So Godzilla is Getting a New Manga

Whenever Godzilla gets something new, I always consider it to be a big deal. Right now the King is enjoying a revival in the IDW comic world...and that's pretty much it. We have the Monsterarts releasing, and not too long ago that Kaiju World Wars board game released. But, it is impossible to find any type of merchandise within stores. Once Legendary's film comes out next year, the ball will start rolling once more. Now this is interesting news I discovered on the TOHO Kingdom forums. Godzilla is getting a brand new, official manga series. he cool part is that it actually takes place in the Showa continuity!

What I can gather is that it takes place five years after Terror of Mechagodzilla. Now here comes the interesting part, Godzilla isn't the main character, it's Minya grown up. The story is that humanity has caused a nuclear war, leaving the Earth in a state of vulnerability. Intergalactic forces (aliens!) come, but Godzilla and the rest of the monsters of Monster Island force the threat to retreat. Apparently they get them to retreat at the cost of their lives. That's right, Godzilla, Anguirus, Rodan, among a few others die! (Godzilla is the only truly confirmed one, I'm just making an assumption since those other guys are part of Monster Island.) Ten years later, the same threat returns. Now Minya, whom has grown up to be the new Godzilla, and a whole new generation of monsters (?) rise up. So will Minya, now Godzilla, help the world or hold a grudge since they are the ones that started this mess to begin with and inadvertently caused the death of the only thing he could truly call family?

Technically this should be taking place after DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, since Minya is in that film. (DAMM takes place in 1999, while Terror takes place in 1975.) So I'm going to assume this will be an alternate timeline, unless they somehow explain things. First off, it's really quite interesting that this will actually take place within the Showa continuity, doesn't seem like something TOHO would do. This is pretty obscure news, I haven't been able to find out which magazine it's going to be in. I assume an official press release will follow soon. In the second picture which I'm most certain is Volume 1, the word 'Psychic' is there. I'm guessing the girl will be able to communicate with the monsters, or at least understand them. (Like Miki from the Heisei series.) I do wonder exactly what the 'new generation of monsters' is. If the old ones die, then will we see some new guys? Mothra appears as you can see, which makes sense. She is a timeless monster, there will always be Mothra. I think she will be the force that convinces Minya not to destroy the humans for revenge, with perhaps the girl. Of course, if we don't get an official announcement soon, this manga could just fade away from American news. It wouldn't be the first time, cool manga like these I and American fans will never get to fully read.

I don't know the full story behind these, but see how cool they are? (Biollante + Ghidorah = Biodorah? Ghillante?) I mean, Mechani Kong and Mechagodzilla teaming up? Godzilla with a samurai sword? Lots of good stuff we'll never see here. But, in today's day and age, I wouldn't count out the possibility of it coming to American shores. Maybe with the upcoming film it'll create interest? You never know. But, if I don't hear anything in the next few months, we can assume it'll be another manga Americans will never truly get to read sadly. (Unless you somehow import it through Ebay or something.) Still, the fact that Godzilla is getting a new manga that is set in the Showa continuity is astonishing.

Monster of the Week: Kumonga (Showa)

Kumonga is the giant spider that hails from Sollgel Island. Like Kamacuras, Kumonga was once a little thing before mutating into this giant beast of a monster thanks to a failed government weather experiment. See, after all these years you finally realize that spiders are sinister creatures. If you give them higher intelligence, they become extremely sinister creatures. Kumonga was a feared name in Sollgel Island. Unlike Kamacuras, there was really no way to drive this thing away. Kumonga is one that sleeps a lot in his underground cavern, he only pops up every once in awhile to get some food. Sadly, due to unfortunate events, he was awakened unexpectedly. That's where the later events of Son of Godzilla take place.

It was one fateful day when Minya hatched. Sadly for him, he got beat up a lot that very day when Godzilla wasn't around. When Minya decided to go for an afternoon walk, he happened to run into a Kamacuras. The insect seeing Minya as easy prey quickly went to play around and torture the little guy. While he was backing up in fear, he banged into a few rocks. Those rocks would change everything that day. They fell into Kumonga's valley. They had disturbed the giant spider's sleep. Goro and Riko happened to be in the area, they were witness to the rise of Kumonga. They quickly ran away, but was stopped by Kumonga's unbelievably sticky webs. You see, Kumonga is the biggest spammer of all time. He will constantly use his webs. They are pretty much unbreakable except for one thing....fire. Goro happened to have a match, which burned the webs. Kumonga manged to trap the two into a very thin area. He could barely make them out has he attempted to claw and web them. Thanks to Goro's genius mind, they managed to allude the giant spider by climbing up. They had escaped, but the giant spider wasn't far behind...

