Godzilla: Legends

Godzilla Legends is a collection of 5 one-shot Godzilla anthology stories, each with its own seperate plot and existing in its own version of the Godzilla universe. This is a great idea and I wish they would do more. The problem though is that some of the stories are stronger than others. For this reaon, I will write a mini-review of each story below (note: each story is titled after the monster which is most prominently displayed in the story). If you don't wish to read these mini reviews, skip to the end to read my overall thoughts on the book itself.#1: Anguirus- This is easilly one of the 2 best stories in the book. We begin with a city that is being ravaged by the monster Destroyah. We then meet a scientist who has been working on a government project trying to emit frequencies to summon Godzilla. They attempt to use the device, even though it isn't ready, and instead of Godzilla showing up to fight Destroyah, they get Anguirus instead. This story was very well done. The art is great, the plot intense, and the struggle of Anguirus against the far more powerful Destroyah is very moving. I give this one five stars easilly.#2: Rodan- This one was a real let-down. After the Anguirus story, I guess I expected the same beautiful art and compelling writing. I was dissapointed. The basic premise is that a Japanese/American military/reseach base has taken possession of one of Rodan's eggs, and Rodan comes to collect. There's alot more to the plot than that, but I won't even waste time writing about it. The art is sub-par, with Rodan looking like some sort of cancerous muppet or an only slightly better looking version of The Giant Claw (thumbs up if you get that reference). This is especially dissapointing since the cover art was done by a different artist, and their Rodan was very well done. As for writing, the plot seems a bit clunky and the characters are very unlikeable. The only saving grace for this one is that it has some OK action scenes when Rodan attacks the base. 1 star.#3: Titanosaurus- While not in the top two, this is my third favorite story of the five. I love Titanosaurus and wish Toho would use him more often. The premise is this: A young boy with psychic powers is discovered by Miki Saegusa (the only human character in this entire book who actually comes from the films) and taken to a facility where young people with psychic gifts are being trained to aide in the war against the giant monsters. While there, our main character forms a psychic bond with the monster Titannosaurus, accidentally summoning him when he becomes upset. However, the youngster is quickly swept up in an alien invasion plot... You may notice that this synopsis ends on a cliff-hanger. And so does this story. My biggest complaint with this story is that it got me all excited and then just cuts off. I wish this wasn't just a one-shot story, but rather the beginning of an arc. Besides this the art is very good and the writing, while not as impressive as Anguirus, was also very good. 4 stars from me.#4: Hedorah- This is epic! I mentioned before that I had a favorite two stories from this set, one being Anguirus. This is the second. The Hedorah story is truly a work of art from the start to finish. A crew of G-force pilots driving Mechagodzilla arrive in a city which has been decimated by some industrial disaster. The buildings lie in ruins, and pollution looms in the air. Suddenly, the crew find themselves in a showdown against Hedorah, the Smog Monster! Just when their hope of beating Hedorah seem nill, Godzilla arrives and the two enemies join forces to combat the evil Smog Monster. This one is amazing! I'm still in a debate with myself which one, this or Anguirus, is my favorite. First of all, the art. The art in this one blows me away. There's a great sense of atmosphere when they arrive in the destroyed city, you can feel the desolation. The writing is good, the fighting between the three monsters is fantastic. 5 stars all the way!#5: Kumonga- This one's...OK. First of all, it shouldn't be called Kumonga, because while he is in it, he's not the focus. The plot is this: a famous world explorer is given a radioactive-resistant suit and a seemingly impossible task: to climb Godzilla, much as one might climb a mountain. If that sounds impossible, that's probably because it is. However, he manages it, and gets to witness Godzilla destroy a village, as well as experience a battle between Godzilla and the giant spider Kumonga. Somehow he survives all of this, and lives to tell his tale, ending with his belief that humanity should learn to accept Godzilla as a force of nature and live with him, rather than continue the pointless war to try and stop him. The art is bad. It isn't as bad as the Rodan story, but it's a let-down after Hedorah Titanosaurus and Anguirus. the story is weak, but it isn't terrible and the message at the end is good. in the end, I was entertained. 2.5 stars.Overall this was a pretty good collection, worth the read. while some of the stories are weaker than others, when it's good it's really good. At the end of the day, I'm satisfied with the purchase. I give Godzilla Legends 3 stars out of 5.

I've been largely disappointed with IDW's run of Godzilla comics so far. Their "Kingdom of Monsters" series was atrociously drawn and had a plot which was barely functional. "Gangsters and Goliaths" had some fairly serious flaws, but it also had at its core a premise so novel and interesting that I was compelled to give it my recommendation anyway. That said, I have no qualms at all about giving "Legends" two thumbs up. It's an anthology-style book, featuring five short stories centered around members of Godzilla's Rogue's Gallery, as opposed to the King of the Monsters himself. Specifically, we have Rodan, Hedorah/Mechagodzilla, Kumonga, Titanosaurus, and Anguirus/Destroyah. Each story is written and illustrated by a different creative team, which leads to some fairly extreme variation in the the quality of each entry. The Anguirus/Destroyah story is beautifully drawn and has a pretty good story, given the length restrictions. For what it's worth, the guy who drew this one is the same guy who maintains the "Godzilla NEO" deviantart page, I think, so support your local Godzilla nerd! Most of the other stories are reasonably well-drawn and well-plotted, with the art bottoming out around the Rodan story (although it still hasn't quite reached "Kingdom of Monsters"-level awfulness).In short: this is a great collection of short "a day-in-the-life" snapshots of various kaiju. It doesn't have an overarching plot, so don't buy it expecting to be told a complete story. There are loose plot threads, and the stories aren't connected to any one main continuity. But they are a series of well-drawn, mostly well-written vignettes about life in a world where giants walk the Earth.

