A Special Thanks Goes Out To IDW Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC.
It’s time once again to dive into the world of Kaiju with IDW Publishing’s newest Godzilla title, Godzilla: Here There Be Dragons. This new title brings writer Frank Tieri (Wolverine, Space: Punisher, Gotham Underground), and artist Inaki Miranda (We Live, The Chase, Fairest) for a swashbuckling tale filled with pirates, kaiju, and a Kaiju Cult?!
This tale finds us traveling back to the 1500s. It’s a world full of mystery and high-sea adventure in which there is only one ruler, the King of Kaiju, Godzilla! Before humanity successfully traveled the globe, many believed that the ocean was ruled by monsters beyond the eye could see. An Ominous Warning was written on maps, to denote the areas where people dared not to go read “Here there be dragons..” that is until Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the seas, visiting foreign lands and collecting treasure. That was what history tells of Drake, but history doesn’t know how the rest of his story goes, until now.
Godzilla Here There Be Dragons collects the five-issue series, and the story is straightforward enough for new readers to follow. Tieri gives readers a story that connects pirate tales about foreign lands, and a mysterious monster island, with a hint of political intrigue. The main focus is Hull, a pirate who was set to be executed in British territory in the late 1500s. He tried to avoid his execution by telling a tale out of this world, even featuring the King of Kaiju himself and Monster Island.
Even though the focus is on Godzilla and other monsters, it plays up to a conspiracy theory of how history is documented and how the Kaiju played a role in it, which included secret cults to worship them. The book does well in meshing together the pirate tales and Godzilla lore pretty well. It was one of the things that made the book stand out above most Godzilla titles.
The other thing that made this book work so well was the artwork. Miranda caught how fierce and frightening Godzilla and the Kaiju were perfectly. Colorist Eva De La Cruz’s (Fables, Fairest, We Live) color work in this series was a perfect fit with Inaki’s illustrations in this book, whether it was fighting among the humans or the kaiju, Miranda and De La Cruz were the perfect artistic team for a Fantasy/Sci-Fi story.
Godzilla: Here There Be Dragons will be available to buy on April 9 at your local comic shop, digitally, and e-retailer. Also, be sure to go see Godzilla x Kong: New Empire in theaters on March 29.
This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, we’ll receive a percentage of the sale. Whatever purchase through the affiliate links helps the site.
Final Grade:
Thanks for reading! If you have any suggestions, news tips, or questions, email them to: webmaster@bigrednerd.com.
Red's Nerd Den 