Godzilla: History's Greatest Monster

Godzilla: History's Greatest Monster #1-3

by Duane Swierczynski, Simon Gane (Illustrator), Dave Wachter (Illustrator)

Cities, special forces teams, and a legion of Kaiju are no match for... History's Greatest Monster!

Godzilla continues to destroy cities and lives all over the world and ex-special forces tough guy Boxer is a man with a grudge who vows to end the terror of Godzilla -- no matter what! He assembles a top notch team to take him and the other monsters down at $7 billion a bounty.

Collects the complete 13-issue series by Duance Swierczynski and Simon Gane.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Fiction, Action, Adventure, Monsters

328 pages, Paperback

First published April 29, 2014

About the author

Duane Swierczynski is an American crime writer who has written a number of non-fiction books, novels and also writes for comic books.

Reviews

[Kyle Warner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Godzilla: History’s Greatest Monster is basically Jason Statham vs. Godzilla and it’s just as silly and as cool as it sounds.

Okay, so it’s not really Jason Statham, but it might as well be. Boxer/Statham is an ex-special forces tough guy with a grudge against Godzilla. Along with his team of ultimate badasses (which are a more unique bunch than you’d expect), Boxer travels the globe taking down kaiju for cash, but Godzilla is the one beast he just cannot defeat. When malevolent alien kaiju invade the earth, Boxer realizes that maybe he’s been fighting on the wrong side all along.

History’s Greatest Monster is a collection of IDW’s ongoing Godzilla line (when it was originally published issue by issue, I believe the title was simply Godzilla). History’s Greatest Monster follows the first chapter of the ongoing series Kingdom of Monsters (though I don’t think you need to read that one to follow this) and precedes the (final?) part of the ongoing Godzilla series, Rulers of Earth. All the chapters of the ongoing series have their own specific tone thanks to different writers and authors. I never liked Kingdom of Monsters. History’s Greatest Monster is a big step up, giving us strong central characters, lots of action, and a big storyline that flows really well from issue to issue.

The art by Simon Gane is interesting. I don’t think I’ve ever read a comic with art that I could compare to Gane’s. I wasn’t immediately a fan, but I grew to like the art very much. There’s one issue in the collection where we get art from Dave Wachter instead. You could say that Wachter’s art is ‘cleaner’ but by having that one issue with a different style it kind of messes with the visual look of the collection. All in all, though, the comic’s visual presentation is really interesting.

I had a lot of fun with this one. Actually I think it ranks much better than its reputation suggests. History’s Greatest Monster succeeds because it manages to feel like a epic Godzilla film in comic book form. For a fan, there’s a lot to like.

[Zack Clopton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of IDW's 13 issue long series just called "Godzilla" - Yes, that was one of several Godzilla-related series and mini-series they've launched since getting the license. Yes, it's confusing - is a decent little read. It takes a few issues to get going. The characters slowly grow on you, starting out as thin seeming caricatures that eventually develop meaningful personalities. The story takes a few fun twists, the author finding natural ways to incorporate about a dozen Toho monsters naturally into the same story. The artwork takes a while to get used it. It's a little crunchy but by no means bad. The ending does feel a bit abbreviated because I suspect IDW ending the book suddenly, to make room for whatever the next Godzilla series they had plan next was. Far from essential reading but a decent lark for G-fans.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I forgot I had read this until I got into reading it, lol. I think the original copy I read either had a different cover or was a hardbound edition. In any case, overall, I still enjoyed this compilation. The artwork is good in some spots, but overall pretty so-so. It is funny - I have always felt like Marvel was more "dynamic" in its artwork versus other publishers (although DC and Dark Horse have gotten better), and I really felt that was the case in this compilation. The artwork felt static and was the weakest part of the story; I felt like the artwork did nothing to propel the plot forward.

There was one character I felt grew as a character - Harrison who I missed was Boxer's son the first time I read this compilation), but that was mostly because of how the series (story) ended. I suppose Boxer grew a little bit, too, by the last issue, but then he had some major regression and I hated how his part in the story ended.

I "hated" the ending of the story. I felt like Boxer actually had begun to grow a bit as a character until he decided to commit suicide by jumping into Godzilla's mouth to try and fry Godzilla's brain. That was just completely stupid to me; I suppose the argument/rational given could support his decision, but not really to me. Especially not after he told his son how much he missed seeing his son grow up, missed not being there for Harrison, and promised to make it up to Harrison. Guy then breaks his promise to his son and kills himself. Not only that, but it is clear he and his ex-wife Claire still have feelings for each other (or redeveloped feelings for each other), and he blew that off, too. It was a frustrating ending.

