Tales from the Trade! - Godzilla: The Half-Century War

Well,  this year is coming to an end quick. While I could say good riddance, this year hasn’t actually been as bad as it has been for others. Yes, it wasn’t a good year, but I can also look at the good that’s happened. One of those not-so-good things was that the new Godzilla movie getting pushed back into 2021. At least the WB may be releasing it on HBOMax, which was something that unfortunately needed to happen with COVID still going on. Which reminds me… I was in quarantine. I think my trip to the dentist last week did it. Thankfully, my quarantine has ended.

Anyway, onto the subject of Godzilla. I haven’t really read much of the G-Man in the comics. IDW has been producing comics for years now, but I’ve only read a couple here and there. I think one of them had Godzilla face the Greek Pantheon or something… yeah, I’ll have to search the bins for that. Today’s review is actually one that I ran into on a podcast some years ago. I want to say it was “Hey, Kids! Comics”, but I really don’t remember what podcast it was. All I know is that the review impressed me because I eventually added Godzilla: The Half-Century War, to my collection.

Half-Century War is an oddity with its concept. James Stokoe provided both the story and artwork for this 5-issue miniseries. It was published by IDW in 2013. Stokoe apparently got in with IDW thanks to Godzilla, and he’s also worked on a story called Godzilla in Hell. Yes, Godzilla goes to Hell at some point in the comics… you’d think running into Destroyah would be enough, but nah. The colors were done by Heather Beckel, and editing was done by Bob Curnrow, someone who I’ve ran into with the IDW Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series.

Godzilla: The Half-Centruy War

Story and Art: James Stokoe

Colors: Heather Breckel

Editor: Bobby Curnrow

SYNOPSIS

The story follows the recounts of a Japanese soldier named Ota Murakami. We start out in 1954 during the events of the original Gojira.  Ota and his friend, Kentaro, are just two young soldiers in the Japanese Army who meet the monster face-to-face. They quickly find out that Godzilla is no pushover. Still, the two do what they can to ward off Godzilla from killing any citizens. Eventually, events play out like they did in the 1954 movie and Godzilla is killed. Months later, another Godzilla comes onto the scene, so the world comes together to create the AMF (Anti-Megalosaurus Force). Col. Schooler, leader of the AMF, recruits Ota and Ken into the group.

After this, Ota recounts the times where he and Ken not only faced Godzilla but more monsters as well. In 1967, they encounter Godzilla fighting Angurius in Vietnam. In 1975, the AMF encounters a big monster mash consisting of monsters like Rodan, Mothra, Hedorah, and Megalon. One of the things causing the monsters to attack these cities is a device called the Psionic Transmitter created by Dr. Deverich from America. Deverich’s been using the device to lure monsters to cities, and he even tries to sell off the device. In the 1975 encounter, Schooler is killed.

While Angurius kinda sucks, this was a nice intro for the monster.

We then come to 1987 where Ota and Ken enter the monster-watching business since they’re getting a little old. As they watch Godzilla tear through Bombay, India, the AMF unleashes a new weapon: the Mechagodzilla. While Ota steps out for a smoke, he ends up randomly bumping into Dr. Deverich. He follows Deverich to a new lab some men (possibly aliens???) pay off Deverich for creating a more powerful Psionic Transmitter. Ota and the AMF bust in to stop the operation, but as they do that, a new challenger enters the stage: Spacegodzilla. Yes, the device is starting to attract monsters form beyond the stars.

Okay, this was pretty cool.

Spacegodzilla takes on both Godzilla and Mechagodzilla. Realizing that Spacegodzilla’s crystals power the monster, Ota boards the downed Mecha and uses it to destroy the crystals. This leaves Godzilla to take destroy Spacegodzilla. The day is saved, but two more monsters are already on the way from space. We then come to the present day (2002) where King Ghidorah and Gigan have come to destroy the Earth. The AMF not only rebuild Mechagodzilla (or Kiryu), they also have a black hole machine that should get rid of the two threats. Ota decides to commandeer Mechagodzilla and help Godzilla, who basically wants to defend his home, take on the space monsters. The mini ends as the heroes use the black hole machine to get rid of the space monsters and Godzilla. Ota sacrifices himself to make sure Godzilla is taken in.

OPINION

This was a pretty fun miniseries. It took Godzilla’s history and streamlined it in a pretty fresh way. The franchise has been rebooted quite a few times over the years, so having a story throw all of that madness into one timeline is cool. You get the classic monsters as well as the more weird ones like Spacegodzilla and Gigan. It felt like Stokoe knew what to keep and what to remove because there has been some bad stuff to follow the G-Man over the years. I didn’t see Minilla running around, thank God!

Having Ota recount his story of Godzilla was also pretty cool. While Ota isn’t that interesting of a character, he isn’t a bad one. You can tell that he’s basically obsessed with Godzilla since he keeps running into dangerous situations involving the monster. You can definitely tell that at the end! I’ve heard Moby Dick being thrown around in reviews, and it is on display here too. Maybe Ota needed Lily from Star Trek: First Contact to tell him off towards the end, I don’t know. As for any other characters, I did think Deverich (whose name is a combination of Roland Emmerich and Dean Develin) could’ve been interesting if we had more page space.

The artwork is pretty awesome. Stokoe’s artwork is definitely manga-influenced. This is a Japanese franchise we’re talking about, so it completely fits. The action itself is a major part of the story, so if you’re like some fans and get bored by people talking (I’m not one of those dudes), then the cool action scenes will keep you busy. You get more than enough thrown at you. The action is as loud as it can being with the monsters throwing all kinds of destruction at humanity and at each other. Also, the monsters themselves look awesome. Stokoe made sure the kaijus look like they could appear onscreen.

I don’t have too many issues on the miniseries itself. I did feel that the story could’ve been a little more interesting on the human angle. I feel like the best Godzilla stories not only have good monster action but also good human plots to them. This one was serviceable, but it could’ve been better. All the human characters other than Ota and Deverich are forgettable. I also felt like the dialogue could’ve been better in places. Other than these things and the briskness of the mini (kinda wish it was longer), this was good.

In the end, The Half-Century War should tide you Godzilla fans over for quite a while. It’s definitely a must for fans of the franchise. While I’m not sure how casual fans would handle it, I still recommend it. I might have one more post in me, but I don’t know. For now, Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there. Also, Happy Holidays!