Captain Ultimate Co-Writer Benjamin H. Bailey Wants To Help Lead Team Godzilla

Benjamin Bailey has a dream. He wants to be Legendary Pictures Official Correspondent for Godzilla. Bailey, who writes Captain Ultimate for Monkeybrain Comics, also works for IGN as a comics reporter/commentator and the host of Assemble After Dark!, a pop culture podcast formerly associated with the news site. The idea started as a bit of fun but has recently blown up across social media, leading to our needing to know a bit more about the idea and Bailey himself.

Adam P. Knave: What is it about Godzilla that makes you love him? Benjamin H. Bailey: I had a big dinosaur obsession growing up. Every Saturday night, there was a show on the local cable station called "Godzilla Theater." Basically, they'd play old Godzilla flicks and show some trivia and commentary before commercial breaks. It was on at like midnight, so my parents would tape it and, on rare occasions, let me stay up to watch it. In a pre-Jurassic Park era, Godzilla perfectly scratched my dinosaur itch. I just thought those films were so magical, they had everything I wanted, action, destruction and giant monsters duking it out. Ever since then, the King of Monsters has had a special place in my heart. At his best, he's a force of nature. Great Godzilla films are basically disaster stories. Stories of survival. They aren't about defeating Godzilla, 'cause everyone knows you can't do that. They are about surviving him, and there is something really compelling about that. APK: Why this movie, right now? Bailey: We haven't had a new Godzilla film in along time. The last one, Final Wars, was in like 2004. Plus, I think we can all agree that America didn't exactly do right by the character last time. So far, the stuff they have shown looks amazing, so as a Godzilla fan it's hard to not be excited. Great cast, promising director and a big budget, this looks like Godzilla done right. They seem, at least so far, to capture that disaster element. The previous American version tried to make Godzilla a straight up action flick and it didn't work. APK: What would you consider your duties as Official Correspondent to be? Bailey: Ideally, I want to be a part of the viral marketing process. Contests, trivia, videos, anything I can present, share and promote in some official capacity. I'd also love to go to the premiere, maybe do some interviews with the cast. Basically, I want to help lead Team Godzilla. Help spread the word in some ridiculous official capacity.

APK: What qualifies you above all others for this? Bailey: Well, I'm the only one campaigning for the job. Look, I'm very aware that this is just some title I made up and started spreading around. I had the idea that it'd be fun to call myself the Official Correspondent of Godzilla, which made me think I should probably ask Legendary (the films production company) to give me their blessing. This just started as a goofy, fun idea, but Legendary actually contacted me the other day and said they are aware of the campaign and they were putting together ideas as to how the could use me. Really, what it comes down to, is I love Godzilla and I clean up real nice. Put me in a suit, Legendary. APK: In the ever-changing world of social media, interacting with traditional media, is this sort of outreach by fans to media companies, something you see as a growing trend? Bailey: It's crazy the reach social media has. This started out as a bit of fun that grew into a massive film production company contacting me. It's insane. I think as long as people are since about it, this trend will grow. I'm not making fun of Godzilla, I love the property and I want to be a part of it. That was part of the reason that Legendary said they reached out to me, they could see my genuine enthusiasm. It's a fine line, for sure, but I think media companies reacting directly with their fans is a very good thing. APK : Is there a problem giving your work for free to, say, Legendary, as in will it contribute to a thought process that we don't need to pay for PR/writers/etc? Bailey: I don't think stuff I'm doing is in anyway a replace for general PR. I mean, I'm not putting anybody out of job because the job I'm campaigning for doesn't really exist. Really, it's just putting fans to work spreading their love of a project, and that is something companies have been doing for a very long time. Social media allows for that, with the "Like us on Facebook" or "Retweet and Follow!" I think what I'm attempting is similar to that, only dumber. I'm aware of how ridiculous it is and I embrace it.

APK: What would Godzilla think of you working for him? Bailey: There's this scene in the comic series Half-Century War where the books lead character, who has been trying to stop Godzilla for 50 years, tries to get the giant to just look at him. He just wants Godzilla to acknowledge he exists, to know that he has struggled his whole life against him. Godzilla doesn't even look in his direction, can't even see him. That's me, only I'm supporting the big guy. Godzilla doesn't need support, he'd just step on me, a fate I willing accept. APK: Who is the best enemy Godzilla has? Bailey: Roland Emmerich. APK: If you get the gig, what's next for you? Bailey: My biggest goal is to make it to the premiere. That would be amazing. I'd be pumping the movie, spreading the word up until its release and beyond. Even if I don't get the gig, I'll be talking about the movie nonstop. My love for Godzilla can't be confined to a mere job. I also have a comic series that comes out from Monkeybrain comics called Captain Ultimate and a one-shot comic book called Uncaged that'll be released this summer. It's basically Die Hard in a zoo.