Kumonga is one that holds a grudge. He will go after you until the ends of the earth. It wasn't long after that he knew the two had escaped. To everyone's horror, he had followed them to the cave where all the crew was staying and webbed the entrance shut! With his sword like claw, he attempted to grab anyone he could. But, he had then sensed a new prey: Minya. The poor little guy was off again, wandering around when he happened to run into Kumonga. The Son of Godzilla really did try to fight as he begged for mercy while getting webbed to the ground. Kumonga was then going to get his first kill when a Kamacuras showed up. You see, unlike Gimantis over there, Kumonga is a deadly, sadistic creature. Kamacuras is nothing other than a bully. When push comes to shove, they high-tail of there. Quick. This time was no exception. I'm going to say that Kumonga had most likely killed a bunch of Kamacurases in the past. Once this one saw the giant spider, he wanted to get the heck out of there. But Kumonga couldn't have that. As Kamacuras attempted to fly away, Kumonga webbed the preying mantis to the ground. As it tried to fly away pitifully, the webbing kept it down. You can see the horror on the insect's face, he knew he was about to die a painful death. You see that as he made a sound for mercy. But Kumonga is as merciless as they come, just driving his poison stinger into Kamacuras, scaring the living daylights out of Minya. After the demise of Kamacuras, the giant spider turned his attention back to a petrified Minya. The little guy was screaming and calling for his dad. Kumonga is one of the most sadistic monsters ever, he knew that Minya was really scared, he had then taunted him with his stinger, bringing it out and bringing it in. This guy must get a kick out of hearing his opponents beg for mercy. Good thing for Minya was that Godzilla had arrived. Kumonga had not realized it until he was hit in the head with a rock, knocking him over. However, he was quick to get up and started spamming his webbing. The amazing part is that the webbing can actually withstand against an atomic blast. When the two are put against each other, the webbing wins. Godzilla is not one to just give up to webbing, after a good blast of atomic blast to the head, Kumonga re-thought his situation and started to head back. He wasn't prepared for a fight where his opponent could actually fight back, he had never met someone like that. Godzilla on the other hand wasn't going to let Kumonga go anywhere. He followed him and shot a blast of atomic radiation to get the giant spider back at attention. At this point Kumonga knew that this guy wasn't going to leave him alone...until he had killed G of course.

This is where the real battle begins. Kumonga started, you guessed it, spamming his web, which eventually knocked down Godzilla. Minya really tried to help by shooting a blast of atomic radiation at the web, but to no avail. This is where Kumonga started to go after Minya again. This guy just loves torturing really scared souls. Godzilla, even having been tied to the ground shot two blasts of atomic radiation, which downed Kumonga, or so they thought. You see, not only is Kumonga a sadistic monster, he's also an extremely cunning one. He doesn't blindly attack his opponent, he makes plans on the fly. Godzilla had suspected something, but he wasn't expecting his right eye to be stung by Kumonga's stinger. The spider knew his plan would work and quickly flipped himself over to watch the King of Monsters revel in pain. Of course, they both hadn't expected the weather to start snowing. Believe it or not, Kumonga has insane strength. Godzilla had decided it was time to take down the spider by force. However, Kumonga had stood himself up to meet the challenge and tackled G to the ground. Godzilla was trapped with his right eye not working, he was practically defeated. Kumonga was on top of him, reveling in his victory. What he hadn't expected was a powerful blast of atomic radiation from Minya. He was sent flying off G. Of course, he wasn't defeated yet. From afar, he shot his web while G had gotten up and shot his atomic radiation for a web/beam war. Kumonga's web won out, and he presided to finish off a weakened Godzilla. The latter managed to get a good blast in, which halted the spider in his tracks. At this time, Godzilla and Minya combined their atomic blasts, which finally defeated Kumonga. The two then went into hibernation as the cold raged on...

But Kumonga was somehow preserved by the snow and lived peacefully with Godzilla and a bunch of other monsters who came to live on 'Monster Island.' Godzilla and Kumonga had made a pact of some sort, they were no longer enemies. Case in point with the great battle against King Ghidorah when all the monsters were transported to an island dubbed 'Monster Land.' Here Kumonga aided Mothra with his webbing. To this day, the giant spider lives in peace with the other monsters. Kumonga is a great monster. A cunning and sadistic villain, he almost killed Godzilla after all. In the end, Kumonga is also a smart monster. In a world where monsters are hated, it's best to have allies, as he and other monsters live on Monster Land.

Son of Godzilla Review

It's very interesting took at the evolution of these films. Like, if you watch the original 54 film, this light-hearted film would appear to be the complete opposite of that. Gojira was a moody, depressing film. Son of Godzilla is a light-hearted adventure about the King of the Monsters teaching his son Minya the ropes of being a Godzilla. It's interesting how a series evolves over time. Son of Godzilla is a 1967 film famous for one thing: the first appearance of the infamous Minya, who would go one to appear in three more films. Son of Godzilla is a different kind of Godzilla film, even for the Showa era. It has a lot of heart, and deepens Godzilla's character.

