Starship Godzilla enters orbit this October from IDW Publishing, and thus far, has had truly impressive reviews. With a 10/10 score by AIPT, a raving review from Fangoria, and more, this book is looking to satisfy the retro anime vibe that Godzilla’s always been missing in the franchise. Based on previews alone, it looks to be a fun Sci-Fi story with a diverse cast of uniquely-designed and memorable alien characters, many of whom are existing alien races from throughout Godzilla’s history. One of note is Lif, who is a Simian (the Black Hole Planet 3 aliens from 1974’s Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla), and Elvira, who of course is a Xillien, perhaps the most iconic of all of the extraterrestrial invaders in the Godzilla series.
In the new comic, a group of space travelers for hire embark upon dangerous missions for payment while flying around in Mechagodzilla, specifically the Kiryu design. It doesn’t matter what the goal is, who’s paying, or what will happen, as long as they get paid. Issue 1 shows the steal Kaiju eggs for a high-rolling buyer of unknown origins, putting them on a potential collision course with the rest of the galaxy. However, when a galactic Kaiju war emerges, this ragtag group of various alien races may not all be united after all…
The team behind the comic sat down for an exclusive interview with horror publication Fangoria to give insight into the world of Starship Godzilla and what we can expect from the story, remarking upon their inspirations, films from the Godzilla franchise they watched and loved, and where this concept of Mechagodzilla flying in space came from.
In the first question of the interview, Fangoria asked about the origins of Starship Godzilla as a concept, and intriguingly, there already was a pretty wild concept for the book that had to be tweaked before things really began to develop.
IDW Editor Jake WIlliams commented on this original pitch, stating:
“The first Starship Godzilla pitch I received from Chris was this incredible and hardcore story about a group of raiders who had turned actual Godzilla into a frankenstein-esque starship. The story followed this dastardly group on one raid that went wrong, and then ended with Godzilla destroying the raiders and imperial forces alike. It was Rad…but it also didn’t fit into Toho guidelines.
After a very brief discussion with Chris about what we could and couldn’t do, he basically sent over the current version of Starship Godzilla fully formed. Rohan and Ayan were both there, as well as the basic structure we’ve still kept. The story followed the crew in the far future flying around on mechagodzilla and interacting with all of the Toho kaiju…but there were two things happening behind the scenes – Toho didn’t want the earth-based kaiju out in space, and I was working with some other creators on a budding connected universe.”
Starship Godzilla artist Oliver Ono also chimed in, remarking upon being approached for the project at the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con on the heels of working on Monster Island Summer Camp with writer Rosie Knight.
“I had just finished up drawing Godzilla: Monster Island Summer Camp and was at SDCC shopping story ideas around. One of them was for Jake Williams, a limited series about Mechagodzilla and another kaiju. I had even done a few kaiju illustrations in the lead up. It turned out that Jake already had me in mind for a new project, Starship Godzilla! Everything happened pretty quick from there. After the con, I got a few character descriptions and briefs from Chris and we tweaked them until we were all happy and that was that!”
After that, Fangoria’s Ryan Scott asked about the various inspirations behind Starship Godzilla, since there seems to be a retro 80’s anime vibe going with it. While it was particularly clear that retro anime was an inspiration behind Starship Godzilla, it was nice to get specific examples – and a few surprises to boot – from the team working on the comic. Writer Chris Gooch is a clear fan of anime from that time, expressing enthusiasm for beloved cult classics such as Space Dandy and other works.
“Cowboy Bebop and Space Dandy are a huge influence! I also have a huge soft spot for the very first Digimon OVA directed by Mamoru Hosoda (Summer Wars, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time) which is basically E.T. meets Godzilla. In general, so much anime seems like a riff on the original Godzilla concept and its themes – Evangelion, Attack on Titan, Pokemon 2000 – so there’s a lot to pull from.”
Oliver Ono agreed with Chris Gooch, adding extensive praise for Cowboy Bebop creator Shinichiro Watanabe:
“I second that from Chris – Shinichiro Watanabe is one of my biggest heroes and specifically I feel like Space Dandy is super underrated. Series like that and Gurren Laggan do this really cool thing where they take really retro sci-fi design ideas and recontextualize them in a more modern, relatable way. That concept is so ripe for a Godzilla story because Toho literally pioneered so much of that aesthetic as a whole.”
After that, the team remarked upon some of the films that they drew inspiration from. Of course, dealing with alien races in the Godzilla series, classics featuring Xilliens such as 1964’s Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster and 2004’s Godzilla: Final Wars were brought up, but one notable surprise was 2023’s Godzilla Minus One. It’s clear that Yamazaki’s film has received high praise and is considered a masterpiece, but is a clear contrast in setting (being a grounded story set during the postwar era on Earth).
The big takeaway for Minus One for these creators was how well the relationships between characters blossomed and developed, and how many of them rise to the occasion to combat great evils and massive beasts. Both remarked how that will reflect in Starship Godzilla, aiming to emulate that same heart that permeates many of our favorite Godzilla characters.
Starship Godzilla releases October 1st. You can order it now anywhere you buy comics, but do know that the final cut-off date for orders is Monday, August 25. Stay tuned for more on all things Kai-Sei Era!
