Mothra takes center stage in this graphic novel adventure in the world of Godzilla!
Mothra has fallen after a fearsome battle with a terrifying new kaiju, Antra. Without its protector, the world has entered a state of desolation. Kaiju roam freely, and what remains of humankind has been forced into hiding.
But all hope is not lost! Mira is a young woman living in the wasteland who believes she lost her entire family in Mothra’s final stand—that is, until her missing twin shows up with two fairies! If Emi is to be believed, the sisters might hold the key to the rebirth of Mothra and the Earth’s return to normalcy. They just have to travel back in time and get its egg from the Jurassic period first.
One of the most exciting and talented creators working in comics today, Sophie Campbell has made her mark on IDW books such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Jem and the Holograms.
A graduate of the Savannah College of Art & Design, Campbell began her career writing and drawing independent comics primarily focused on the lives of young women from all walks of life, including Wet Moon, Shadoweyes, and the Abandoned. She further proved her versatility as an artist when she began drawing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for IDW, where her kinetic action sequences and distinctive character art were a hit with fans and critics alike.
Campbell was brought on as the first artist on the IDW continuing series Jem and the Holograms, where she was responsible for the modern redesign of the characters and establishing the unique look of the comic. Her work on Jem with writer Kelly Thompson was so well received that the two were profiled by the New Yorker in 2015.
Campbell continues to work on several projects for IDW, as well as her own creator-owned independent comics.
Mothra has died at the hands of Antra causing the world to simply stop. Nature has stopped producing and cities are simply ruins. Mira believes she lost her entire family during the final battle but one day her sister Emi appears from nowhere stating that her and Mira are the only people capable of fixing the world. With little to lose Mira agrees to join her sister and Mothra's Priestesses in a battle throughout time.
Oh I loved this so very much! It is 100% my favorite read this year hands down!
Mothra has become the representative of the feminine in the Kaiju universe, hell she may always have been I unfortunately wasnt alive when her first movie was released but today she is hands down. However, as a mom raising a Godzilla and Mothra loving daughter it's not easy to find something that specifically appeals to *her*. Yes, we have a billion chibi Godzillas and all sorts of Mothra fan art but not much I can point to and say "It's made by a girl and its cute AND it is a clear nod to the original." so this is beyond everything for me both as a mom and a parent. Because it was CUTE (oh yes that needs to be capitalized) and it's a great but short conversation about finding harmony in your differences, especially when those differences come from trauma, when it comes to siblings. Sisters especially.
Can't recommend this enough honestly.
As always thanks to NetGalley and IDW Publishing for the eArc!
I read this as the collected edition on Hoopla and divided up my review, I also a paperback copy of the comic to add to my collection. There are spoilers, it's a play by play with commentary. Much of the comic is battles or running and would work better visually in a video format, that does not mean it isn't a lovely comic. I adore Mothra sooooooooo much. Issue 1: We start of with our main character Mira who is living in a post apocalyptic world where Mothra was defeated by Antra and she assumed her sister Emi has been dead these last 10-15 years she has survived alone. We find out very quickly in this issue that Emi is actually safe, saved by Mothra's priestesses and singing magic, which she is very proficient in, she is trying to help them with a ritual song to rebirth Mothra, because without Mothra born of the earth, the earth will die. After fighting a random bug we learn the priestesses are going to send them back in time to retrieve a Mothra egg (she normally drops one when she perishes, but in this time she did no). They dress in their priestess outfits, very cute red goddesses looking two pieces sets with a split skirt, and intend to use this same power to save their parents. This magic scene of going back in time felt really sudden and had no practice, but visually it was so beautiful. They start with Emi, "Child of the sun from the egg of eternity do emerge-" and Mira "Child of light from a warm breath do emerge-" and end together on "Mothra". We end with the priestesses of Antra showing up to the priestesses of Mothra and asking if they just left and agreeing everything is going according to plan. Are they working together to take down Antra? Are they tired of the state of the world, or bored without having a challenging fighter like Mothra? Or are they seeking to save the earth as it is in danger with out the presence of Mothra? Issue 2: In the past the girls encounter the past Mothra priestesses and the dragon queen, Megaguirus. In this prehistoric dino era we are chased by dinos and nearly don't make it out in time. But the priestesses seem to be in on the plan, though they are concerned that the girls are in disharmony. They remark as the girls go through a time portal (the same ritual song from before) that the dragon queen makes it into the portal as is planned. Now the girls have been apart for the past 10-15 years, they are probably not in harmony in any way. Mira has also not been trained, she was just thrown