other monsters in the story were just knock offs of other Toho monsters (Kamacuras and Rodan). The cover artwork is especially ugly. Godzilla's slug-like appearance with the evil grin is a far cry from what, in my opinion, the true king of the monsters should look like. The supplemental artwork, found at the end of the comic, ranges from artistic to disturbing, you can finally see what happens when Godzilla steps on someone. When I got this comic as a kid, I had never seen Godzilla in this light before. I had seen the original film and knew that Godzilla was a force of destruction, but with this comic, it was as if all involved in it just wanted to make him into something he wasn't.

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