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Topic: Anybody ever read Marvel’s Godzilla series? (Topic Closed Topic Closed) Post ReplyPost New Topic
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Matt Phillips
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Posted: 25 August 2005 at 8:16pm | IP Logged | 1  

I cannot count the fond memories I have of reading Godzilla.  The ones with the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, Red Ronin, and of course Devil dinosaur really make me yearn for those days of yesteryear.  Seriously.  I still want to track down the rest of those issues.  That is, when I come into some moolah!  And it would be too cool to see JB draw that beautiful paragon of nuclear fury! 
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Kevin Pierce
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Posted: 25 August 2005 at 8:58pm | IP Logged | 2  

GODZILLA was the second Marvel book for which I
submitted audition pages, at the editor's request.
The first was CAPTAIN AMERICA.

*********************************

Which gave the origins of Godzilla, what was Godzilla's origin?

______________________________
I read two Godzilla books


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Glenn Greenberg
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Posted: 26 August 2005 at 12:13am | IP Logged | 3  

I bought the entire 24-issue run a few years ago, as my original copies were destroyed back in the late 1980s.

Read through them all, and found them to be a hoot. Doug Moench was clearly having a ball writing the stories, which were no worse than what Toho was doing in the movies at the same time.

Trimpe's Godzilla looked pretty damned good in the first issue, but went WAY "off-model" as the series progressed. I always wished that Herb had tried to capture the movie version more, but as I believe Herb himself has pointed out in recent years, which movie version should have served as his model? The one from the first movie? The more popular designs from KING KONG VS. GODZILLA or GODZILLA VS. THE THING? The more kid-friendly version from SON OF GODZILLA? The "super hero" versions from GODZILLA VS. MEGALON or GODZILLA VS. COSMIC MONSTER? Quite a few to choose from, and he would have undoubtedly disappointed a certain segment of the readership by choosing one over the other. Me, I would've been more than happy if he'd tried to capture the Godzilla design of the first movie.

(And yes, Godzilla has always been dark gray, not green, but somehow--especially in those days--the public at large believed that he was green.)
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Francesco Vanagolli
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Posted: 26 August 2005 at 1:24am | IP Logged | 4  

Can this book still be considered in continuity? Usually I "erase" series like GODZILLA or SHOGUN WARRIORS from "my own continuity" after a while... Even if they were tied to the regular Marvel Universe (see the conclusion of SW into FF).
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Robert White
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Posted: 26 August 2005 at 2:26am | IP Logged | 5  

I think that all the license comics like Conan, Godzilla etc. are considered "in continuity", though they can't reference the specific names anymore. Robert Howard's Hyporean age was fitted into the history of Marvel earth, for instance, and many a tale in the superhero comics was spawned from that.
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Dave Phelps
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Posted: 26 August 2005 at 7:54am | IP Logged | 6  

Overall it was a lot of fun, but man that kid got on my nerves quick.  Kept hoping Godzilla would "accidentally" squish him.

As for the book being in current continuity, both Red Ronin and Dr. Demonicus have popped up in the real MU, and the MU Godzilla had one last appearance fighting Iron Man (in the #190s - but he was mutated and they didn't mention him by name), where I think he died.  So it's as in-continuity as anything else featuring characters that don't make regular appearances these days.

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Andrew Bitner
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Posted: 26 August 2005 at 8:03am | IP Logged | 7  

GODZILLA: DESTROY ALL MONSTERS MELEE is still one of my favorite Xbox games and I've picked up most of the movies, but I never bought the comics back when-- guess my liking for giant monsters was a late development.

JB, do you have a favorite Godzilla movie or "look"? As Glenn notes, Big G changes from movie to movie, and many fans have a particular style they like best.

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Kevin Pierce
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Posted: 26 August 2005 at 8:07am | IP Logged | 8  

Always wished they made a Godzilla VS Gamera movie.
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Martin Arlt
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Posted: 26 August 2005 at 10:45am | IP Logged | 9  

I loved that book growing up.  Enough that I wrote an issue by issue commentary of the series for my fanzine, MAD SCIENTIST.  One thing that struck me is that Trimpe's Godzilla resembles what Godzilla would later look like in the 1990s.

Marvel's series disappointed a lot of Godzilla fans who felt, with the exception of a few issues, that it didn't really represent any of the film incarnations up to that point.  Rather than go with a rampaging monster or a giant superhero, they went with the Hulk/Marvel misunderstood monster route. 

Martin Arlt........................................

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Jason Schulman
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Posted: 26 August 2005 at 10:52am | IP Logged | 10  

Trimpe should've used the 1964 (MOTHRA VS. GODZILLA) suit as his model. That was the last time that Godzilla looked genuinely threatening until the series was restarted in 1984.

And I agree, the 1990s GAMERA films are great, they blow most Godzilla films out of the water, no pun intended.
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Pete Carrubba
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Posted: 26 August 2005 at 7:48pm | IP Logged | 11  

As a kid, I loved all things Godzilla, and the Marvel Comics series was no exception. What I find amazing is that demand for the character hasn't really fallen off. In fact, it has grown.

If I had to pick a "favorite look" for Godzilla, I'd have to say it would be his King Kong vs. Godzilla  look, but that is probably because of the Aurora model kit that I had as a kid. The kit originally came out in 1963, the year KKvsG was released in the USA. (The likeness of that model was only good from the side view, by the way.) The only thing I didn't like about Godzilla in Marvel Comics was his anthropomorphic features. Dinosaurs don't have pecs, y'know?

Of course, there have been other incarnations of Godzilla in comics, such as Dark Horse:


And here's a design that wasn't used for the 1998 TriStar Godzilla:

A re-imagining of KIng Kong vs. Godzilla:


http://americankaiju.kaijuphile.com/kkvsg/kkvsg.shtml

Someone asked about Godzilla's origin. Well, that was in the original movie Gojira, which I recommend seeing in its uncut, original form. But it's obvious what influenced the creators of Godzilla: The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms



Edited by Pete Carrubba on 27 August 2005 at 5:36pm
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Chris Durnell
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Posted: 26 August 2005 at 9:25pm | IP Logged | 12  

Remember when Dr Demonicu appeared in Denny O'Neil's Iron Man?  Marvel didn't have the license by then, but Godzilla appeared - slightly mutated and referred to only as "my old adversary/enemy" or some such thing.
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