IDW Publishing Forums

[Bobby Curnow]

Hi folks,

Welcome to a new year of Godzilla! I'm Bobby Curnow, I edited Godzilla: Gangsters and Goliaths and Godzilla Legends, and will be editing the entire line moving forward. If you liked those books, hopefully you'll like what we've got coming up.

This thread is a place where you can ask questions to me directly about anything Godzilla related. I can't promise I'll be able to answer all of your questions, but I promise I'll try to be as forthright as possible! I'll be checking this thread regularly.

Okay, on to the good stuff! This news will hit with solicits in the next couple of days, but I wanted you fine folks to hear it first...

In May we'll be launching a new Godzilla ongoing, simply titled "GODZILLA" It will be written by Duane Swierczynski and art by Simon Gane. Ronda Pattison will be returning to colors. Our own Chris Mowry will continue as invaluable creative consultant.

It will be a 'soft reboot' meaning that the story takes place in the same world as Kingdom of Monsters. Other than that though, pretty much everything will be different. The tone, the characters, the story arc. We might revisit some unanswered questions left by KOM, but for the most part, expect a completely different book. Think of it as a movie sequel with a different director, writer, cinematographer, and actors.

Issue #1 will have covers by Art Adams (see below for cover A wrap-around awesomeness!), Tony Harris and Ryan Kelly. Moving forward expect to see great covers from Zach Howard, Matt Frank and Jeff Zornow, among others.

We'll have a special 'Preview Prologue' up in the next month or so, to get a little taste of what we're aiming to do with the new series. I'm completely psyched... I think it will be a wild ride that doubles as a classic Godzilla tale. We hope you'll check the Prologue and the new series out when they hit!

Please let me know if you have any questions! Even if I can't get into many specifics, I'm happy to talk about the general approach we are adapting, as well as any specific questions people may have.

Oh, and thanks for being such great Godzilla fans. Your feedback has been invaluable, and we've been listening!

Best,
Bobby


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"I've lost all the hamburgers."

[Destroyer14]

Wow, I gotta say that I am intrigued by this. Question:

Will there be a singular human main character, (or team) or will there be different characters every time?
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Pain Is Inevitable, Suffering Is Optional.

[kaijusamurai]

Can't wait to work with Zornow again - Bobby speaks the truth, there's good stuff on the way!
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www.mattfrankart.com

[Pkmatrix01]

Well, I'm intrigued. ^_^ (And that pic! Awesome!)

How "close" or "distant" will the new ongoing be to Kingdom of Monsters - will it be very distant, with only vague references to what happened previously, or will it be close enough that characters from the first will return and specific events referenced? Or, has that not really been decided yet?

[Lenbo]

Out of all the Godzilla Legends artists like Matt Frank, Tony Parker, E.J. Su (not to mention Art Adams and Bob Eggleton) you decided Simon Gane was the best choice for the ongoing... Okay.

His artwork (out of all the Legends artists) most closely resembles Victor Santos', so I'm a bit confused when you say GODZILLA (real original title, that) will be "a completely different book" from KOM.

I'm not saying this can't be a different book, but I don't think Simon Gane was the ideal choice if you're trying to do a reboot of a series and visually differentiate it from KOM.

Also, I don't think I'm alone here when I say that any of the other Legends artists would have been preferable to helm the main series artwork...

I really hope you give these other artists a chance to shine again and not just relegate them to cover art, as was done the incredibly misleading- while at the same time outstanding- Matt Frank KOM covers.

[codycameron09]

Holy cow!!! I'm definitely excited now!!!

Can't wait to see the new series Bobby and I'm looking forward to you and the new team cleaning up the mistakes made by last year's team. Here are my questions though...

1) Will Matt Frank be involved this time around? He did such awesome covers.
2) Will we see more monsters come into play this time? Like Gigan and Mothra?
3) Will IDW be getting the rights to feature other monsters not involved yet like Megalon, Biollante, King Ceasar, and Jet Jaguar?

[Void_Master]

Wonderful news to hear about the ever excellent Matt Frank and Jeff Zornow returning (I'm glad to hear he has yet to be destroyed) as well as Art Adams for at least issue 1. This is very exciting.

However, my question regards the tone of the new series. Should we expect a story with a similar tone to KoM or something new? Just curious, though I must admit I am very excited for this new series and can't wait to hear more!
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You are what you dare.
Loyalty to the end.

Okay to print.

[klen7]

Is the 'Preview Prologue' a physical item i will be able to pick up at my friendly local comic book store or is it an online thing?

I look forward to collecting the cover variants and i am very excited for the return of Zornow and Frank...

and is it just my hopeful geeky imagination or does that Art Adams Godzilla cover tie into the Kumonga cover from legends??!!(Legends Covers)

[Goji1954]

I have a question,

Will SpaceGodzilla play a major role within the upcoming series?

[TokyoVigilante]

That's some amazing work by Art Adams. I love that Godzilla design.

- It's a question that might not be answerable right now, but how much of each monsters "mythology" will be drawn from? Even the most plain of monsters like Ebirah (named after a demon in Infant Island mythology to scare the slaves) and Kumonga (held a personal grudge against the Island girls father) are rich with story potentials on their own.