into this. How do they think this is going to work out for the better? What does the dark green and black magic signify? Most of the visuals of magic are an electric blue, teal, and pink color, but when not in sync the color is lime green and black, very jarring visually in the scene. After landing in the moment after their parents died, 15 years before present day, they realize that the dragon queen was always here! The egg they got hatches and a larva form of Mothra pops out and starts fighting. The grown Mothra is fighting and dying, the dragonfly-esque monsters of Megaguirus are sucking her magical energy right out of her, probably the reason she didn't lay an egg in the original time line (or is it this time line has always been this way?). The girls realize all of this is their fault for messing up the ritual song. Emi is having a menty B and Mira is just trying to tell her they have to clean this mess up. Emi snaps back to it as they cheer on larva Mothra. Mira seems the most "you go girl" of the two of them, but she is also the most confidant in herself and not freaking out, all that practice being alone probably helped her in stressful situations. She says they need to train and get out of there, so they call out to Mothra who shoots webbing into the monster's eyes and they feel with a promise to chew out the fairies for not keying Emi in on EVERYTHING nor Mira on ANYTHING. Issue 3: We start this issue with the girls trying to help larva Mothra train, though unsuccessfully. They decide to travel through time and come across the fairies and mecha Mothra fighting a bunch of monsters. Mothra's fairies/ priestesses caring for Antra's handmaids who are slowly dying. The priestesses of Antra say that Antra too was created of the earth, and that it is not their fault for how things happened. They failed to properly communicate, listen and learn, from her and from themselves. This is a reflection of the girls Mira and Emi. Although Mira keeps complaining that Emi never looked for her because she gave up and assumed she was dead (until she had a magic dream that told her she was alive). However, she seems to forget she assumed Emi was dead and also did not search for her. Perhaps they would be in more harmony if they stopped blaming each other for what happened when they were merely child and pawns, and work together now! The spectral looking Mothra priestesses help them travel back to present, where we see Antra's handmaids taking care of the priestesses, who say they will be better once Mothra grows in strength. I really like how close the priestesses seem and how well they get along, knowing their duty is to the survival of the earth. So the girls write a song together and in harmony to help Mothra break out of the cocoon she just started but at a faster pace. It is really pretty but much longer, probably because they're more modern than the fairies who wrote the previous one. It works wonderfully after a few minutes and then all the priestesses rejoice! Mira and Emi have Antra's handmaids summon Antra so Mothra can get up to snuff fighting and that magic is where this issue ends. As soon as Mothra emerges the pale colors change and now visually there are many more yellows, oranges, reds, and blues. It is very energetic and vibrant whereas before there was more pastel colors on black and white with red. Issue 4: So the handmaidens apologize to Antra right out the gate and she agrees to help spar with Mothra. It's really funny because cheering them on Emi says "you two know the rules" all the while Mira says "cheap shots are allowed" which is objectively hilarious that they are inharmoniously in harmony. Watching the fights in comic form is entertaining because it is still images of theoretically the most visually appealing and dramatic points, however I do believe I enjoy kaiju fights in video form. This would be an epic animated feature I would totally obsess over. After the first battle Mothra convinces a variety of monster to go fisticuffs and fight. Each battle is short one page battles that consist of a few panels. I would have liked more, but because of the sheer volume of battles it makes sense they each get a page or so. The battles are as follows Mothra L vs. Antra W Mothra W vs. Maguma L (this one was funny because of the ice aspect and so all the girls had a change of costume for this fight) Mothra W vs. Titanosaurus L Mothra L vs. Anguirus W (I found this defeat funny and cute because after being rolled over Mothra had some spirally KO eyes) Mothra W vs. Gabara L Mothra W vs. Baragon W (both won because Mothra just ended up petting them and getting licked like Baragon was a big puppy) Mothra W vs. Varan Rodan L (very excited to see this monster enter the fight, he's really sick!) Mothra + Antra W vs. Manda L Final match: Rematch Mothra W vs Antra L After all the training, and the knowledge that Megaguirus is full of all the energy she stole from Mothra, they get ready to fight. Only to discover that Megaguirus is now Omegaguirus. Mothra and Antra get their butts handed to them until everyone starts to pray and she evolves into Mothra Gemini, which looks like Mothra as a muscle mommy. The fight is basically instantly over and any minions of Omegaguirus fly away with their tail between their wings. The cinematic ending has Mira realizing she understands why things had to happen as they did and being no longer angry with Mothra, Queen of the Monsters. They start rebuilding a life, something Emi was very scared of because the priestesses have been her life until now. There is a lot of beautiful art pages to enjoy as well. I absolutely loved this comic and it is already on it's way to me.
