Godzilla: Unnatural Disasters

IDW's Godzilla

by James Stokoe, Chris Mowry, Ulises Fariñas

The King of the Monsters is back in this compendium collecting three comics Legends , In Hell , and Rage Across Time !

In a world where monsters roam freely, some stories have been lost to time... until NOW! In Legends , the kaiju of Godzilla's fearsome rogues' gallery get the spotlight. Featuring Anguirus, Rodan, Titanosaurus, Hedorah, and Kumonga!

Then, meet Godzilla's greatest adversary of all time--the impossible tortures of Hell! It's a monster battle that takes you through the depths of the underworld.

Move over dinosaurs... monsters used to rule the planet! In Rage Across Time , travel to different time periods to examine the origin of myths that fueled Feudal Japan, ancient Greece, medieval England, and classic Rome!

Genres: Comics, Fiction, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror, Animals

360 pages, Paperback

Published May 25, 2021

About the author

James Stokoe (born September 4, 1985) is a Canadian comic book artist who is known for his work on such titles as Wonton Soup, Orc Stain and Godzilla: The Half-Century War.
Along with Corey Lewis, Brandon Graham and Marley Zarcone, he's a part of a studio/collective called "Yosh Comics".

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Collects three trash Godzilla miniseries that were previously collected. There are all one off stories by different creative teams full of hit or miss artwork and stories. My review of each miniseries is linked to below.

Godzilla: Legends
Godzilla in Hell
Godzilla: Rage Across Time

[Khurram · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixture

This book is a mixture it contains three story arcs. The first is unnatural disasters. These concentrate on the other monsters. Some of these stories do not even have Godzilla in them.

The second arc is Godzilla moving through hell, fighting former and new foes as well as the environment itself trying to kill him.

The scientist arc. Two scientists follow clues of how Godzilla might have affected the earth's history through the millennia.

It is very hard to rate this book as so many different teams worked on the stories. In some, I preferred the art to others. A couple of the stories were great, and others just made no sense to me. The book finishes with a variant cover gallery.

[Sylvia Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a blast! Godzilla Legends had a lot of fun one-off stories that pay their respect to the Showa and Heisei era films, while also adding to the Godzilla universe in fun, engaging ways. Godzilla In Hell issues 1, 2, and 5 are absolutely incredible.

My only gripe is that nearly every single issue in this book is drawn and/or written by someone else which really makes for a mixed bag. This isn’t a full gripe because it really allowed for a ton of different stories tonally, as well as quality wise. The negative thing was that I’d stumble into an issue with jaw-dropping art that would only last for those 22 pages before switching to another team. The positive is that very same thing. Some of these issues had some pretty “meh” or even a few “blegh” art in them, but the nice thing is that you’d only have to stick with it for a short time before getting to something probably better looking.

This collection was a lot of fun and I recommend this for anyone who loves the classic Godzilla films.

[Cole Jersek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing illustrations

[CyberBookish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like most collected works, this is a mixed bag of storytelling and quality. Unnatural Disasters gathers together several Godzilla mini-series:

Godzilla: Legends – 3 stars
Five issues, each featuring a different kaiju from the Godzilla universe. The anthology varies widely in both artwork and storytelling, but each vignette has strong enough art and interesting enough ideas to keep things moving.

Godzilla in Hell – 5 stars
The standout of the collection. This is an abstract, conceptual piece that follows Godzilla on a journey through hell that blurs the line between literal and metaphorical. The artwork is stunning, and the confident, surreal visual storytelling shows off the real strength of the comic medium.

Godzilla: Rage Across Time – 3 stars
A pair of scientists track Godzilla’s impact on human history across five eras. The Japanese story, illustrated in a woodblock print style, is easily the best of the bunch. The Greek gods and pre-history kaiju brawl were also enjoyable. The Medieval England tale was fine, but better than the Hannibal story, which didn’t work for me at all.

Overall
A collection worth reading. Some complained Godzilla in Hell didn’t have much “story,” so pairing it with other anthologies makes sense as a value add. For me, I had a good time with it and got what I wanted most: beautiful artwork of fantastical beasts brought to life by talented artists.