It was one of the strongest points of Gangsters & Goliaths; it crafted a story around the mythology of Mothra. Same can also be applied to Godzilla: Legends #3, but where I feel that KoM dropped the ball. The monsters were used more as pieces of fan services and less as characters or narrative devices that were required in the story.

I guess that was more of a half suggestion/half question of sorts.

- Are mini-series/spin-offs that connect with this ongoing something that is on the table?

- What are Duane Swierczynski personal feelings about this character and franchise? Is this an assignment he took out of a childhood appreciation, or did he see an interesting story that could be told with this material?

- Will Godzilla (or any of the other monsters for that matter) have their designs changed to fit the new direction of the series?
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Godzilla, '62
Rodan, '65
King Ghidorah, '65
Kumonga, '67
King Seesar, '74

[codycameron09]

Will this be the only series IDW will offer after May? Or will there be more mini-series as well?

[Rhuen]

Question: is that drawing what the new Godzilla in this (what I assume is a mini-series) looks like?

To be honest it has a vibe that the offspring of (Godzilla GMK) and Zilla *AKA Gino*

The small spines, large head, and massivly over sized fangs give it that vibe.

But I've always been a fan of the 90's Godzilla look and the 2000 series, while Final War was okay, I felt its lower jaw was kind of thin.

[Bobby Curnow]

Hey guys,

Cool questions! Let me dig in...

Destroyer, there will be a main lead character, and he will have a regularly appearing supporting cast. Having an identifiable and interesting human character from the start is key, I think, and one of our main goals.

Pkmatrix- Not too much time will have passed since the events of KOM #12. Enough time for the world to start to rebuild. Some things from KOM will be referenced, but not in depth or detail. If you've never read KOM, you'll be okay in the new series.

Lenbo- I detect a hint of sass in your message! Seriously though, I'm afraid I don't share your opinion. I think Simon is a wonderful artist, the man can draw anything. He has a variety of different styles, and has a great eye for composition and detail. As for him being similar to Santos... I'm sorry I don't see it. Compare a Gane splash page to a Santos splash page. Both have their qualities, but they're very different. In my opinion at least. Everyone likes different styles and types of art. I personally like a bunch of different styles, and I think that shows in Legends.

I love all of the Legends artists (I wouldn't have hired them if I didn't), but there's a lot of factors that go into selecting an artist. We think Simon is the right fit for the story we're trying to tell. Hopefully you'll agree. The prologue will be free, so take a look at that when it comes out, and judge for yourself.
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"I've lost all the hamburgers."

[Bobby Curnow]

Hi Cody,

1) I aim to have Matt work on main covers from #2 on. I've seen sketches for a bunch, and they're really great. You're in for a treat. Matt and I sorta 'came up together' through Godzilla (both starting with the stomp covers), so I'm very happy to have him involved.

2) You will definitely be seeing monsters that were not seen in KOM. More info than that gets into spoiler territory!

3) Can't comment on that officially, but it is an aim of IDW.

Hi Void Master— Good question. It's a very different tone. I'm hesitant to describe it, because whatever I say will probably be inaccurate to a degree, or not paint a complete picture. But i'd say it's overall a more consistent tone (I found KOM to kind of bop around between different tones). "Intelligent action movie" might be a good, if incomplete, way to describe it.

Howdy Klen, the Preview Prologue (funny how I used caps when typing that originally... dunno why) will be available online. It will also be the first 8 pages of Godzilla #1. But those will be extra pages. So Godzilla #1 will be 30 pages long for standard price. Bonus!

Art's Godzilla cover does not directly connect to the Kumonga piece. There's actually another third to the cover, that shows his tail and another kaiju. Perhaps I'll show that as a treat down the line!

Yo Goji- Given Space Godzilla's appearance at the end of KOM, I think it may be safe to assume he'll play a part. Or not. Maybe Space G just likes to chill on the moon. Time will tell!!
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"I've lost all the hamburgers."

[Bobby Curnow]

Hi Tokyo Vig,

That's an interesting question. I don't want to give too much away, but I think some monster's 'historical' origins will be touched on in different ways. That's got to be an unsatisfying answer, but I can't really get into any more detail.

Having the monster's personalities shine through a bit more than we've seen in the past is another important goal.

There is a possibility of a connected mini-series, some notable Godzilla minds already have some ideas in place. It will depend on how sales go, most likely.

That's really a question from Duane, but from talking to him, I'd say a little bit of both. Duane was quite familiar with a large portion of Showa and Heisei growing up, so he's definitely a long time fan. At the same time, he had a really fun story to tell that came through clearly and immediately in his proposal.

There will definitely be some design tweaks, I'd say. Nothing super drastic.

Hi Cody,
There is definitely another, self-contained mini already in the works, which will hit in July or August. This project hits a special place in my heart, I'm just such a huge fan of the creativity of the creator involved. We'll announce it sometime around when Godzilla #1 hits the market.

Beyond that, we'll have to see what the market supports.

Hi Rhuen,

I think Art was definitely channelling GMK a bit there. As stated earlier, I like artists to feel free to do their own version, so Simon's Godzilla may look different. (Dig how I'm being vague there??)
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"I've lost all the hamburgers."