Godzilla Color Special (1992)
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The Godzilla Color Special is a one-shot comic book written by Arthur Adams and Randy Stradley and published by Dark Horse on August 1, 1992.[1] Set in the same continuity as Dark Horse's 1987 one-shot Godzilla, King of the Monsters Special, it introduces G-Force, the team of scientists who would become the main characters of Dark Horse's ongoing Godzilla series. It was republished under the Dark Horse Classics label on April 29, 1998, to coincide with the theatrical release of TriStar Pictures' GODZILLA.
Description
- Original
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The biggest character in comics returns in this all-new monster-versus-monster epic! On the remote island of Kurukai, the inhabitants live in fear that an ancient demon imprisoned in a stone statue may one day escape and wreak havoc. But now, with Godzilla making a beeline for this island, releasing the demon may be their only hope of survival! Writers Randy Stradley and Arthur Adams join forces, with Adams providing the art for the book he was born to draw! Front and back cover illustrations by Adams.[1]
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- Re-release
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Originally presented in 1992, this titanic tale of one of Godzilla's greatest battles is being released to the newsstand in time for the new Sony/TriStar motion picture. Godzilla is on a rampage on the tiny island of Kiryokushima. G-Force wants to evacuate the islanders, but they've put their faith -- and their fates -- in hands of an ancient stone statue. Prehistoric fury meets demonic magic in an earthshaking clash that requires forty dynamic pages of Arthur Adams' finest work to tell the tale!
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Plot
As part of a rescue mission, the G-Force team arrives on the remote island of Kiryoku-shima, whose people have rejected modern technology since World War II, to warn of Godzilla's impending arrival. A former G-Force member named Kogenta, who has been living on the island to research its people, greets them before they head to the meeting hall with their news. Rather than evacuate, the residents side with the priestess Ookii'Mune, who insists that the local god Gekido-jin will protect them. As they argue, Godzilla destroys the U.S. Navy forces meant to supervise the evacuation.
Ookii'Mune gathers the islanders at the shrine of Gekido-jin while G-Force retrieves a dart gun from their craft as Godzilla walks onto the island. Ookii'Mune explains that while it is typically forbidden for non-islanders like Kogenta and G-Force to see the shrine, the state of emergency necessitates an exception before revealing that the statue is possessed by an oni. Gekido-jin had lived on Kiryoku-Shima before the first humans had come from mainland Japan to settle it, and were constantly attacked by the spirit, which grew stronger with every defeat, until a monk sacrificed himself to Gekido-jin to battle the oni inside. While the spirits within Gekido-jin are fighting, the statue cannot move. Ookii'Mune then voices her intent to release the monk's spirit by taking his place and allowing the oni to have control of Gekido-jin long enough for it to ward off Godzilla before taking up the eternal battle to keep the statue dormant.
Before Kazushi Kagaku, the leader of G-Force can object, Godzilla made his way into the clearing. G-Force quickly prepares their biopsy dart that they fire into Godzilla's foot in hopes of obtaining some skin cells or nerve endings. However, as they prepare their weapon Ookii'Mune sneaks to the statue to begin the ritual, but is knocked unconscious by flying rocks that had been kicked up by Godzilla. With G-Force distracted by Ookii'Mune's injury, Kogenta offers himself to Gekido-jin before both he and the statue are flattened by Godzilla. Godzilla then blasts the surrounding cliff face with his atomic breath before Gekido-jin emerges from the rubble and strikes Godzilla with his hammer. Godzilla then destroys Gekido-jin, who begins to reform his body to be larger, but never gets a chance to attack again due to Godzilla's destroying him before he can fully re-form his body. G-Force then devises a plan to give Gekido-jin more time by using the biopsy dart, which is still in Godzilla's foot, and using Ookii'Mune's staff as a lightning rod, they channel electricity from the overhead storm to electrocute Godzilla.
Gekido-jin then slams his hammer into Godzilla's face before slowly backing toward an ocean-facing cliff. Godzilla then charges Gekido-jin and tackles him off the cliff, and destroys him for the final time with his atomic breath. G-Force and Ookii'Mune pay their respects to Kogenta, who resumes control of Gekido-jin and reforms the statue on the ocean floor, acknowledging that the battle is over because he got Godzilla off the island before taking up the ancient monk's position and resuming the battle with the oni. But because the statue is now under water, Kogenta's spirit is trapped within it forever.
Appearances
Monsters
Characters |
Weapons, vehicles, races, and organizations
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Credits
Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.
- Writer Randy Stradley & Arthur Adams
- Artist Art Adams
- Letterer Lois Buhalis
- Colorist Rachelle Menashe
- Editor Randy Stradley
- Designer Mark Cox & Scott Tice
- Cover Artist Arthur Adams
Gallery
1998 Dark Horse Classics reprint cover
Trivia
- One of the panels from this comic, showing Godzilla rising up from the ocean, was used for the cover of the script of Godzilla vs. Destoroyah.
- This comic introduced the name G-Force one year before it was used for a United Nations organization in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II.
- Dark Horse's G-Force is patterned after Marvel's Fantastic Four, with the team consisting of two married scientists, one of their closest friends, and the female scientist's younger brother.
- Godzilla Color Special artist and co-author Art Adams reused the name "Shrewmanoid" for a villain in his Monkeyman and O'Brien series, based on one of the Fantastic Four's villains, the Mole Man.
- The cruiser split in two by Godzilla, the USS Robert E. Howard, is named after the pulp fiction author who created Conan the Barbarian.
References
This is a list of references for Godzilla Color Special. 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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