[Christian Koller]

Fifteen different Godzilla issues for three separate runs from IDW. Personally, my favorite run is the “Godzilla In Hell” run. It’s interesting to see different conceptions of what that would look like for the big G, and the concept is pretty unique from most Godzilla stories. No human characters, which is crazy.
Godzilla Legends gives other kaiju from the Godzilla franchise a chance in the spotlight. My favorite of those was the one for Anguirus. For those who don’t know, Anguirus is like the Krillin of the Godzilla universe, and his story has him up against Destoroyah, potentially Godzilla’s most powerful foe. It makes for a great underdog fight as the humans have to help Anguirus fight the overpowered threat.
Rage Across Time shows Godzilla in different eras in history. I like the one where he fights the Greek gods of Olympus. It’s a rightfully epic battle.
Overall, this is a great collection of classic IDW Godzilla stories. There’s a variety of who’s who Godzilla artists whose works are depicted in here, including the skilled painter Bob Eggleton and the dynamic illustrator Matt Frank. Each issue in this collection is a different story with a different artist, so prepare for some variety, but I really enjoy that.

[Anders · Rating 3 out of 5]

Godzilla! Not really your high-quality narratives, but the art is mostly cool. Also, I think I appreciate this collection the most because Godzilla is undeniably the most powerful throughout all of it. As it should be.

[Jackson Fullerton · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a catalog of multiple stories, and they all kept me entertained and left a lasting impact.

[Neil · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a mixed bag for me, which unfortunately seems to be the case for Godzilla comics I have read, in general, (starting with Marvel's series waaaaaay back in the late 1970s that lasted for 24 issues). The artwork was hit-and-miss for me, the stories were hit-and-miss. Regarding "character development," I'm not sure how much "character development" there can be when you have such a large creature that is essentially a force of nature, hahahah!

This compilation is composed of three sets of mini-series collected into one volume. It has some "extras" in the form of alternate covers. The first mini-series is composed of five "standalone" issues in which four of them focus more on a specific monster and Godzilla. The second series has a more "focused" storyline and involves Godzilla traveling through Hell. The third story is somewhat-clever in that it has an overall "focused narrative" while bouncing around in time. The five individual stories take the stance of "what if Godzilla impacted some major events in history?" Four of the stories involve Godzilla, but one story involves Mothra and Battra in England.

Regarding the first mini-series, the story involving Anguirus was decent. I liked the idea of trying to create a signal that would drive the giant monsters away instead of trying to call Godzilla in hopes his (?) appearance will save a besieged city and not destroy it further. I don't know if IDW used that idea in any further issues/series, but it was still a good idea. The ending was "funny" in that humanity was perceived to be a greater threat than Anguirus by Godzilla. The next story involving Rodan was a "sad" story. I did not expect it to go down the way it did; granted, it seemed like the egg was far smaller than I thought it should have been. In any case, it was sad that the father ignored his family like he did to the extent that his son tried leaving Rodan and the hatchling instead of staying behind. Granted, he would have been in trouble for helping to steal the egg. The father's brokenhearted sobs of "my son! my son!" had to be the hardest part of this compilation to read because it was so heart-breaking, on the one hand, that it took him losing his son to realize what was truly important in his life. I thought the story involving Titanasaurus was stupid; I didn't much care for the story even though the artwork was decent. The ending to Hedora's story was crazy. It took me a moment on that last page to realize that there were four parts of Hedora swimming away to safety in order to . . . do whatever it does to grow to its former size but as four monsters instead of one. The page is pretty "dark" in terms of color, so it was hard to tell what was going on around that giant image of Hedora's eye in the middle of the page. I wasn't too impressed with the artwork in this issue; it was . . . "dirty" or "smudged" or something, but I didn't like it. I could not decide if it was done deliberately to indicate the way humanity is polluting the planet and how it was making it hard to see what was going on in this issue (I would assume that would be the case). The last story was a giant "meh" for me. It has Komonga laying a trap for Godzilla in the Mongolian Desert, of all places! The gist of the story is a former "daredevil" being tapped by the government to implant sensors into Godzilla's body so that scientists could try and study Godzilla and determine ways he could maybe be killed. It's funny - the guy is supposed to be fifty-one years old but looks like he's in his seventies; even if it was due to radiation after taking fifteen hours to "climb" from Godzilla's tail to head, I felt he should still have looked younger when he was climbing Godzilla. In any case, one of the "better lines" in the compilation is along the lines of "but beating somebody with their own arm? That's just wrong!" The daredevil comes to the conclusion that humanity needs to find a different path to take, to end the cycle of violence with Godzilla; otherwise, humanity is doomed.

