From writer Chris Gooch and artist Oliver Ono comes a tale of a motley space crew on a flying space kaiju in Starship Godzilla #1. Featuring lettering by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, this first issue blends together the whimsy of Showa-era Godzilla with elements of Alien and Cowboy Bebop to craft something you’ve certainly seen before, but configured in a way that is still a blast to behold. With a fun script and stellar visual work, Starship Godzilla is a great opening chapter to this take on the Godzilla mythos.
“You didn’t think kaiju were only on Earth, did you? In the fight for galactic supremacy, no weapon is more powerful than a kaiju… and no team is better equipped to capture and transport these titanic monsters than the crew of Starship Godzilla! This ragtag group flies through space in Mechagodzilla and takes high-risk, high-reward missions across the galaxy. A kaiju heading toward your planet? Give them a call. A colossal space pest clogging up your trade route? They’ll get rid of it. A galactic civil war utilizing kaiju on both sides? They’ll… uh… do their best to stay out of it. But where there’s a galactic war, there’s a galactic conspiracy, and this may be one fight our crew doesn’t land on the same side of.”
Writing & Plot
Chris Gooch imbues a space adventure with the spirit of late Showa-era Godzilla in the pages of Starship Godzilla #1. This opening issue brings a familiar sort of adventure with a lively, memorable cast of misfits and aliens that makes the story immediately fun to step into. The main crew, a ragtag bunch of thieves flying through space on a Mechagodzilla spaceship, is reminiscent of the crews in stories like Cowboy Bebop, Firefly, or Star Wars: Rebels. The cargo they end up stealing and what happens with said cargo feels very much like a plotline from those series, and the events ensure that the comic’s influences are being worn on its sleeve. All that being said, Gooch uses those influences to craft a story that gets its audience comfortable with a good time while still laying some surprises later in the issue. His cast of characters are all likeable, and his dialogue is snappy and fits the story well. The overall plot starts out very simplistic, but ends up increasing in complexity and stakes as it reaches the end, making the comic more compelling that expected by the time you hit the final page.
Art Direction
While the concept of a crew flying around on Mechagodzilla was enough the get me interested, it’s Oliver Ono’s visuals that really seal the deal for Starship Godzilla #1. Ono’s thick pencils, heavy shading, and saturated color work set up the aesthetic and tone of the comic beautifully. His work here is like a hybrid of Daniel Warren Johnson and Katsuhiro Otomo,, but with Ono’s own unique style carrying it along. The used-future aesthetic brings up those earlier Bebop and Alien influences I mentioned earlier, but imbued with a spirit straight from Showa Godzilla in comic book form. Ono’s character designs have a delightful charm to them that feels like something from an 80’/early 90’s anime, and that charm increases as we see just how motley and alien the whole crew is. His sequential direction is kinetic, carrying action on all manner of scale with ease. The panel revealing the Mechagodzilla ship is cool as hell, but Ono’s moment-to-moment scenes focusing on smaller action and character moments all flip through at a great pace. His color art works brilliantly as well, as he uses a sort of rusty, used palette that sells the atmosphere of this retro-styled future. A real star in this comic is Hassan Otsmane Elhaou’s phenomenal lettering. His main dialogue lettering has an artistic slant to it that fits perfectly with the comic, but the real clincher is his *outstanding* SFX work. His effects are drawn to emulate soundwaves while also blending into the art of the panel itself, making for genuinely some of the coolest SFX work seen in a comic this year. Overall, Starship Godzilla has an absolutely killer visual direction in all aspects.
Verdict
Starship Godzilla #1 is a blast of an opening issue. Chris Gooch’s script wears its noteworthy influences on its sleeve, but manages to stay compelling and genuinely surprising by the time you reach the final pages. The visuals from Oliver Ono are a solid blend of Western and Japanese comic influences, which when combined with Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou’s lettering, make for possibly the coolest looking Godzilla comic since Stokoe’s Half-Century War. Be sure to grab this debut issue when it hits shelves on October 1st!