This is a fun, collaborative book with many artists and illustrators, overall a fun book. I recommend getting it.😀

The book promises to put some of Toho's less prominent monsters in the spotlight for a change, and while the first story delivers in spades, the remaining stories may not deliver in the same way, as the featured monster is barely present, or it's overshadowed once again by Godzilla.It may not be the side-character driven series fans hope for, but I wouldn't call it a bad book. With only loose ties to some of the films, and no ties to other Godzilla comics, it's not quite a must have. But it's not a bad addition to a Godzilla fan's collection either.My book had a little damage on the spine, I'm not sure who that's on.

An entertaining read that shows a fascinating glimpse into how humans coexist with the Kaiju of their world! 5 Stars all around!~

This book shows the monsters of Toho in all their glory!! Various stories highlighting Anguirus, Rodan, Titanosaurus, Hedorah, & Kumonga. The stories are original and entertaining, and a variety of writers and artists collaborated on this project. The artwork is perfect for these stories, and I've continued to be impressed with the respect and homage paid to Godzilla and all the Toho Monsters by IDW Publishing.If you are a fan of Godzilla (shame on you if you don't already own this!), a fan of monsters, or just want to get on board now before the awesomely fantastic movie is released later this year.....give Godzilla: Legends a try!

Really enjoyed each story! Each monster has its own self contained story that brings up powerful messages for Godzilla fans to tackle with!

Although "Half Century War" isn't too bad, I am highly disappointed with most of IDW's Godzilla offering. I think the concept, and for the most part, execution, of the "Godzilla: Legends" series was their best G stuff. Fun little fantasy stories/match ups that many a G-fan has dreamt of. I wish IDW would consider this type of concept a little more for the regular series.

One of the first pieces of Godzilla media i was exposed to and its great to read it again years later. Much like IDW's Transformers Spotlight book each issue focuses on a different kaiju unlike Spotlight however the stories of Legends are stand alones set in their own universes. So you don't need to worry about knowing whats going on in another book.I don't want to give to much away so here are some quick thoughts on my favourite story, which i think is the best and which i think is the weakest#1 Pretty darn good self contained complete story and starring kaiju has remained one of my favourites ever since#3 probably my favourite story but its a shame its a one off i would have loved to see this continued into an on going book #5 id say is the weakest because while it has an interesting story the kaiju its meant to be focusing on is that integral to the plot he's just there for a fight and doesn't really look that impressive in said fight

To begin with, I'm not a huge fan of Godzilla, I just had fond memories of the show from when I was a kid. So I thought I'd pick this up as a light bit of fun distraction. Which, for the most part, it was. The book has five stories:#1: Anguirus- This is about one of the smaller monsters fighting one of the toughest- Anguirus (small & spikey) versus Destroyah (big & powerful). The battle is caused by a scientist who has been working on a call to summon godzilla (or has he?). Anguirus shows up and "helps" the humans fight Destroyah who doing a good job of living up to his name. Featuring a surprise ending with Big G, this is a fun story. The artwork is good, there's plenty of action, and the plot made enough sense to be fun.#2: Rodan- This one was the worst of the bunch. The art looked like a mediocre Grade 8 student drew it, and the plot is just about as bad. An enraptured father worries about a captured egg of Rodan while his son is bullied at school. His son takes things into his own hands and things get silly from there. About the only part of the book I thought I would enjoy is when the Marines ambush Rodan and have a chance at wiping the plot clean. It doesn't happen. Poor story.#3: Titanosaurus- This is a weird story, involved a psychic boy and his bond with Titanosaurus. Originally recruited to help find a way of controlling the big monsters, the boy is kidnapped from a secret facility by aliens in order to take over the world. The artwork was OK, but I found the introduction of aliens to be jarring. Too much was left unexplained for me to really get into it, unless these aliens have a big history in Godzilla world that I'm not aware of (as I said at the start, I'm a pretty casual fan).#4: Hedorah- This story returns to the fun. Mechagodzilla, piloted by humans, sets out to defeat Godzilla. Only Hedorah, the evil smog monster, turns up and forces the humans to make a decision- should they stick to their mission and destroy Godzilla, or should they help him defeat this new evil creature? Good artwork, good action, fun plot.#5: Kumonga- This was a fun story involved a daredevil being asked to climb up Godzilla's back in order to gather some samples. Big G barely notices the man as he climbs up. Godzilla almost has his own climate and ecology he's so big, which makes for an interesting scene or two. Kumonga does show up to ambush Godzilla and get into a fight, but he's not the main focus (too bad, he's a cool-looking monster). The moral of the story, and the end of the book, is that Godzilla is just another living creature trying to look out for himself. So long as humans are threatening to him, he's going to take them out. So we need to change that or else...Overall, it's a fun book. Not high literature, but I don't think anyone reading Godzilla comics is really expecting that (I wasn't). It was short but fun, and most of the artwork was interesting enough to warrant this book four stars.

Idéal pour les fans des vieux ennemis de Godzilla qui sont moins célèbres que Mothra ou King Ghidora. Chaque monstre de la couverture a droit à sa propre histoire, indépendante, toujours assez bien ficelée. Les dessins, différents eux-aussi selon les histoires, sont de qualité. On sent le travail de fan, que ce soit au dessin ou au scénario, et un amour pour le monstre choisit. Godzilla n'est pas le héros ici, et c'est tant mieux : il est rare que ses ennemis se taillent la part du lion. Chaque histoire est introduite par une superbe couverture qui forme un large panorama, retranscrit en bonus à la fin de volume. Bref, une BD jouissive pour les amateurs du genre.

Some episodes are really far better than other, also the design.In some episode Kaiju are too less presents.Grat appereance of Destoroyah