The Godzilla in Hell series was a giant "meh" for me. The first issue is actually decent, as far as such an issue about a journey through hell can be. The "best part" had to be when Godzilla fought the "demonic form" (?) of himself. The creature really reminded me of the alien from John Campbell's "Who Goes There?" as interpreted by John Carpenter in the 1980s move The Thing. The "fights" tended to be pretty quick in this issue; the first creature/"demon" (?) that Godzilla kills is pretty easily dispatched. Then Godzilla has to "fight" his way through a cloud of some kind of humanoid creatures before reaching his "demonic counterpart." The art in the second issue of the series was really good; I probably liked it more than the art in the first issue, but it was really a pointless issue. Godzilla supposedly "faces off" against the "demonic counterparts" to his foes in various movies, but nothing really happens. We see "beautiful static images" but very little action. The action is implied more than shown. The third issue is just stupid. He starts out fighting Space Godzilla and defeats him quite handily, but then he apparently faces off against God and the angelic hosts? Then he "kills" God? The artwork was bad; the story was stupid; I would rate it as the worst part of the this mini-series (except that issue five also sucked). The whole "serve God! submit to peace!" was stupid and idiotic. It took me a moment to realize that Space Godzilla was apparently revived by Satan (I assume?) to once again fight Godzilla and try to make Godzilla an "agent of hell." Granted, it was somewhat amusing to see Godzilla take a handful of "angels and demons" and apparently eat them. I did not expect that to happen. But it was still the dumbest story in this mini-series and completely unnecessary. It was also "funny" how the sudden inclusion of words being spoken were actually a bit jarring because of how the prior 2.5 issues were completely wordless (other than attempts to put the noises Godzilla makes into the story). The fourth issue was crazy, but in a good-crazy-unexpected way. I liked the artwork, too, which helped. It has Godzilla fighting King Ghidorah and Destroyah, but it ends with Godzilla getting distracted and forgetting about the fight with his mortal enemies. What is crazy is that there is a moment where Godzilla looks like he must have lost his head, and then the next couple of panel's later, he is looking down at his head. It was nuts! It took me a moment, too, on the "first page" of this comic to realize that the three panels of what looks like the same creature opening its one eye was King Ghidorah. I laughed at myself over that one! What is also interesting is that King Ghidorah and Destroyah start fighting with each other and then see Godzilla shooting his fire-breath at "something". They "join in" (I cannot quite decide if they are attacking Godzilla from behind or aiding him in whatever he is "attacking") and help Godzilla to "pierce the wall of this reality." As Godzilla looks through the hole in space, we see Ghidorah and Destroyah fading away behind him. It is pretty cool. The fifth issue was okay. I wasn't a big fan of the artwork. The final issue of the story was a giant "whatever" to me. It starts out with Godzilla walking across a frozen wasteland before falling down into another abyss. He does eventually escape from hell, but it was a disappointing climax. The "weirdest thing" for me was when the flock of little "demon things" devour Godzilla, leaving nothing but bones behind, but then, what? Godzilla's "essence" or "spirit" takes over and forces the little "demon creatures" to recreate his physical body so that he is able to continue his journey? It was stupid, in my opinion. It was kinda cool, though, how all of the little beasties were able to shoot "Godzilla fire" and destroy that creature surrounding that gateway. I did like that moment.

The final five issues involved Godzilla interacting with past history and affecting history more than humanity realizes (kinda like but not quite like the last few issues of Dark Horse's series). Godzilla is present to defeat the Mongols when they attempted to invade Japan, is responsible for the destruction of Pompeii, supposedly helps Hannibal invade Rome (well, cross the Alps, at least, to be able to attack Rome), and the final story has Godzilla "accidentally" "saving the Earth" from a future alien invasion. The middle story involving Mothra and Battra was okay; the artwork was okay as well. The defeat of the Mongol Invasion was fun to read; the artwork was different but I still liked it. The story about Pompeii was okay; it was about the Greek gods and how their demise came about (Godzilla fights the Hydra and kills the creature by causing Mount Olympus to collapse upon it; with the collapse of Olympus comes the death of all of the Greek gods save Zeus, and he dies at the end because of Godzilla causing Pompeii's destruction). I didn't quite understand what happened to Godzilla, what Zeus did to "kill/defeat" the beast. Did he turn Godzilla into a mountain? Bury him under the ground and a volcano formed around the creature? It was a dumb story, in my opinion, and I wasn't too impressed with it. The story with Mothra and Battra involved the Black Death in England. A group of knights are sent out to find the source of the plague and kill some dragons in the process. The encounter the twin girls who . . . communicate with Mothra and get involved in a fight between Mothra and Battra. The giant creatures are killed, the leader of the knights stays behind to die, and the cowardly . . . I don't know if the guy is second-in-command or third-in-command, but the guy leading the knights back to the castle is killed outside the castle to prevent any of the plague from coming inside the castle. It was an okay story, I guess. The story involving Hannibal crossing the Alps was dumb, in my opinion. I didn't like either the story or the artwork. The last story involves the skeleton of a velociraptor and two humans being found together in a Cretaceous boundary layer. The story then jumps to the end of the Cretaceous in which dinosaurs fight each other for survival while trying to survive a host of attacks from giant monsters. Some aliens "invade" and kill off most of the giant monsters to allow two humans whose "evolution" they have accelerated to the point of being able to "take over the world" and prepare the planet for the future return of the aliens. After the aliens leave, a creature that must be Godzilla rises from wherever he was lying and accidentally kills the two humans, thereby saving the Earth in the process. It was an okay story. The artwork was decent; I liked it more than what was in the story about Hannibal.

