Godzilla Rivals: Vs. Gigan
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Godzilla Rivals: Vs. Gigan is the fifth installment of the IDW Publishing one-shot comic series Godzilla Rivals. It was published on November 30, 2022.[1]
Description
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The year is 2008. The setting is Seattle. Networked computers and video game consoles have connected millions across the globe in virtual combat... and an insidious intelligence has taken notice. The insectoid Nebulans, would-be conquerors of Earth, have hijacked the MMOs and uploaded the collective fighting techniques and strategy of gamers worldwide directly into the central processing unit of their cyborg champion. What chance does Godzilla have at victory when the vicious opponent Gigan has been augmented by the savagery of all humanity? Written by Keith Davidsen (Reanimator, Evil Ernie) and illustrated by Yasmin Flores Montanez (Goosebumps), the Cyber Age meets the Kaiju Age in this epic Emerald City showdown!
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Plot
On October 3, 2008, computer science student Nancy returns to her home in Hawthorne, New Jersey, where her brother Joaquin is playing Immortal Konflict IV. Nancy opens her laptop and is shocked to see live news footage of an attack on Seattle, Washington by the Nebulan aliens using the newly-upgraded Gigan. The Nebulan leader hijacks the broadcast, declaring his race's intent to claim Earth's resources for itself, as the human race has squandered them. The monster, who he describes as "every bit as vicious as the sum of humanity", has already ravaged West Seattle and crippled the USS Nimitz when Godzilla arrives on the scene. Nancy tries to show Joaquin the news on the TV, but he refuses, saying he's seen enough buildings fall in his lifetime.
Gigan begins the battle by firing off Bladed Slicers. Godzilla evades the discs before leaping out of the water, grabbing Gigan, and throwing him into the Nimitz. Gigan uses the aircraft carrier as a shield against the King of the Monsters' atomic breath before returning fire with his eye laser. When he closes the distance, Godzilla bashes him over the head with a piece of rubble. Joaquin shouts in frustration as the Immortal Konflict IV servers glitch during a pivotal moment in his match, leaving Nancy questioning his priorities. She reflects on how since their uncle Sebastian was killed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, he's buried his grief with an addiction to video games. Gigan slashes Godzilla's shoulder before knocking him back with a flying kick. He then fires his Hooking Anchors into Godzilla's wound, throws him into the air, and slashes his throat. That gets Joaquin's attention: he recognizes the move from his game. At first, Nancy dismisses it as a coincidence, and after Godzilla trips Gigan with his tail, he returns to complaining about Hexapod Games' erratic servers.
Realizing that Hexapod's server issues have twice coincided with Godzilla landing a blow on Gigan, Nancy follows a hunch and hacks into Hexapod's servers. Her suspicions are correct: the company is a front for the Nebulans' operations on Earth. She explains to Joaquin that Gigan is drawing upon the strategies of millions of players around the world, explaining the Nebulan leader's boast, and encourages him to keep playing to give her more insights. As the Nebulans struggle to keep up with her hacking, their leader demands that Gigan finish off Godzilla as quickly as possible. Nancy figures out a way to briefly reduce the data feed powering Gigan to just one controller—Joaquin's—which will leave the cyborg vulnerable if he can just stop playing. He agrees to set the controller down, and Gigan's eye laser loses power just before it can fire. Godzilla takes advantage of this opening to overpower and severely damage Gigan, rendering the cyborg incapacitated. Nancy's avatar taunts the Nebulans and they try desperately to bring him back online. Godzilla seizes the opening, ripping off Gigan's left claw and stabbing him in the neck with it before grabbing his head with both hands and squeezing until his eye cracks. Gigan falls motionless into the water, and Godzilla pauses before ripping out his chest saw and firing his atomic breath into the sky in triumph.
The Nebulan leaders laments the years of plotting that have gone to waste, but plans to recover the cyborg and regroup. Nancy presses her advantage, activating the propulsion systems of the spaceship hidden within Hexapod headquarters. She steers the ship towards Godzilla, who slices it in half by swinging Gigan's saw. As Godzilla departs the city, Nancy and Joaquin exult in their victory, and Joaquin offers for the two to go out and spend some time celebrating together. A low-ranking Nebulan returns to headquarters with a dozen orders of coffee, and is baffled at the smoking ruins.
Appearances
MonstersCharacters
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Weapons, vehicles, and races
Locations
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Gallery
Covers
Cover A by E.J. Su
Early cover A by E.J. Su
Early cover A by E.J. Su
Cover A inks by E.J. Su
Retailer incentive cover by Christian Gonzalez
Textless cover RI art by Christian Gonzalez
Scans
Miscellaneous
Nebulan reference sheet by Christian Gonzalez
Trivia
- Artist Christian Gonzalez has stated that the composition for his retailer incentive cover is an homage to Kentaro Miura's cover for volume 3 of the manga series Berserk.[2]
- Gonzalez also designed the Nebulans' spaceship. Unusual among Toho's alien races, no such craft was shown in their film appearance, granting him a blank slate.[3] He contributed a redesign of the Nebulans as well, although it was changed significantly in the finished comic.
- Concept art of Godzilla by an unidentified artist included at the end of this comic is misattributed to Gonzalez.
- This comic was originally announced as the fourth issue of Godzilla Rivals, set for a May 25, 2022 release. However, it was delayed to June 29, then to August 31, then to October 23, and again to November 30, surpassing Vs. Battra as the fifth issue. The initial solicitation named Yasmin Flores Montanez as the issue's artist, but she was replaced by SidVenBlu for unknown reasons.
- A news article on Nancy's computer states that Gigan first attacked "Tokio" in 1972, referencing the monster's debut in the film Godzilla vs. Gigan released that year.
- The Nebulan leader mentions that Gigan has been repaired and upgraded since his last attack, likely in reference to the use of his Millennium design in the comic.
- Nancy at one point refers to Gigan as a "space dinosaur," reflecting his canonical species in the Showa series.
- Several entries in the Hexapod Games catalog are very similar in name and style to real video games, with Immortal Konflict IV standing in for Mortal Kombat, Force of Freedom akin to Call of Duty, Crown clearly mimicking Halo, and Realm of Roleplay resembling World of Warcraft. The Nebulan leader also shouts a famous line from the Mortal Kombat games—"Finish him!"—as Gigan prepares to deliver a killing blow to Godzilla. Joaquin's game console, the PlayBox, likely combines the names of the real-life PlayStation and Xbox.
- The attire of a fighter in Immortal Konflict IV resembles Gigan's original design from the Showa series.
- The Nebulans' name is misspelled as "Nubulans" in the comic. Tokyo is also misspelled as "Tokio" on the news website.
- This comic ends with an advertisement for IDW Publishing and BOOM! Studios's crossover comic Godzilla vs. The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, which was published earlier in 2022. It is so far the only installment of Godzilla Rivals which does not end with an advertisement for a following issue of the series.
References
This is a list of references for Godzilla Rivals: Vs. Gigan. 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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