Godzilla: War for Humanity #1 Review: Cartooned Kaiju Smash Expectations

Godzilla earns his moniker, King of the Monsters; the character is too big (literally and metaphorically) to be ignored. He has been a mainstay in American comics since the late 1970s when Marvel Comics sandwiched stories into their own continuity between the Showa and Heisei eras. And any fan of kaiju media can attest that results have varied tremendously amidst that steady stream of new monster comics, including some genuinely transcendent works like Godzilla: The Half-Century War which utilized the genre to showcase James Stokoe's stunning style in the most fitting fashion imaginable. Godzilla: War for Humanity #1 shows a great deal of promise as it also opts to focus many of the joys and tropes of the kaiju genre through the vision of an outstanding modern cartoonist: Jake Smith.

The first issue establishes a familiar premise. Dr. Yuko Honda is a prominent scientist whose research focuses on kaiju due to an obsession stemming from a childhood encounter with Godzilla. She sees the creature as a force for good and lectures on Godzilla's role as a savior to the chagrin of some prominent peers. Dr. Honda is invited to join an elite task force studying the emergence of a new kaiju while Godzilla inhabits Monster Island. Those who have seen one or two classic Godzilla movies will have a clear sense of how events will proceed from there.

That level of familiarity serves the comic exceedingly well. It allows a wide cast of characters and problems, both personal and global, to be quickly introduced in the span of 22 pages. And it does so while providing abundant space for multiple kaiju action sequences that sprawl across horizontally-oriented layouts designed to showcase the power and scale of the various monsters. Godzilla: War for Humanity #1 never allows more than a single page's pause before glimpsing some kaiju activity. Meetings and presentations are punctuated with detailed projections and Jake Smith depicts four distinct encounters between different kaiju. 

The issue opens with Hedorah attacking the coastline only to be confronted by Godzilla. Both of these classic designs are made to feel appropriately massive on the page. Smith's kaiju figures regularly extend past the borders of already overlapping panels. Clean linework with focused areas of detail make them instantly recognizable and offer a sense of motion to their towering forms. While they won't frighten readers, it is instantly understood why the miniscule humans sharing the page with them would be terrified. The exemplary cartooning in that first sequence showcases an excellent approach to adapting Godzilla stories to the comics medium and subsequent battles don't disappoint.

In addition to several classic kaiju appearances, War for Humanity introduces a new antagonist in the form of Zoospora, sporting a genuinely hideous form that signals malevolence as soon as it's seen. Smith's design combined with a twist on the creature's origin makes Zoospora a genuinely novel kaiju concept. It's eccentric appearance fits the ragtag group of scientists opposing it well. Collectively, they provide the series with a similar charm as the best Showa era films – idiosyncratic monsters and humors that could still deliver a frightening display.

Godzilla: War for Humanity #1 delivers exactly what I want from a Godzilla comic, which is a vision I wasn't expecting. The franchise has its natural rhythms and the best stories, including Half-Century War, tend to play with them. Where these comics can excel is in presenting a new way of seeing these fantastic kaiju characters and that's exactly what this first issue does in the form of Jake Smith's artwork in a bold and impactful style. It's bound to leave readers excited to see where each new issue steers the story.

Published by IDW Publishing

On August 16, 2023

Written by Andrew MacLean

Art by Jake Smith

Colors by Jake Smith

Letters by Rus Wooton

Cover by Andrew MacLean