Geekscape Comics Reviews: ‘Godzilla: Awakening’

Note: The following review contains light spoilers for the Godzilla: Awakening graphic novel. You’ve been warned.

At this point, you know how decidedly excited all of us here at Geekscape are for Legendary Entertainment’s Godzilla. Ever since attending last year’s Godzilla Encounter at SDCC (well, some of us even before that), we’ve been absolutely enthralled with the project. We’ve posted nearly every image, trailer, teaser, sound bite, and more, and some of our lives may feel oddly empty once the film releases and the marketing is finished (what will we do with all that free time).

But we’re not done yet. And Godzilla: Awakening, the graphic novel prequel to this month’s film, will just be hitting shelves by the time these thoughts are published. The book just arrived on my desk, and obviously, I just couldn’t wait to jump in.

Much like last year’s Pacific Rim (which we loved) had its Pacific Rim: Tales From Year Zero prequel, Godzilla: Awakening spans a timeline long before the film ever started. Godzilla: Awakening literally means awakening, taking us all the way back to a time long before humans roamed the Earth. It’s a realistic origin story for the king of the monsters, and explains the natural predator / prey chain that I’m sure will continue in the film.

The film’s screenwriter Max Borenstein (who I just published an excellent interview with) returns to co-write the book with his cousin Greg Borenstein. The book’s gorgeous art comes from Eric Battle (X-Men, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman), Yvel Guichet (Pacific Rim: Tales from Year Zero, Superboy Annual, End of Nations), Alan Quah (Rage, The Vampire Diaries, Anywhere) and Lee Loughridge (Batman Adventures, Arkham Asylum: Living Hell, Marvel Zombies Return), and that breathtaking cover was drawn by Arthur Adams (Godzilla, Fantastic Four, Hulk, Uncanny X-Men).

The book is tells us the story of Mr. Serizawa, a man who was present at the bombing of Hiroshima, and who would go on to spend much of his life trying to find Godzilla (referenced only as Gojira in the book), as he firmly believes that the monster is the key to saving the Earth from the Shinomura (which is probably the MUTO seen in the film). The story is told through a multitude of flashbacks, as Mr. Serizawa reveals to Ichiro (his son, and Ken Wantanabe’s character in the film) that he didn’t actually work for a shipping company, and just why he wasn’t always there while Ichiro grew up. Serizawa firmly believes that the eon-spanning battle between Godzilla and the Shinomura is not over, and that before Ichiro’s time is up, the world will see the two again. Obviously, he’s right.

The book is extremely coherent and gorgeous throughout (though a slightly confusing layout on a few pages had me looking over them multiple times just to make sense of them), and Awakening does its job of setting up next week’s film extraordinarily. I’d wholeheartedly recommend it to any fan of the character or film, but I almost wish that I hadn’t read it until after seeing the movie. Of course, I have no way of knowing until I actually see the film, but things seem rather spoilery here. For the most part, Legendary and Warner Bros. have kept the film’s Godzilla and MUTOs well hidden, but here they battle often and through a variety of generations, we learn about both their ancient origins, and learn that Godzilla is not our enemy, but the Shinomura’s. It should give great insight to Ken Wantanabe’s character in the film, but it’s insight that I’d rather have learned after the fact.

I loved this book, but I think that I may have experienced it just a little too early. If you have any interest in the character or the film, I think that you’re thoroughly enjoy it, but I’d recommend picking it up and leaving it wrapped on your shelf until you get home from your screening; I feel as though the film will surprise you even more that way, and you’ll have a much easier time connecting the two.

Godzilla: Awakening scores a monstrous 4/5. It’s on store shelves today (May 7th), or you can order it from Amazon.

Looking for more Godzilla? Here’s my interview with screenwriter Max Borenstein!