I wasn't too sure about the ending, either, as I could not figure out how Godzilla made it to some of the different battlegrounds so fast to defeat or help defeat Space Godzilla and Caesar Ghidorah after defeating Hedorah in California. Supposedly Godzilla hoofed it across the U.S. of A in five hours, six max? I don't believe it. Granted, we only ever see Godzilla walking or swimming; I have no idea how fast he is supposed to be able to run. Maybe he could make it. Maybe. I doubt it, but maybe. I did like Rodan and Boxer's team in the helicopter helping to defeat Ghidorah; that was fun. I also liked Angirus and Rodan defeating Gigan after Gigan attacked Hong Kong. I couldn't decide if Mothra, Battra, and Titanosaurus were killed or just unconscious, but the giant spider definitely died.

Also, there were some dangling plotlines in the story; one specifically comes to mind is when a young Asian man wants to join Boxer's group and then is never heard from again. It was just how it felt.

Finally, the introduction of Boxer to the story. I did not believe in the slightest bit that the girl he was "protecting" should have been killed. If so, Boxer should have been killed as well. The girl was standing behind Boxer and the "local militia" was shooting up at Godzilla. If the girl was hit by a bullet or two, then Boxer should have been as well. Scene was stupid and made zero sense; it was only used to set up Boxer's desire for revenge against Godzilla.

I will still leave it 3 stars as it was still a fun read.

[Edoardo Colangeli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Godzilla: Il più grande mostro della storia. Un nome davvero calzante per questa miniserie di 13 numeri di Swierczynski e Gane.

Boxer, il protagonista, vuole vendicare sua figlia, rimasta uccisa durante un attacco di Godzilla, e uccidere il Re dei Kaiju. Per farlo, forma una squadra con vecchie conoscenze (e non solo) per fermare i Kaiju che si stanno scatenando in tutto il mondo. Ma qual è il motivo dei loro attacchi? Sono loro la vera minaccia?

Ho trovato la serie davvero divertente: vedere la carrellata di quasi tutti i mostri che hanno fatto parte della storia di Godzilla è stato una vera goduria. Le trame dei Kaiju e degli umani sono un intreccio pazzesco che trova il suo culmine nella spettacolare battaglia finale ed entrambe riescono a catturare l'interesse di chi legge.

Gli spigolosi disegni di Simon Gane si adattano perfettamente ai design dei vari mostri e all'espressività dei personaggi, riescono a trasmettere il senso di caos e distruzione che permea tutta la miniserie. Ottimo anche Dave Wachter, l'artista fill-in che prende le redini per un numero.

L'edizione Ramen Burger di SaldaPress in bianco e nero, come per Extremity, non permette di godere di questa storia al meglio, per la mancanza dei colori esplosivi di Ronda Pattison, che, da quel che ho potuto vedere, ha svolto un lavoro egregio. Spero che in futuro considerino l'idea di avvicinarsi più alle edizioni DC Pocket, ma essendo Ramen Burger una linea che vuole seguire un'estetica simil-manga, non credo succederà.

Stellina bonus: ho avuto l'onore di incontrare Gane in occasione del Romics di ottobre 2024 e avere una sua dedica sul volume e uno sketch di Spacegodzilla davvero incredibile, che hanno impreziosito la mia lettura.

[Darcy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!

I could have left the review at that initial word. This is the Godzilla story to trump all Godzilla stories. It has everything. Plenty of action. Plenty of humor. Plenty of emotion. And, of course, plenty of monsters. All of them in fact! This compilation of thirteen issues throws in everything, even the Morthra Princesses, to make this a jam-packed thrill-fest that does not let up the pace for a minute.

The story revolves around a former SAS member's vendetta to rid the world of our favorite behemoth as the monster was responsible for the deaths of his daughter and another young girl in his care. After recruiting a team of associates, specializing in weapons' development, explosives, and anything with wheels, (Who also happens to be his sort of mute son), our protagonist sets out to capture or kill the giant creatures that are rampaging the planet. All for just $7 Billion a pop. (Plus collateral damages! And brother, there is a lot of collateral damage!)

The story has an international setting, with lots of recognizable cities and landmarks getting pulverized. It was kind of neat seeing familiar skylines in the art work. However, as we progress it turns out the monsters are rampaging for a reason and earth needs their help or there will be hell to pay! Amongst all of this carnage, as mentioned, there are some wonderful character moments, including a death scene that brought tears to my eyes, and to my daughter's when I showed it to her.

