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True comic book afficionados, (which was me back in the day) will remember when Marvel Comics guru Stan Lee acquired the rights to make a Godzilla comic from Toho Studios. Sure, the comic only ran for 24 issued from 1977 to 1979 which was titled Godzilla: King of the Monsters, but it was a glorious 24 which saw the iconic Kaiju taking on the finest Marvel had to offer like S.H.I.E.L.D., the Fantastic Four, Devil Dinosaur, Moon Boy, The Champions, and of course, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, The Avengers. Earlier this year Marvel finally collected all 24 issues in one omnibus and even had variant covers for certain Marvel Comics that showcased the King fighting the likes of Iron Man, Wolverine and Captain America.
Well, those variant covers were the appetizer as Marvel has announced that they are dusting off the King of Monsters once again in a six issue limited series that will feature smackdowns with the Fantastic Four, Hulk, Spider-Man, the X-Men, and Thor. News comes from THR, and the series will take placed over the course of four time periods and this time Godzilla is going to bat for the good guys as he will team up with our beloved superheroes to take on earth’s greatest threats lake King Ghidorah himself.
The series will debut this March and Godzilla vs. Fantastic Four will center on the Fantastic Four battling classic Godzilla antagonist King Ghidorah, who has been imbued with the power cosmic as the new herald for Galactus, the giant devourer of worlds. In this issue, Godzilla will actually team up with the Silver Surfer in order to attempt to save the Earth. Ryan North will be handling the writing, while comic king John Romita Jr. will dazzle with the artwork.
Evidentially, Marvel has been trying to reconnect with Toho for years with Sven Larsen, Marvel’s VP of licensing and publishing doing the due diligence. “We approached them initially for our reprints, but a while after those conversations, it was clear that both of our teams were excited to do more together. These crossovers started coming together over that time, in direct collaboration with Toho, and we felt the perfect time for them was for Godzilla’s 70th anniversary. We’ve been thrilled to work with them on these, and we hope this will be a sign for more exciting projects to come, “stated Marvel editor-in-chief C.B. Cebulski.
Marvel Comics & Franchises president Dan Buckley added, “For us, kaiju—and specifically Godzilla—are important parts of Marvel’s comic history, so we knew we wanted to explore something with their teams. We’ve always been fans of Godzilla, but with the steady rise in Godzilla’s popularity over the years, it’s part of our current cultural zeitgeist and a perfect example of the fun that the comics industry can bring. We’re focused on the storytelling first and foremost, but fun opportunities for crossovers like this give both of our fans an entertaining escape that they won’t want to miss.“
I recently acquired the original Godzilla omnibus and i must state that I’m loving these limited series as I don’t have to make long term commitments with titles. Once they’re done, it’s done and there’s no need to make sure you keep collecting countless issues every other month or so. Once again, combining two of my favorite IPs in Godzilla and Marvel is a dream come true and only if they could do a live action version in the MCU with a crossover with Toho. I think that would be rejuvenating for the studio and for comic book films.
Look for the first issue of Godzilla vs. Marvel to hit the comic book shops in March!
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
