IDW Godzilla Previews

[klen7]

[MekaGojira3k]

Really looking forward to today's issue. Not sure if I'll be able to get it today.

[Chris Mowry]

Everything that klen7 said.

For the record, I'm not a fan of the cover. Not for any political/social reasons mind you (I tend to let people decide for themselves what they choose to buy), but for the fact that art like that (the posing and over-sexualizing when there doesn't need to be any) just doesn't do it for me. The shop in question has many RE (retailer exclusive) covers done by that artist and wanted to have a special cover for ROE #12. The shop is great and the owner treats his customers even better. With things like this, we sort of say "what do you want to do and we'll see if it flies with X (licensor)." In this case, I told them that Toho can be quite picky about how Godzilla is drawn, so maybe stick to something like his eye or something.

The topic of using characters from the series never came into question, but I would have opposed if that was the case. I'm a bit surprised at it, but it doesn't bother me too much since it's a cover people have to seek out and not one that is distributed to every shop. So, like all things I guess, it's a choice the consumers will have to make.

But that being said, I'm not a fan of the cover, but a fan of the shop. And I really appreciate the concern and thoughtful responses, klen7. It's always nice (and so refreshing) to see/hear people discuss rather than grab the pitchforks and torches. I'm very happy to hear that you think I'm/we're doing things right in regards to role models, etc. as well. I hate the tropes of female roles (victim, helpless bystander, etc.) as you have described, so with Lucy, I wanted to make sure that she's a player in the events of the book and not just there for set dressing. Or something like that... it's early here in SD.

Hope you enjoy #12!

[klen7]

[Chris Mowry]

It's a standard-sized book (32 pages) that covers all of IDW's Godzilla-related titles with artwork from each series, a description of what the series is about, and a few notes about behind-the-scenes stuff, etc.

There's even a few pieces of never-before-seen artwork, too. It's really intended for people that may be seeking out Godzilla stuff due to the new movie, but have no idea where to start with IDW's comics. So for the die-hard collectors out there, they may not find anything worthwhile about it, but I think it's a great book to pick up especially if you're looking to get a glimpse of IDW's Godzilla library.

[MekaGojira3k]

Oh neat. I hope my local shop is ordering it.

[klen7]

Yeh, I'm not sure if I have an order in for this or not. Guess i'll find out next week. Glad to see IDW taking steps to get new readers jump on points.

[MekaGojira3k]

[klen7]

So i picked up the IDW Era issue and thought it left me wanting. Really they should just turn the thing into a free website and link to it from the main IDW homepage (then maybe Godzilla will finally have a decent presence there...).. anyway, it didn't really offer recaps so you can't use it to bring people up to speed, it seemed more like solicits for each series to try to convince people to check out each and every series.

There were a few things that made me roll an eye, like "Did you know KoM had a different name originally?" and then not stating what the original name was (Monster World) or spending one of the few sentences it talked about HGM (not referenced as "History's Greatest Monster" anywhere, only confusingly as "Godzilla") to boast of the first appearance of Baragon (i guess that counts as an appearance??)....or in the rare instance that there is artwork that hasn't been widely published (like EJ Sus character sketches) they are displayed in the tiniest of thumbnails. argh!

Overall I'd rank this as a missed opportunity more than anything. It is nice to have a lot of the cover art included and the intro letter from Mowry gives interesting insight (its a shame they didn't get at least a blurb like that from some of the other writers).. but for $4, this could be a skip for anyone that has been keeping up with the series

[ebirahsmeg1]

[klen7]

One of the things i have criticized IDW on it's handling of Godzilla series so far, is that trades fall so far behind the ongoing, that there is no way for people to catch up and become monthly readers, and since the series lives or dies by the monthly numbers it seemed like an inevitably slow death by attrition... well according to the most recent IDW Weekly, Rulers of Earth TPB 3 and Issue 13 both come out next week. so i think that's a pretty good step in the right direction.