Many thanks to IDW Publishing and NetGalley for sharing an advanced copy Godzilla Legends—Mothra: Queen of the Monsters by Sophie Campbell with illustrations by Matt Frank. I was really excited to find this addition to the Godzilla canon, especially since the story adheres to many of the ideas from the original Mothra film, yet updates them in a compelling and creative manner. However, what sticks out most to me is the incredibly colorful and captivating artwork from Sophie Campbell and Matt Frank. The color scheme is apt- bright colors for the monsters, especially Mothra, while the evil monsters, Antra and Omegaguirus, have darker, gray hues with purple and red around their outer edges. Campbell also uses a dark, drab color scheme to depict the lack of life on Earth, and this is contrasted with the lush greens and blues seen in other periods of time where the sisters travel to retrieve a Mothra egg to bring back to the present. The story has a lot of dichotomous contrasts represented by the sisters’ opposing styles, as well as other dichotomies like the different time periods, the twin priestesses, and the good and evil kaiju. Furthermore, Mira, the more hopeful and excited sister, has been the caretaker for the Shobijin, the twin priestesses who have a connection with Mothra. As Mira explains, Mothra’s energy is dwindling, and if Mothra dies, the Earth, too, will suffer, being overtaken by the evil kaiju. The only hope is to travel back in time to retrieve the egg that will allow Mothra to continue to inhabit the Earth and defend people against the evil Kaiju. Furthermore, Emi and Mira, despite their differences and past trauma, must learn to work in harmony and accept one another to make their mission work and end up in the right places. I liked how these dualities operated in the story, how Campbell and Frank present them with contrasting color schemes, and how the sisters learn to work together despite their differences. However, I really enjoyed that this story adhered to the original framework of the Mothra story, yet cleverly integrated some new and interesting ideas to make it fresh and unique. In addition, Mothra engages in a series of training battles with other Kaiju, and these monsters are also creative and colorful. This was a fun edition and addition to the Godzilla canon, adding some cool kaiju and a compelling story about Mothra, Queen of the Monsters. I really liked the dichotomies in the story, and how the story itself is a straightforward story about how people can come together to solve a problem to improve their world. What stands out most in this collection, though, is Campbell’s and Frank’s excellent, colorful, and creative artwork. As I was reading Mothra, my daughter kept peeking over and was interested in Mothra’s bright colors and her transformation from larvae to moth, as well as her battles with the other kaiju. She also liked the focus on Emi and Mira as protagonists in the story. Godzilla Legends—Mothra: Queen of the Monsters is a fun and engaging story with incredible artwork that makes the story even more compelling. There are also some other illustrations by Matt Frank, Noah Cortez, Miki Ramirez, Nicole Goux, Elizabeth Beals, Roberto Rivera Padro, Jake Smith, Tom Whalen and Samantha Wright in this edition as well that are also great. I’m hoping that maybe these are indicative of future stories and adventures that Mothra, Emi, and Mira will have. Highly recommended!
Alright. From one dynamic duo story to another, I gotta say I'm eating well guys. That being said, this won't be a regular review. That's mainly because this preview copy had a good chunk of it's dialogue gutted out. A lot of the dialogue bubbles were just white spaces. I can't understand the whole story if everything isn't revealed. Even if it doesn't seem like much, even if it's in media that doesn't seem to have intense dialogue or thought provoking quotes, one sentence can make all the difference. For example, in the famous movie Sharkboy and Lava Girl, the villain Mr.Electric made the "For every person who dreams up the electric light bulb, there's the one person who dreams up the atom bomb."
