Godzilla: Rulers of Earth
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Godzilla: Rulers of Earth (ゴジラ: ルーラーズ オブ アース Gojira: Rūrāzu Obu Āsu) is a comic book series by IDW Publishing, which ran from June 2013 to July 2015. At 25 issues in length, it is currently the most prolific Godzilla comic in the history of the franchise, one issue longer than Marvel's Godzilla. The series was written by Chris Mowry, who had previously written Godzilla: Legends #4, with art by Matt Frank and Jeff Zornow and colors by Priscilla Tramontano.
Set in the same continuity as IDW's previous ongoing titles, Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters and Godzilla, the plot of Godzilla: Rulers of Earth primarily concerns an alien invasion by a race called the Cryogs, initially supported by the undersea Devonian civilization. At the same time, more and more of Earth's ancient monsters are appearing around the globe, fighting amongst themselves for dominance. When the Cryogs unleash their ultimate weapon, the power-absorbing Trilopods, Godzilla must lead his monster brethren into battle with the support of the humans' Counter-Kaiju Reaction Forces in order to save the planet from certain conquest.
Rulers of Earth was the first American Godzilla comic series to be published in Japan, where it was licensed by Phase Six, who would continue to localize many of IDW's other Godzilla titles.
Issues
Japanese release
Japanese Wonder Festival 2016 limited edition (issues #1-2)
Trade paperbacks
Volume 1 (issues #1-4)
IDW Limited version of Volume 1, sold for 72 hours in December 2013[1]
Volume 2 (issues #5-8)
Volume 3 (issues #9-12)
Volume 4 (issues #13-16)
Volume 5 (issues #17-20)
Volume 6 (issues #21-25)
![IDW Limited version of Volume 1, sold for 72 hours in December 2013[1]](https://wikizilla.org/w/images/e/ec/Rulers_of_Earth_Vol_1_-_Eggleton.jpg)
Godzilla: Complete Rulers of Earth Volume 1 (issues #1-12)
Godzilla: Complete Rulers of Earth Volume 2 (issues #13-25)
Japanese Volume 1
Japanese Volume 1 (collaboration cover by Matt Frank and Shinji Nishikawa)
Japanese Volume 2
Japanese Volume 2 (collaboration cover)
Japanese Volume 3
Japanese Volume 3 (collaboration cover)
Japanese Volume 4
Japanese Volume 4 (collaboration cover)
Japanese Volume 5
Japanese Volume 5 (collaboration cover by Matt Frank and Shinji Nishikawa)
Hardcovers
Godzilla: Rulers of Earth ReMonstered Edition Volume 1 (Japanese)
Gallery
Concept art
Trilopod character sheet
Trilopod Alpha concept art by Matt Frank
Trilopod Beta concept art by Matt Frank
Trilopod Beta concept art by Jeff Zornow
Devonian concept art by Matt Frank
Ads
Press releases
Press release for Japanese publication from Phase Six
Press release for Japanese publication from Phase Six
Miscellaneous
Artwork celebrating Valentine's Day 2014 by Matt Frank
Artwork celebrating the series' second extension by Jeff Zornow
Artwork celebrating Halloween 2014 by Matt Frank
Trivia
- Godzilla: Rulers of Earth marked the first American comic appearances of Zilla, Gezora, Manda, Varan, Gaira, Sanda, Moguera, Orga, Jet Jaguar, Biollante, Gorosaurus, Megaguirus, Kamoebas, and King Caesar, as well as Gezora's first non-video game appearance. It also became the first official piece of media to use Sanda and Gaira's trademark icons, which were created specifically for the series.
- This series features far more Godzilla monsters than any other Godzilla comic series, with over 30 Toho creations appearing in some capacity in addition to original monsters.
- This series marked the return of several human characters from Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters who were absent from Godzilla, including protagonist Steven Woods and supporting characters Allie and Kenji Ando.
- The Trilopods, who were introduced in issue #20, were the first major original monsters to appear in IDW's Godzilla comics.
- This series contains many cameos and Easter eggs, even for things outside of the Godzilla franchise, such as the logo of the Science Special Search Party from Ultraman appearing on a laptop.
- The series was under constant threat of cancellation due to lower sales numbers, which prevented the creative team from outlining many significant overarching plot threads and caused significant changes to the story along the way. Initially, the series was set to be cancelled after only the 5th issue before being extended to eight issues.[2][3] The series was extended again to 12 issues thanks to steady sales numbers,[4] then to 16 issues, before being extended one final time to 25 issues, ironically making it the longest-running Godzilla comic series ever in spite of the arduous production.
- While issue #8 was still planned as being the final issue, the original ending for the series involved Biollante being an entire island, who would then do battle with many of Earth's monsters that were brought to her. After defeating Biollante, the monsters were to remain on the island, which was to become Monster Island.[5] Ultimately, after the series received another extension, many of these plans were changed, though Jeff Zornow's variant cover for the issue reflects this original idea.
- Another alternate ending for the series involved Godzilla battling a clone of himself, but Toho ultimately vetoed the idea of two Godzillas.[5]
- Though Godzilla's return in issue #13 - in which he is inexplicably trapped in an iceberg after having previously been buried beneath the Devonian capital at the bottom of the ocean - goes unexplained within the series itself, Chris Mowry revealed that Godzilla was supposed to burrow beneath the Devonian capital and encounter Megalon. While battling underground, Godzilla was to eventually defeat Megalon but wind up frozen in ice again in the Arctic Circle. Mowry expressed regret over not being able to provide a proper explanation for Godzilla's relocation in-universe.[5]
- Solicitations for several issues of the series, as well as recaps included in the volumes collecting the series and the back cover description of Godzilla: Complete Rulers of Earth Volume 1, refer to Dr. Kenji Ando's kaiju investigation team as the "Kaiju Watchers". The name is never used to describe the group at any point within the comic itself, however, and only appears once on a banner within the first issue.
External links
- Facebook page
- IDW interview with Chris Mowry (undated, but published before issue #1)
- Kaijucast interview with Chris Mowry and Matt Frank (June 2013)
- G-Fest panel with Matt Frank and Jeff Zornow (July 2015)
- Toho Kingdom interview with Matt Frank and Chris Mowry (September 2015)
- Japanese Rulers of Earth Vol. 1 listing from publisher Phase Six
- Japanese Rulers of Earth Vol. 2 listing from publisher Phase Six
- Japanese Rulers of Earth Vol. 3 listing from publisher Phase Six
- Japanese Rulers of Earth Vol. 4 listing from publisher Phase Six
- Japanese Rulers of Earth Vol. 5 listing from publisher Phase Six
References
This is a list of references for Godzilla: Rulers of Earth. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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