Really, this is a tremendous book and I have to give kudos to Duane Swierczynski for knocking this one out of the park. For any fans of giant rampaging monsters this is a must read!

[Peter · Rating 1 out of 5]

Two major points bothered me:

1.) The art was sub par when compared to modern day literature.
2.) The story is extraordinarily poor. Some portions are blatantly copy-cat from recent films (ex: Fast & Furious). Other portions of the story are poor due to the justifications and explanations used as plot-moving devices. Suspension of belief that giant monsters existing and devastating the Earth is acceptable as long as there are rules and laws set be the author(s) within the story and those rules are consistently followed throughout the piece. However, this work seems to not adhere to that principle which makes the story fantastically unbelievable even in a world where giant creatures exist. In addition, this story utilizes deus ex machina far too much and really distorts the feeling for the characters. The dialog isn't very compelling. The plot is a little disjointed and the pacing is erratic.

I don't think I would recommend this to many individuals. Although, if you are a Godzilla fan and can bypass (or not see) the issues please enjoy it.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some good and bad things here, as is the case with MOST Godzilla comic books throughout time. The good is the overall general story, and the art, especially when it comes to the monsters and their interactions. The bad is the nuts-and-bolts of the story, the pacing at times and the way most of the action sequences terminate in pretty terse, uninteresting fashion. How does Godzilla defeat Hedorah, a sludge monster? He blasts it with his breath. How does he defeat Spacegodzilla? He blasts it with his breath. How do the "Kaiju Kill Team" (who have that name despite never killing a single kaiju) defeat the monsters? They knock them out by blowing them up with C4. Just over and over. The Anguirus moment is cool because it plays really well, but the other 5 times they do it, it's just the same thing but done worse. I guess that's it, then, it gets a little repetitive.
The characters are kinda neat though they have middling personalities, they have fun quirks that make them good enough to carry a book like this. All in all, this is OKAY.

[Glenn Proven · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish the recent films had “borrowed” the storyline presented here. In a world where humans are as insects to the monsters the human characters don’t need deep personal arcs. They just need to survive until we get to the monster fights. The story here understands that and gives us some interesting folks; the squad of mercenaries with a heart of gold, colorful rich folk who find out the hard way monsters don’t care how rich they are, evil cabals and shadow governments.

The writing is solid. The artwork ranged from C+ in some of the smaller panels to A for most of the full page monster splashes.

[Dubzor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably closer to a 3.5 but Godzilla and pals always goes a long way with me. So sue me.

Really, this isn't anything terribly new. Human characters with a grudge against the monsters go on a crusade. It's been done before, it'll be done again. What is nice is how the length of the series allows for more complex storytelling. Things simmer in the background, only to come back later on with a much greater impact.

Character development is nice, gives depth to otherwise stock protagonists. The ending is very much a disappointment, but you can't have it all.

[Mosura YA · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to give this a five star because kaiju books/comics/graphic novels are my absolute favorite. Most are 5 star in my book. Where I thought this fell flat was the character of Boxer. He just seemed like a bad Jason Statham ripoff. I had a hard time rooting for him. The art is great. Loved the Space Godzilla and Titanosaurus depictions. Highly recommend. Loved the badass female--she should have been the lead (though having her be an ex of Boxer as a bit predictable/tired).

[Jiro Dreams of Suchy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just love the ridiculousness of Godzilla- there are certainly some poignant critiques on war and PTSD in the series but there is also a ton of giant monsters getting shot with laser beams. I love that this series leans more on the silliness factor while still playing it straight- maybe it’s just the accent but Boxer being played by Jason Statham would be SICK! This is a lot of fun to read, tons of great Destruction and a good group of human characters. Worth the read for Godzilla fans!

[Brannigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a fan of Godzilla I had a blast reading this and will definitely be reading it again.

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was great seeing a lot of kaiju back that haven’t been around for a minute. Too bad the human side of the story got pretty stale for awhile. Good and fun outing overall though.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this on a whim because I have 'loved' watching the Godzilla movies [regardless of how good or bad they are] over the years, and I have enjoyed Godzilla in the written format as well. I remember Marvel's run back in the late 70s as well as Dark Horse's awesome covers in the 90s. I also enjoyed the novels that came out in around the same time as Dark Horse's series [and a couple of those were stinkers, as well]. This is a run from IDW from the 2013 or so. It was all right, I guess. The artwork was so-so, and the stories, tolerable.

