Godzilla: Best of Gigan #1 is published by IDW Publishing, written by Jeremy Robinson, Duane Swierczynski, Chris Mowry and Matt Frank. The book is illustrated by Matt Frank and Simon Gane along with Mostafa Moussa.
This one shot issue is available 13th December 2023 either directly from IDW Publishing online or from your local comic book store, digital copies will be available to download from the usual content providers.
Godzilla: Best of Gigan #1 collects History’s Greatest Monster #11, Godzilla: Rulers of the Earth #6 & 7, and Godzilla: Rage Across Time #1.
Synopsis
The world will tremble in fear when one of Godzilla’s most ferocious foes arrives! When the technologically enhanced Gigan arrives from space, all other monsters beware! It’ll take the strongest humans, machines, and protectors of Earth to stand up to the brutal blades of Gigan.
Review
In this epic one shot we jump through time following the spectacular journey of one of Godzilla’s dangerous foes, Gigan. Sent from space to wipe out planet Earth and all that lives there. If the people of Earth were shocked to see the vast form of Godzilla and his fearsome rate of destruction this is nothing compared to the mighty Gigan.
This collected issue shows Gigan at his very best or is it more a case of at it’s very worst, throughout various important points on the timeline as we go back and forwards through time to go deep into the history of Gigan.
We see how Gigan came to Earth and used his might to take out the ferocious Godzilla, the people of Earth may well send their armies and all the firepower they have but there is little that will come in the way of these two warring monsters. The strongest soldiers and their machines are sent to the frontline to deal with this impending threat with little or no hope of survival but as in most comics even the smallest of hope is enough to carry us through even if the deck is stacked way out of our favour.
There is one beacon of hope in the shape of the government’s top secret project and latest line of defense, Jet Jaguar the ultimate fighting machine with the latest and greatest technology to boot, he may be Earth’s last resort but it is a hopeful one.
I found this collected one shot edition quite fun to read, bringing together some of the most action packed stories there is in comics for when you see Godzilla and Gigan are going to go toe to toe you just know it’s going to be explosive. The different stories all told their own separate part of the Gigan story that seemed to all entwine together for the last part of the volume where Jet Jaguar is introduced and a first introduction for myself, my thoughts on this character is kind of an Ironman on steroids, a ballsy character with alot of hope on his shoulders I am definitely lookin forward to reading more round this character. The team of writers that are behind these different issues must be some of the most talented writers out there, for a collected issue it’s probably the fastest I’ve ever read one I didn’t want to put it down, I think my favourite issue out of the collection in the volume would had to have been Rulers of The Earth #7, the issue for me worked as an explosive ending for this collection and tied off the story well.
I really liked the differences in the illustrations from the more traditional looking Rage Across Time with the battle at the borders of Japan to the bustling streets that played stage to the epic battle of the monsters in Rulers of The Earth, the illustrations were strong throughout and really made reading the book an absolute pleasure.
Verdict
Every page was mind blowing, an intense story the throws you in every direction and when you think it’s over it throws you round some more. Really well written and illustrated comics brought together in an almost cinematic experience. Definitely a collection you don’t want to miss.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