Also... and i hope i dont jinx it... i wasn't expecting issue 13 this month since they released the Era issue, which means RoE has been doing a great job avoiding missed deadlines and delays (which is another area that hurts monthly sales)

So that's all good news as far as i am concerned, at least now if the series fails horribly, I won't be able to blame IDW's business side... or at least i will only be able to blame the lack of advertising (it's not even a property listed on the main site's Catalog of IDW series...)

[tbeasley]

One of my main critiques about the on-goings is that they almost don't foresee the trade paperbacks. Around 4 issues are usually collected, so IDW needs to make sure those 4 issue arcs are complete stories that at the same time push the main story along. So far it's just been a collection of monster fights, leaving some side stories and characters hanging. It's not really a problem reading the issues individually months apart, but having them collected it can turn very unsatisfying. You feel like you don't get your money's worth. I'm a big fan of the Hellboy/BPRD comics and I love the way those writers approach those stories. It's why those handful of characters are the only ones I've ever followed, they're very 'reader friendly' for those outside of comics.

[MekaGojira3k]

[kpa]

SciFi Japan has an exclusive preview of Godzilla: Rulers of Earth #13.

http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2014 ... e-preview/

[ebirahsmeg1]

Just looked at the previews and the monster copyright logos...good to see the Gargantuas, Ebirah, and Baragon making a return. Having said that...I have one question:

The reason for GINO appearing yet again in this comic is because....? Seriously, there is something drastically wrong with this world when Shere Khan/Scar makes more appearances in these books than the likes of Gorosaurus, Megalon, Gabara, King Seasar, Megaguirus, *insert an infinite number of TOHO kaiju that fans would rather see over GINO*...other than a few kids like that "Frankenstein babies suck! I want Bagan!" troll on TK, I don't know anyone who's clamoring for GINO to appear in these comics...

[klen7]

^ We just finished a big arc, so i'd expect 13 to be one part recap and one part "resetting the chess board" for a new story... Could be GINO is just part of a flashback, but if the writers still have a story for him i won't complain.. although if they are listening to bizarre fan requests I would like an atmospheric horror miniseries about a meganuron invasion of a small mining town.

[klen7]

Hurray for everything this cover implies

[MekaGojira3k]

I'm still very convinced that when Godzilla reappears in Issue 13 it'll actually be MechaGodzilla in disguise.
Just cuz.

[Benjamin Haines]

Toho Kingdom updated their . After sales steadily declined from October to January (issues 5-8), Godzilla: Rulers of Earth saw consistently increasing sales through issue #12 in May, which surged past 7,000 issues for the first time since issue #3.

The new movie probably made that possible. It's too bad IDW didn't release Godzilla: Cataclysm or another new title last month. It probably would have had the biggest debut since Kingdom of Monsters #1 if it came out the Wednesday after the new film.

[klen7]

^ So apparently the increase in numbers is due to the additional covers (there were 1000 copies of the retailer exclusives) so if you disregard that one store, the number dropped by 27 from issue 11... so its pretty much still at plateau level

[klen7]

I only caught the last 5 minutes of the comics panel since it was at the same time as one of the main guests, but here are a few tidbits I picked up during that short time.
-For RoE, up through 17 is scripted with a plan for 20, as long as numbers continue.
-Mechaghidorah will make an appearance
-Chris Mowrys ultimate goal for RoE is to make it to issue 25 (the longest running G comic)
-Original monsters are coming.


Hopefully someone who was at more of the panel can add more details

[kpa]

SciFi Japan has an exclusive preview of Godzilla: Rulers of Earth #14 from IDW. The issue goes on sale next week.

http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2014 ... e-preview/

[ebirahsmeg1]

[klen7]

As of G-Fest the word was that series will continue as long as the numbers remained consistent. They had up through 20 planned out... There were some other details in my post above

[kpa]

November is Artist’s Edition month at IDW. SciFi Japan has details, including an exclusive preview of Jeff Zornow’s cover for the Artist’s Edition of Godzilla: Rulers of Earth #18.

http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2014 ... ion-month/