Not exactly impactful in the movie but still a good quote I might add. Now, before I continue, my knowledge of Godzilla is limited. Honestly, a few years ago I found out Mothra is female. I also still don't know if Godzilla is female. I don't think he is but if someone told me then I would believe them.
That being said, let's talk about what the story is from what I understand. Twin sisters going through place to place to help bring back Mothra to save the Earth and the future. And it works. And while the majority of the dialogue is cut out, the twin's personality is essentially the iconic drama theater masks from what I saw. One is fierce, angry and stoic while the other is emotional, upbeat and cries a lot. But a key character that we all forgot about is Mothra.
AND I FUCKING LOVE HER. My god, she is so cute in this book. Sophie Campbell did great. There's variants and each one of them were wonderfully drawn by Matt Frank and Sophie as well. Now Matt Frank's art (based on his art https://www.mattfrankart.net/gallery) is focused mainly on giant monster fights and monsters themselves involving Godzilla and the Power Rangers and their zords. But I argue that because Sophie Campbell is the writer of this book and is supplementing her own art as well to this book along with writing Supergirl comics, it influences the art/comic to have a more of a wholesome journey with themes of family and it shows. The love for this series is displayed proudly which makes sense as Sophie Campbell's Instagram is just posts of Godzilla figures she collects (which is adorable). So we have intense energy from Matt Frank and love from Sophie and we get this loving journey throughout the book along with the following that will likely not spoil much of the book and or will leave you confused:
- Wolverine Fastball Special - Puberty but for worms - Somehow time wizard from yugioh is involved - America's got talent singing - Also polymerization - Hide n seek in a barn
My only wish is more pages of Mothra being Mothra. It was my favorite part of this run. I can only grade art so while the art isn't life changing, it is art I personally would see hanging on my wall or getting stickers for my stuff. 2 out 2.5. This duo cooked well. However, because I can't change the rating system, I'm doubling the rating system I have to reflect what I think it deserves.
I was under the impression this was a solo Sophie Campbell comic, and the thought of Mothra in something like the style she used for Glory was an appealing one. Alas, industry economics being what they are, she's yet another creator I primarily like for their art who's now writing for others to draw instead. The good news is that at least in this instance, Matt Frank's visuals are appropriately trippy for a story that's determined to live up to the dream logic and Marenghi-level subtext of the stranger among the original films. Even when the opening battle sees Mothra vanquished by new kaiju Antra, and I winced at the name...I mean, if we're starting with 'Mothra', then really, why not? After that defeat, and with Mothra's usual life-cycle interrupted, we speed-run the slow death of the world, the difficult reunion of twins separated since the fateful day, a time travel story, two training montages (singing in harmony for the girls, battling for the new-old Mothra), a team-up, a particularly ridiculous but hugely entertaining stretch which is basically Pokémon but with kaiju, and of course, the final, higher-stakes smackdown. And considered from any kind of literary perspective it's a mess, but holding in mind the spirit of the movies, and that key question 'why not?', I think it's about right. Hell, Mothra isn't even one of my favourite kaiju, but there were definitely times when just seeing her fluffily soaring into action here gave me a little lump in the throat. A comic which, if nothing else, absolutely understood the assignment.
Maybe I am one of the few Mothra fans out there: I have always appreciated that this giant lepidopteran kaiju wasn't basically a dinosaur or a lizard and so their obvious forms of attack were less stompy and bitey. The only one of the first generation Toho Kaiju to be recognisably female (hence the undisputed Queen of the Monsters title), she has usually been presented as heroic, has a rather twee backstory including some tiny singing twins, and also by virtue of her larval stage, is basically two kaiju in one. Not much of this backstory is used in Sophie Campbell's script here, beyond a recurrence of twins. Indeed, we are presented by a twin, separated in a kaiju attack who hates the usually heroic Mothra - though her reason is spurious, namely because Mothra failed to save the city. Reunited with her twin, they are then directed by the tiny faity twins to time travel to save Mothra, train her to be more ruthless, and then win her final battle. Thus lots of battle sequences ensue before Mothra finally takes down the poorly titled Antra. It's lots os smashy, bashy fun, and perhaps loses the spiritual side of the character, but it has chunky dynamic art from Matt Frank (in case you thought you were getting Sophie Campbell art - though she contributes a few pages and Frank's style is similarly soft). I'm not sure its a Mothra story that needed to be told, but its not bad fun if you like the flappy old monster.
