bob eggleton

PopCultHQ received advance review copy of GODZILLA: History’s Greatest Monster TPB from IDW Publishing. Available January 27th, the creative team for this book features writing by Duane Swierczynski, art from Simon Gane w/ Dave Wachter, colors by Ronda Pattison, and letters from Chris Mowry.

Here is PopCultHQ’s Spoiler-Free Review of…

GODZILLA: History’s Greatest Monster TPB

Story: Duane Swierczynski
Art: Simon Gane w/ Dave Wachter
Colors: Ronda Pattison
Letters: Chris Mowry

Cover Art: Bob Eggleton

Collects the complete 13-issue series.

Cities, special forces teams, and a legion of Kaiju are no match for… History’s Greatest Monster!

Godzilla continues to destroy cities and lives all over the world and ex-special forces tough guy Boxer is a man with a grudge who vows to end the terror of Godzilla—no matter what! He assembles a topnotch team to take him and the other monsters down at $7 billion a bounty.

PopCultHQ’s Comic Book Review:
GODZILLA: History’s Greatest Monster TPB

Beware the mighty Godzilla, King of Monsters! For when it and its monster king come unto the world of man, what else can mankind do but fight back? Come alongside an unlikely band of comrades as they battle to keep the world safe before the whole Earth is trod under the heel of the killer Kaiju.

Writing: Duane handles the world-building for this Godzilla series spectacularly. There is an even balance within the script of focusing on the human element, the people trying to survive and fight back against the Kaiju, and the focus on Godzilla and the various giant monsters that show up throughout the book. Duane clearly has a passion for the King of Monsters and its various counterparts, because he manages to throw all the major players into his series, with a few surprises along the way. Top-notch story from a top-notch writer.

Art: Simon and Dave tag-team to deliver stellar artwork. While the world itself is very real and solid, as are the human heroes/villains, the thing that stood out the most was their renderings of Godzilla and the different beasts that permeate throughout. These terrifying titans of movie fame are glorious to look at and their various showdowns honestly feel like they could leap out of the book at any given moment and onto a giant movie screen. Cheers to this totally terrific twosome.

Colors: Ronda really gave the world of Godzilla a gorgeous color palette. Everything looks so life-like and believable thanks to her choices. Every single monster’s hide looks tangible under her artistic ministrations. And the colors are more muted, not overly garish as one would expect from a comic about great movie monsters duking it out. By taking the more grounded approach, she gives them a solidity that is often lost when adapting Godzilla, Rodan, and the other classic creatures into a print medium. Major kudos on a spectacular job well done.

Letters: Chris nailed it with the lettering. Especially with the various noises, screeches, and other words that one always expects when Godzilla and the big dogs of monster fame throw down. Not a single moment of lettering falls flat. If anything it soars high, higher than even King Ghidorah could fly. Reading the letters for every brawl, they translated into this reviewer’s mind and stayed there, like when a person sits down to watch one of the monster movies. A terrific achievement on Chris’s part to accomplish that with his lettering.

PopCultHQ’s overall assessment:

For all those who have always thrilled to the earth-shattering exploits of Godzilla over the years, this TPB is one that needs to belong in every movie monster fan’s collection. It is the sort of series that will have fans/readers talking for years to come. With twists and turns and terrible creatures on every page! All thanks to the amazing creative team that tackled the book, what is laid out in fantastic word, pictures, color, and letters is a hair-raising, mind-blowing adventure.

PopCultHQ’s Rating:

5 out of 5 Stars

Purchase GODZILLA: History’s Greatest Monster TPB online:

Publisher – IDW Publishing

It’s been two years since Caine Riordan was relieved of his command for following both his orders and his conscience. Now he’s finally received the message he’s been waiting for: a summons to visit the ancient and enigmatic Dornaani. And this time, making direct contact is not just professional, but personal: the Dornaani still have his mortally-wounded love, Elena Corcoran, in their unthinkably advanced medical facilities.

But instead of arranging a swift reunion, Riordan’s new Dornaani hosts are not only disinterested in human affairs, but are in such social disarray that they have lost track of Elena’s surgical cryocell. Riordan must blaze his own trail through dying and dangerous worlds to find the mother of his child, her fate as uncertain as the true agenda of the Dornaani leaders.

However, as new clues and new threats push Caine’s quest beyond the edge of known space, he discovers that the Dornaani empire is not merely decaying; there are subtle signs that its decline is being accelerated from without. Which means that rescuing Elena is just half the mission: Riordan must report that the Dornaani collapse is not only being engineered, but that it is the prelude to a far more malign scheme:

To clear a path for a foe bent on destroying Earth.

This is the fifth book in the Caine Riordan science fiction series by Charles E. Gannon. The series has several names including the 22nd Century series and Tales of the Terran Republic. Previous books include Caines’ Mutiny, Raising Caine, Trial by Fire and Fire with Fire. There are at least two more books planned for the series which are Endangered Species and Protected Species.

This is a space opera set in Gannon’s Terran Republic world. His world is descriptive and full of life that you want to explore further (and can in other books).

The series is well-done; even though it took years to build, it was well worth the wait. The fourth novel fell a little flat and left me disinterested in continuing the series, however this one has re-sparked my interest.

This novel is well-written and definitely deserves a place alongside the first three novels.

Gannon has created a fantastically strong character in Riordan that almost jumps off the pages. He is smart and quick-witted with a won’t quit attitude.

This is a novel worth picking up and we give it 4 stars

PopCultHQ Rating – 4 Stars

Written by: Charles E. Gannon
Cover Art by Bob Eggleton
Published by Baen Books

How we rate our Books

1 = We finished the book with effort

2 = Readable, but more fluff than substance

3 = Good

4 = Pretty Good and worth passing on to your friends

5 = We couldn’t put the book down

[Comic Book Review] IDW’s GODZILLA: History’s Greatest Monster TPB

Here is PopCultHQ’s Spoiler-Free Review of…