Overall, it was a decent compilation, I guess. I liked some of it but not half of it or most of it. That being the case, in all honesty, I cannot give it 3 stars. It was okay; the only thing it really had going for it was that it was a fast read. I am glad that I took a chance and read it, but I am not sure if I will ever read it again.

[Logan Conrad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Had one of the comics in it i've been most curious to read Godzilla in Hell. Was a nice collection all together though. Lots of stories with monsters you don't see often.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the middle of the book where the pictures told the story. The stories in the front and back were just stupid

[Drew Canole · Rating 2 out of 5]

Collects three Godzilla books

Godzilla: Legends
Godzilla in Hell
Godzilla: Rage Across Time

All 3 books are one and done issues tied together pretty loosely so it works together as an omnibus quite well.

I'm not well versed in Godzilla lore and this book doesn't really explain much, more just throws you into some stories with little to no context. Some fun monster battles though, and a quick read.

[Logan · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading “Half Century War,” I was eager to get my hands on even more James Stokoe-illustrated Godzilla tales. “Unnatural Disasters” collects three previously-published comic miniseries into one 360-page anthology, but these not all are illustrated by Stokoe. Actually, only one short chapter is. That’s a huge bummer, because in my opinion none of these miniseries stacked up to Stokoe’s “Half Century War.” In “Godzilla: In Hell,” there was one that came close. Stokoe’s own chapter was good, but I really l loved Bob Eggleton’s interpretation of the theme. His depiction of Godzilla in hell was like that of an Italian Renaissance artist. Beautiful, but horrifying. “Godzilla in Hell” was an interesting concept, almost entirely without words, but it quickly got old. As for “Rage Across Time,” I liked the idea of Godzilla in other eras of history (the “Predator” franchise is doing that now) but liked some of the chapters better than others. That’s always the nature of these sorts of anthologies. They tend to highlight, for me at least, the weak spots, and make me wonder why the best writer/artist couldn’t have just done the whole thing him/herself. I was really disappointed with the way this turned out.

4/10

[Michael Lieto · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the massive variety of art and art styles here! The Legends series was real nice. It was great to see several different other Kaiju get the spotlight (even my boi Anguirus!) and a great MechaG2 Hedorah Godzilla fight. I really liked the Kumunga feature also with the daredevil climbing Godzilla to get skin samples. That’s a very neat perspective of the big G.

Godzilla in Hell is the real highlight here. It’s an artist tour de force with some stunning imagery and great moments.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the Rage Across Time Stories, especially the first one. The art for the Feudal Jason story is just breathtaking and I really got caught up in the story. The last 2 of this series are just ok (the Hannibal one is the weakest in the book), even though the last story is really just a dinosaur era Kaiju slug fest.

A fun read and a must for any Godzilla fanatic like myself!

[Luke John · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the time of writing this is just about the only affordable method of getting hold of James Stokoe's excellent Godzilla In Hell issue one, as well as the rest of that series (which whilst not as good as that first issue, is still one of the best Godzilla comic series of all time). Purchased within this context the other two volumes included can be seen as bonus material, and indeed their quality is markedly worse than In Hell. Both have their moments, but suffer from a surfeit of lesser quality issues. Despite this there are some enjoyable issues, Fedual Japan and Ancient Greece for example (from Rage Across Time). However there is no getting away from the fact that In Hell is the main attraction here, as well it should be. A recommended purchase therefore, but almost entirely on the basis of being able to get hold of a copy of In Hell again.

