The Great Godzilla Roundup!

-

GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS — Issue no. 16, August 1978

Book: Godzilla, King of the Monsters

Issue No.: 16

Published: August 1, 1978

Title: “The Great Godzilla Roundup!”

Cover Price: 35¢

Format: Original paper copy

As regular Marvel Time Warp readers know, Godzilla, King of the Monsters is one of my favorite Marvel books of 1978. And, as I mentioned last time, it’s one of the late-1970s books I am actively collecting. To the point where I am willing to break my five-dollars-or-less rule when it comes to buying old issues of Godzilla. Marvel’s Godzilla only ran for 24 issues, and I think at this point I have collected all but two. Because of licensing issues, Godzilla has only been officially reprinted once (that I know of). That means the black-and-white Marvel Godzilla trade paperback is a collectible these days. Even though I’m planning to collect a complete run of single Godzilla issues, I went ahead and got the trade collection, just because I love this book so much.

While double-checking on whether any other Marvel Godzilla, King of the Monsters collections exist, I just found out that there is a fancy hardcover omnibus coming out later this year! Looks like it is going to be 90 dollars, which is pricey, but I can attest it is cheaper than collecting individual back issues. I’ll be recommending this book to anybody who likes Bronze Age comics.

One more link before I get to Godzilla, King of the Monsters no. 16. Marvel only had the Godzilla license for two years. But they did sneak Godzilla into a few books after that, but they couldn’t call him Godzilla. Or draw him exactly the same as they did in the Godzilla comic books. This CBR article explains.

Mid-issue splash page from this issue showing a bunch of cowboys on horses charging toward Godzilla. One cowboy says, “Yeehah! We got the ornery cuss now!” Another says, “Come on — let’s show him what happens to a monster that feeds on our cattle!” Godzilla says, “Mraww.” Narration reads, “Godzilla wanted to avoid this.”

As for this issue of Godzilla, King of the Monsters, it wraps up the cowboys-and-kaiju storyline that started in the previous issue. It’s another classic Godzilla setup where there’s plenty of human drama even before Godzilla gets added to the mix. That drama here involves competing cattle ranchers. (The ranchers are named Hawks and Ford, in homage to the great western film directors Howard Hawks and John Ford.) Long story short, one rancher has stolen a bunch of cattle from another, and everybody assumes that the missing cows were all eaten by Godzilla, who just happened to be passing through.

In the process of (foolishly) trying to wrangle Godzilla, the cowboys stumble upon the missing cattle. Before he exits the story, Godzilla personally offs the main bad guy rancher.

There’s a great bit of dialogue from one of the cowboys as he’s pondering whether Godzilla is intelligent or just acting on instinct. “He flushed out the varmints, located my missing cattle, saved my ranch, and stopped a murderer. . . . If he ain’t got a brain, he sure is good at wingin’ it.”

As good as the writing is, penciler Herb Trimpe’s layouts continue to be the star of the book. He throws in an amazing mid-issue splash page showing the cowboys on horseback chasing Godzilla. And Trimpe never lets us forget how huge Godzilla is. Godzilla, King of the Monsters is not your usual Bronze Age Marvel comic book, and Trimp’s artwork for it is not your usual Bronze Age Marvel artwork.

Next time — The Human Fly visits Washington D.C. And the Marvel Comics offices?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Jack of Hearts!

-
Image
MARVEL PREMIERE — Issue no. 44, July 1978 / As I understand it, MARVEL PREMIERE served, at least sometimes, as a try-out book. It was an anthology title, and it generally featured a different character each issue. Marvel’s editors could spotlight a superhero in MARVEL PREMIERE and, based on sales and reader mail, decide whether that hero might warrant their own title. Writer and Jack of Hearts creator Bill Mantlo states this all pretty directly on this issue’s fan-mail page (which, in this case, is more of an editorial and doesn’t feature any letters from fans), encouraging fans of Jack to write in with their thoughts. And to also maybe buy an extra copy of the book and gift it to a friend. Early in the book’s run, Doctor Strange and Iron Fist were both featured in multiple issues of MARVEL PREMIERE before getting their own titles. Book: Marvel Premiere Issue No.: 44 Published: July 25, 1978 Title: “The Jack of Hearts!” Cover Price: 35¢ Format: Original pap...
Read more

Stairway to Rage!

-
Image
MASTER OF KUNG FU — Issue no. 69, July 1978 / This issue of MASTER OF KUNG FU ends on a confusing note. It’s a literal note, at the bottom of the story’s last page — “See our letters page for news about next issue!” But there’s no letters page in this issue. So I guess I’ll have to wait till I read the next issue to see what it’s about. I was kind of confused for a lot of this issue, because it features several flashbacks, but I couldn’t remember if they were from MASTER OF KUNG FU no. 68 or if they were filling in some backstory. I finally figured out it was the latter. I think. After the multi-issue epic that wrapped up in the previous issue, this book features a one-and-done story. It’s a fairly straightforward (other than all the flashbacks) gauntlet type of story, with kung fu master Shang-Chi defeating a series of opponents to get to Skullcrusher. (This book really delivers on the kung fu, with the fights dynamically illustrated by the great Mike Zeck.) Skullcrusher (his...
Read more

War in the Washington Monument!

-
Image
THE HUMAN FLY — Issue no. 15, August 1978 / THE HUMAN FLY is an unusual Marvel comic book because it’s about a sort-of real Evel Knievel-type stuntman instead of a totally made-up superhero. The Human Fly and his stunt team occasionally get mixed up with superheroes, but usually they’re just putting on stunt shows to raise money for various charities. Based on reading eight issues of THE HUMAN FLY, I think the book is at its best when the Fly and his pals visit some small town to do a show and end up helping the locals solve a crime. Probably my favorite so far is issue no. 10, where the Fly and company take on shady coal mine executives in Harlan County, Kentucky. This issue is set in Washington, D.C. Definitely not a small town! But the helping-out-the-common-folks angle is there. One of the guys on the Human Fly’s stunt team is Ted, a Vietnam vet, and the Fly, Ted, and the rest of the team are in D.C. to visit one of Ted’s war buddies at a veterans’ hospital. Book: Th...
Read more