It is about a group of individuals who band together to try and 'kill' the giant monsters that have sprung forth [apparently again] from the Earth to destroy life as we know it. Each of them has suffered some kind of loss as a direct result of the actions of the monsters.

I think the thing that 'bugged' me the most about the stories is that they use C-4, obscene amounts of C-4, throughout the course of the storyline to try and trap the monsters. Really? Heavy weapons and nukes won't touch the beasts, yet C-4 will? I realize the C-4 was used to trigger events so that the monsters would be captured, but the goal was for them to be killed. It was the weakest part of the storyline, for me.

I did like how Boxer came up with the sum for each monster killed/captured - $1 for every person on the planet, for a grant total of $7 billion dollars. However, considering the number of people who would have died during their rampages before being caught, one could say he was gouging the world with the $7 billion price tag per monster. Bad joke. Anyway. I liked the explanation for how he came up with his dollar amount.

I think the covers for some of the comics were fairly spectacular. Some of the them were pretty weak. It is no different than any other series, in that regard.

The character development, such as it was, was also pretty weak, in my opinion. I did not feel like any of the 'main characters' really grew, as characters. But that is my opinion.

I did like how the 'Earth monsters' teamed up to fight Gigan, Space-Godzilla, and Hedora. It went a little too fast, though, but I think it was still the better part of the compilation.

Despite the [glaring] weaknesses of the storyline, I did enjoy reading this compilation. If I find it cheap, somewhere, I may even purchase it.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine the greatest kaiju film put down in comic book format and you've got this.

Of course it's silly and makes no logical sense but what Godzilla movie/book/comic ever made sense? Just enjoy it for it's over the top awesomeness.

It has pretty much every kaiju monster from every Godzilla movie and they're destroying entire cities left and right and the monsters are the bad guys until more monsters show up from outer space and then the original bad monsters turn good to fight the outer space monsters...all of this while being fought by one bad ass team (think The Expendables).

You've got to take this one for what it is. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

If the Expendables took on an army of angry Kaiju, it would play out exactly like this, the main character even looks the spitting image of Jason Statham. An unremarkable but fun graphic novel filled with giant monster punch ups and cheesy gung-ho characters, I enjoyed it but not so much that I will be singing its praises. It satisfied my current Godzilla addiction and has some awesome single page plates in it, the standard illustrations in the strip are not top notch but Godzilla and his Kaiju compatriots always look pretty epic. Average, but just about daft enough to be enjoyable.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This had all the hallmarks of a great Godzilla film, put into comic form. The team of humans are two-dimensional, with thin reasons for their motivations. The monsters are present and cause mass destruction to the environment, cities, people, and each other. Nobody listens to the Mothra Twins.

It was an enjoyable ride. The art went back and forth between lavish two-page spreads of the monsters, and rather simple cartoonish renderings of the monsters. The humans were simply drawn throughout - I can tell that clothing, hair, and shading are not strong suites of the artists.

[Hazzie Sof · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't a complex story but it's filled with giant monsters. It's like well-known action flicks fell into a kaiju movie. The artwork seems like an older style, like an old Godzilla movie poster. Check out my full review here: https://geekytalksite.wordpress.com/2...

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pleasant diversion. Not brilliant, but entertaining enough. It's one of those comics that's probably fine when read as individual monthly installments, but in the collected format, the story seemed dragged out a bit longer than it needed to be.

[Ralph Carlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun read.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very fun. The art is fantastic! The story is decent. I enjoyed seeing Godzilla's enemies/friends drawn as well!

[Frederick Tan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Godzilla continues to destroy cities and lives all over the world and ex-special forces tough guy Boxer is a man with a grudge who vows to end the terror of Godzilla no matter what!

[El Neo · Rating 2 out of 5]

This series was just really fun! Love with Swierczynski did with MechaGodzilla!

[Gabriel Wallis · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an entertaining graphic novel! I absolutely loved reading Godzilla: History's Greatest Monster. Kumonga, Rodan, Battra, Anguirus, Titanosaurus, Mechagodzilla, Mothra, Gigan, Spacegodzilla, Hedorah, Monster X, Keizer Ghidorah, and, of course, the mighty Godzilla battle each other in this amazingly illustrated graphic novel. While they battle, a special forces team does their best in trying to destroy the giant monsters themselves. I definitely recommend Godzilla: History's Greatest Monster. You won't be disappointed.