[Dubzor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a mixed bag for a number of reasons. The Legends mini series is the clear winner in that it has the most wide reaching appeal. These stories are short and sweet, never overstaying their welcome, and in some cases quite clever. I especially enjoyed "Underdog."

"Godzilla in Hell" on the other hand is a little more niche. If you can appreciate a mostly wordless feast for the eyes, than you'll have a good time. However someone paying $30 for some campy Godzilla action may be a bit dissatisfied with it.

The final mini arc is the weakest in my opinion. "Rage Across Time" is an interesting concept, kaiju affecting world history, but fails in execution. It's corny fun, sure but only two issues are truly anything worth mentioning.

A library hold for sure, but unless you are a completist it may not be something you want to invest money in.

[Darren Vincent · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have not read many GODZILLA comics so I don't know how this one ranks comparatively, but this was not very good. And I am pretty lenient when it comes to comics. The writing can sometimes save the artwork and sometimes the artwork can salvage the writing. This book failed on both.

I appreciate some of the stories that they were trying to tell such as GODZILLA IN HELL or THROUGH TIME but the writing itself was very hard to follow. And the panels themselves did not effectively tell the story. There was only one or two stories where I liked the artwork.

I really don't want to spend any more energy on this review than I have to. I will take my chances on a Kong story.

[The Smoog · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gather this is a collection of collections, Legends, In Hell and Rage Across Time. Unfortunately, despite some of the stories having great artwork (as well as some fantastic covers) it’s ultimately a very disappointing book. Legends offers a series of one-shot vignettes which lead nowhere and don’t have any real impact because of the lack of context. In Hell was terrible, with Godzilla simply marching over one monster baddie after another. Rage Across Time featured a handful of underwhelming tales set throughout history, several of which were just straight-up confusing or poorly written. Overall, I can’t recommend this lot, there are better ways to spend your time and money.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of all the crazy stomping laser carnage we all know and love. I would love to see a continuation of any of the legends stories. Except maybe the Rodan comic. Godzilla in Hell was such an amazing concept and was wonderfully executed in each installment. Lastly I loved the intertwining of present archeological investigations with the stories of Godzilla throughout history.

Overall a great way to increase access to these great series in one collection!

[Patrick Stuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few issues of 'Godzilla in Hell' are sublime. The Godzilla vs the Mongols issue has some excellent art. The rest was not enough. It's just very hard to tell a story about Godzilla where he is the main character. Issues that do that well usually manage it because of sublime art. The rest were curiosities.

[Kelvin Green · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit of a random selection of Godzilla stories, without an overall theme, but that's fine as that also describes the films. Ha.

I liked the art in the story of Godzilla's service during the Mongol invasion of Japan, and while I didn't understand it, "Godzilla in Hell" was quite intriguing, but otherwise it all feels a bit sketchy and underdeveloped.

[Benji Tomlinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 at best if not for the art. Some really good art. Some really shitty art. Some seriously confusing art. All the stories leave a lot to be desired. There are a few pages I would love to have as prints. For that alone it gets the extra half star.

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of fun! Adventures, new and not-so-new, of my favorite radioactive reptile, featuring all manner of other favorite characters from that world. Beautifully illustrated, action-packed, with the word "SHREEEEEEONK" on nearly every page. Worth reading for any Godzillaphile.

[Zach Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Godzilla: The Hellfire King

This one of the best things I have ever read that involved Godzilla especially when he was in hell. The storyline was dark and trippy. As well, with all the monster cameos too made everything better too!

[Christian Reinhardt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Omnibus of some Godzilla titles. Features one off stories of some of Godzilla’s best and some least known Kaiju’s. Godzilla in Hell is the prize story in this collection but the Hedorah and Monsters through History stories were amazing. Definitely a good read for Godzilla fans!

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is closer to 3.5 stars but I'm rounding up for Godzilla in Hell.

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Godzilla

Glad this was a kindle unlimited book. Entertaining, but I am not into buying comics. Really liked the artwork, but some of the stories were hard to follow.

[Scott A. Love]

A decent collection of fun Kaiju stories.

[Alex Wolfgang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Legends was just okay, but In Hell and Rage Across Time were badass.

[Papi · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s Godzilla, what more could you ask for?