Sophie Campbell gives readers Mothra: Queen of the Monsters, a story that feels both mythic and fresh, packed with heart, and adventurous like no other. Kaiju lovers rejoice because Mothra is taking over by storm! Campbell leans into Mothra’s iconic gentleness while also delivering a Mothra inspired religion and featuring battles with other famous Kaiju across the world. The emotional backbone of this story gives structure to the whole story. Featuring a sincerity running through this book that caught me off guard in the best way. The characters anchor the chaos and will keep readers hooked in this story. It’s vibrant, earnest, and just downright beautiful (these illustrations are genuinely STUNNING), a perfect blend of monster mayhem and heartfelt storytelling. This is one of those reads that reminds you why Mothra has always been the true queen.
Fifteen years ago, Mothra was defeated by another kaiju, Antra, and Mira's life fell apart - her whole family died and she is now alone in a world terrorized by monsters. One day though, her twin sister reappears and reveals that she had been rescued by Mothra's handmaidens. Even better, they can try to fix the future by going back in time to retrieve a mothra egg.
This was a fun read overall. I wish there had been a little more in the other worlds or with them and mothra before the training montage (which was my favorite part by far!). It's still good and fun to see Mothra get a story all to herself.
I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
An interesting version of Mothra's origin is told through the death and tribulations of a sister. We follow our survivor as she scavenges new life in the world of Godzilla. I like the characters, thought they had a great depth for only having 124 pages, and it was fun to meet all the monsters you might not have seen in a Godzilla film or the cartoon. The graphic novel was action-packed and fast-paced; there was never a dull moment. I do wish they'd spent a bit more time with the sister before Disaster struck. I feel it would have made the following events that much sweeter.
This was such a fun, action-packed, fast-paced comic! I love Mothra, so it's exciting to have more media about her and this one did not let down. The art is great, but at times made it a little hard to grasp what was happening (could be a me thing). It was even extremely cute at times (Mothra hiding behind the hay stacks, for example). Overall, I enjoyed the story, but I wish we had just a little more at the end. Definitely recommend to any Mothra lovers!
It was a pretty fun read. The art was amazing but it was sometimes a little hard to understand what was going on in some action sequences however that might just be me being too dumb to understand. The story was a little rushed and basic but that’s also the case for some of the monster movies so it’s fine and with just five issues it’s pretty difficult for a story as grand as this not to feel rushed so yeah. You’ll definitely enjoy this if you like Mothra
It’s cool to see IDW shine the spotlight on Mothra. This mini-series was really fun with incredible concepts like Antra and MechaMothra. I really hope this creative team gets a chance to tell more Queen of the Monsters stories. I would love to see it.
Special Thanks to IDW Publishing and Netgalley for the digital ARC. This was given to me for an honest review.
Mothra is my favorite kaiju, so I was really excited to read this. In Mothra Queen of the Monsters we find a world where Mothra has been defeated in battle by the kaiju Antra. Years later, in the post Mothra wasteland, two sisters come together along with Mothra's priestesses to bring Mothra back.
At first I felt there was a little too much exposition dumping, but somehow not enough. I'd like more info on the main characters. There were some plot points that could have used an extra page or two, and some clumsy dialogue. It started to quickly pick up though, and the plot itself is super interesting. The artwork is really good. Absolutely fantastic battle scenes with Mothra taking center stage. In the latter half we get a rotating roster of Kaiju battling our titular hero (?). In that vein, it was really awesome to see Mothra positioned as something more hero-like. She's still Mothra, but she is the one who will save the day here, along with main human characters Emi and Mira. I enjoyed the strong female characters and scenes of magic and fighting. No spoilers but one kaiju is so stinking cute. Most importantly this is just plain fun!
It felt like a heisei-era Mothra flick committed to comic book, and it had the right amount of fan service and originality to create an absolutely entertaining read.
Story felt pretty rushed, which, given its only 5 issues, I can understand. I loved the new designs for Mothra in all her forms and the monster fight sections