Writer: Ethan Parker & Griffin Sheridan
Artist: Pablo Tunica
Letterer & Design: Nathan Widick
Editor: Jake Williams
Cover Artists: Pablo Tunica, Rod Reis & Caspar Wijngaard
Publisher: IDW
Price: $4.99
Release Date: August 6, 2025
Once, people in the Pacific Northwest lived amid serene beauty. They enjoyed running water, electricity, readily available food, and comfortable homes. Then the kaiju came and took all that away.
Like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice In Chains, the giants tore across the land and made it their own. The US government declared Seattle uninhabitable. Those who remained among the rubble dubbed it the Deadzone. How do the inhabitants survive without Amazon, Microsoft, and Seattle's creative music scene? Let’s grab our survival kits, leap into Godzilla: Escape The Deadzone #1, and see!
Story
Whether we worry about turning off the lights, making our mortgage payments, or surviving a war, stories get us through the dark times. In Ethan Parker and Griffin Sheridan’s tale, one locus point of civilization is the corner bar. People gather there to discuss the realities of life.
In these uncertain times, fantasy and reality intertwine. As they search for scraps of food, clothing, and whatever they need to survive, the locals see things they can’t explain. There are the monsters who came to Earth. Then, there are the people who become monsters.
While those at the outdoor cantina muse about the changes life brings, Godzilla: Escape the Deadzone #1 focuses on one man. He hides his appearance from others and perhaps even from himself. Yet, in becoming one with his new environment, he flourishes while others live in fear. He wouldn't see things that way. The man with a kaiju tail cherishes memories of his former life. Yet, whether man or monster, he inspires others. And so, they create stories about him.
Despite the narration, or perhaps because of it, a silence hangs over Godzilla: Escape the Deadzone #1. People share stories about this “monster man.” We never learn his name. Yet, as he helps others and seeks to tame the wilderness, we admire him. As he leaps into situations that would overwhelm others, he forges his future rather than letting others define it for him.
Art
Pablo Tunica contrasts Seattle's gleaming towers with those walking the streets. Then, he introduces a man working at his desk. Amid his cluttered workspace is a Polaroid of a smiling woman. A note reminds him not to work too long. Then he stands with his coworkers as an enormous eye looms like the sun outside the window walls.
After revealing the man’s former life, Godzilla: Escape the Deadzone #1 shows how civilization stumbles on. People cobble together whatever materials they can find. The protagonist dresses in a green jacket, a yellow hoodie, a baseball cap, and enormous work boots. His large hands, now as brown and tough as his tail, sprout yellow claws. When the kaiju attack with their amply jointed limbs, enormous maws, and eyes adorning their ridged spines, he is ready for them.
Nathan Widick fills Pablo Tunica's evocative panels with black uppercase narration in orange paper scraps. Characters speak into edgy white balloons with arrows as disjointed as their lives. Sound effects shake the ground. Screams and roars alert people of approaching kaiju. Distorted letters in bubbly balloons reveal how some people cope with tough times. After shouts turn balloons spiky, an arrowless balloon heralds a discovery that could change everything. Thanks to IDW for providing a review copy.
Final Thoughts
The kaiju do more than destroy buildings and infrastructure. As they bring their radically different bodies among us, they change what it means to be Human. In a world where he doesn’t belong, Godzilla: Escape the Deadzone #1 follows one man's relentless march toward whatever the future brings.
Rating 9.8/10
For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.
No comments:
Post a Comment