Since IDW has held the Godzilla comic license every series has carried the name of the King of the Monsters. Even if he wasn’t the focal point the branding of Godzilla was too much to pass up. Now the publisher has brought their first series solely focused on one of Toho’s other monsters and they’ve immediately set a high bar. Mothra: Queen of the Monsters arrives from the team of Sophie Campbell and Matt Frank, and not only does it quickly plant its flag in a unique way but it makes sure to capture the specific essence of a classic era of Godzilla movies.
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Mothra: Queen of the Monsters hits the ground running, revealing a world where Mothra has already been defeated in battle by a brand new kaiju, Antra. The bulk of the series follows the reunion of Mira and Emi, two sisters that were separated over a decade ago after the epic battle leveled their city. Emi arrives with a secret, the tiny prophets of Mothra tucked away in a bag with a plan to rebirth the Queen of the Monsters and to help bring peace back to the Earth. A couple of last minute surprises in the final pages set the stage for the rest of the series in exciting ways too, but we can’t dare spoil them here.
A frequent complaint levied at some giant monster movies is that some audience members see no purpose in the human side of the stories and desire only to watch the massive destruction. Mothra combats this by not only giving you plenty of the later, but making sure that the former is thoroughly invested in the element of the narrative. The issue manages this with Campbell giving distinct personas to the lead characters, though there is a bit of a stumble in executing some of their specific dialogue. Tonally the series walks the line of later Showa era Godzilla, something that is friendlier to a younger audience, but as a result there are sometimes moments that feel awkward and stilted.
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On the flipside of the coin, artist Matt Frank, who is credited with all but two pages of the issue (Campbell did the other two), makes sure that the human and monster sides of the story are intertwined visually. The opening pages set the stage with limited dialogue and Frank shows off the destruction and desolation from a massive kaiju fight, and the desperation that follows from the survivors. Frank’s art is expressive, dynamic and has an epic flow to the storytelling, pushing the narrative visually when the dialogue may leave something to be desired.
It is not easy to tell a story using Toho’s kaiju that not only does not feature Godzilla at all, but creates a brand new monster whole cloth too. Part of the magic that Sophie Campbell and Matt Frank have with this new series is that they’re pulling off something that manages to do both of those things while telling a great story and feeling fresh and weird. Mothra: Queen of the Monsters has set a high bar visually and narratively for the rest of IDW’s Godzilla line, especially should any other kaiju ever get the spotlight in the future. With compelling and layered art, this might be one of the best looking Godzilla books that has been published in a few years.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Published by IDW Comics
On March 5, 2025
Written by Sophie Campbell
Art by Matt Frank & Sophie Campbell
Letters by Nathan Widick
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