Official description from Sony TriStar:

On an uninhabited island, United Nations scientists experiment with changing the climate, cooling desert temperatures to provide more fertile land for growing crops. Unfortunately, the experiment takes an accidental tragic turn when a radioactive burst emits a thunderstorm of fire. Huge native praying mantises suddenly grow to 160 feet, tearing the island apartuntil they uncover a monstrous-sized egg. The egg hatches and the shocked scientists are confronted by a baby Godzilla. The infant's screams bring his father to the rescue and now the original Godzilla and his son want revenge. What will it take to stop them?

This film is a lot less cheesy than it sounds. Sure, it has some silly moments, (Minya tripping over a rock, him tripping on Godzilla's tail, him tripping....) but has a pretty interesting story. As you read in the description, it's about a bunch of people conducting an experiment that will 'change mankind.' Sogell Island is inhabited by a bunch of giant praying mantises known as Kamacuras. (Dubbed Gimantis in the American version.) Also inhabiting is the giant spider known as Kumonga. (Dubbed Spiega in the American version.) So as you can see, we have giant insects this time around. (Give me them over a lobster anyday.) First of all, the setting is drastically different than most G films, it takes place completely on Sogell Island. So no buildings getting blown up this time. We also get something you never thought you'd see in a giant monster film.....Godzilla being a father and 'training' his son. More on that soon, but let's talk about the cast.

The main character would be a news journalist in the form of Goro Maki. A bit too over-the-top at beginning. (I'm not going anywhere! *Then sits down with his arms crossed.*) As the film goes on, he proves to be an interesting focus, which is good, cause he's surrouded by a bunch of dull and uninteresting characters. Dr. Kusumi proves to be a ggod leader, but the rest of his men are just one-shots. Only one of them gets some development, he goes insane, which would have been interesting if handled better. The focus is also on an inslander girl in the form Riko Matsumiya. Definitely one of the better characters in the story, she felt the most 'real.' The humans in this film are just really mixed. They aren't as sleep-inducxing as some of the Heisei films, but pale, and I mean pale to a lot of the Showa flicks. (Monster Zero puts this film to shame in that aspect.)

One of the infamous things about this film is the Godzilla suit. It's pretty ugly, right? It could possibly be the worst Godzilla suit ever. That aside, we get to see G acting as a parent, which is worth the watch in itself. Seriously, the Godzilla movies are the only things you'll find monsters with such deep character. You'll be having good laughs watching G train Minya. (He threatens to slap him if he doesn't attempt to shoot a blast of atomic radiation.) But don't think G's gone soft, he still fights with everything. (Love the scene where he keeps slamming Kamacurus to the ground.) Minya is one ugly looking thing, I personally don't see much of a resemblance between him and G, looks more like a frog. It's cute....but man, it's also one ugly-looking suit. Let's talk Kamacurus. Now this may be hard to believe, but films were actually done back then without CGI at all. (Imagine that!) So it's just props/practical effects here for the inscent. And my goodness, it looks fantastic. The prop looks extremely realistic, not bad for a film from over 40 years ago. Then there's the final boss, giant spider Kumonga. Once again, the prop is excellent, one of the best props I've ever seen. There's a very nice build-up to the final battle with it. Think it's just an over-sized spider? Think again, this thing is a sadistic beast, as seen when he shows Minya his stinger before he goes to completely poison him. Godzilla and Minya both look pretty ugly, but both Kamacurus and Kumonga are fantastic.

The soundtrack is different and more light in tone. It fits the mood, but isn't too spectacular. The opening theme with Godzilla, and the battle with Kumonga had some nice tunes, but the soundtrack isn't THAT great. I think the film would have been better if there were more scenes with the monsters. Now I would usually say that, but the film does feel like it drags on sometimes. When you don't have a city as a backdrop, you need really engaging characters, but this film doesn't have too much if that. The monster scenes, however, are really entertaining and just plain fun. They're colorful and just a blast to watch. Godzilla's entrance to save Minya was great, who doesn't love seeing G beating the heck out of these insects? I think the final battle could have been longer, but it was still well-done. Very different than a lot of the final battles in these films. The part where Godzilla and Kumonga wrestle to the ground was a pretty awesome sight to behold. Also one must mention the ending, it's one of the most emotional ending I've ever seen, not just in Godzilla films, ALL films.

Overall, Son of Godzilla is an underrated film in many ways. It had a 'different' story, plus very colorful monsters. The human characters needed a bit working however. It was also great to see Godzilla get character development of being a father to Minya, some really great (and humorous) moments here. The fights are fun, and the effects are great. (Well, Godzilla and Minya aren't exactly the best though.) Son of Godzilla is a fun little gem, it will always be known as the first film to feature Minya, but it's a lot more than that.

7/10.