IDW's Godzilla Kingdom of Monsters General Discussion

[Primevalgodzilla V2]

Despite the Godzilla being - I wouldn't necessarily say traced - but inspired by the pose of the MonsterArts prototype, I find nothing absolutely wrong with the cover for GODZILLA #1, personally I like it and is one of the better covers I've seen from IDW (that are not from Matt Frank or Jeff Zornow). For me cover art doesn't really matter. It's the interior art that I'm very judgmental on.

Traced is a very nice way to put it- the persepctive, shape of the head, wideness of the mouth, arm posture, position on the tail- if this isn't tracing I don't know what is. 'Inspired' means portions of it harken to the source. This is just ridiculous.

[Legion1979]

What's with those people too? Looks like some sort of traced photograph. What's with those outlines?

[Kaijusamurai]

Hey kids, your kindly Uncle Matt Frank here!

There definitely seems to have been a mix-up - while the trading cards were indeed planned at one point, those were nixed some time ago (not part of the agreement with Toho) so sadly, Art and I won't be lining your plastic card-holders with extra goodies

Nevertheless, expect some REALLY cool stuff this year. Everything I've seen for the new series is gonna' knock your socks off, not to mention the new mini-series. If all goes well, there may be even MORE later in the year...so keep those wallets limbered up!

[RedZillaKing]

Goddammit Matt! Your very existence trolls Godzilla fandom! Why you no have regular Godzilla comic series???

[KaijuX]

Hey kids, your kindly Uncle Matt Frank here!

I thought it would be Doctor, since we are your monkies and Zornow's fiends.

There definitely seems to have been a mix-up - while the trading cards were indeed planned at one point, those were nixed some time ago (not part of the agreement with Toho) so sadly, Art and I won't be lining your plastic card-holders with extra goodies

Oh darn. That's too bad.

Nevertheless, expect some REALLY cool stuff this year. Everything I've seen for the new series is gonna' knock your socks off, not to mention the new mini-series. If all goes well, there may be even MORE later in the year...so keep those wallets limbered up!

This better make up for them cards.

[kaiju115]

I can see myself getting on board with the whole monster bounty hunter concept. It's definitely creative! Hopefully the story itself will be clever enough to make it work.

Even though I stopped reading KOM after Issue #6, I will be subscribing into GODZILLA. Let's hope IDW learned their lessons and get it right this time and finally make a readable comic about the Big G this time around.

Same here, I'm all for the idea of there being a monster bounty hunter, it sound very interesting, and hopefully this new ongoing series will turn out to be what Kingdom of Monsters should have been. I also look forward to seeing more monster appearances (especially Mothra, Rodan, Anguirus, King Ghidorah, Gigan, & Mechagodzilla) as well as decent monster action. But for now all we can do is wait, and see what IDW has in store for us in this new series.

[Captain Aktion]

Despite the Godzilla being - I wouldn't necessarily say traced - but inspired by the pose of the MonsterArts prototype, I find nothing absolutely wrong with the cover for GODZILLA #1, personally I like it and is one of the better covers I've seen from IDW (that are not from Matt Frank or Jeff Zornow). For me cover art doesn't really matter. It's the interior art that I'm very judgmental on.

Traced is a very nice way to put it- the persepctive, shape of the head, wideness of the mouth, arm posture, position on the tail- if this isn't tracing I don't know what is. 'Inspired' means portions of it harken to the source. This is just ridiculous.

But if Godzilla isn't as photo/suit/film-accurate as humanly possible then won't everybody get up in a tizzy about that?

"Boo-hoo, his face looks a little different on this page. This art is Sh**!"

There are apparently no winners when it comes to a Godzilla comic, me am starting to thinks.

[SuperSaiyan4Godzilla]

Despite the Godzilla being - I wouldn't necessarily say traced - but inspired by the pose of the MonsterArts prototype, I find nothing absolutely wrong with the cover for GODZILLA #1, personally I like it and is one of the better covers I've seen from IDW (that are not from Matt Frank or Jeff Zornow). For me cover art doesn't really matter. It's the interior art that I'm very judgmental on.

Traced is a very nice way to put it- the persepctive, shape of the head, wideness of the mouth, arm posture, position on the tail- if this isn't tracing I don't know what is. 'Inspired' means portions of it harken to the source. This is just ridiculous.

But if Godzilla isn't as photo/suit/film-accurate as humanly possible then won't everybody get up in a tizzy about that?

"Boo-hoo, his face looks a little different on this page. This art is Sh**!"

There are apparently no winners when it comes to a Godzilla comic, me am starting to thinks.

\

Or they need to hire better artists. I've not qualms if Godzilla doesn't look like the suits (I love Frank's Neo series)...But sometimes the art just isn't good.

[Kaijusamurai]

Goddammit Matt! Your very existence trolls Godzilla fandom! Why you no have regular Godzilla comic series???

I am an anomaly, no question about that
But seriously, to answer your question as directly as I can, it's a matter of one's resume. You can't just jump from a one-shot to an ongoing series, for example. You have to prove you can work on a monthly schedule, otherwise you're a liability. Hester, Santos and Gane all have consistent, monthly work under their belts, whereas I'm a relative newcomer.

Of course, the next step after a one-shot is a mini-series...which isn't COMPLETELY off the table...

One of the other road bumps is the question of name recognition - Godzilla fans may know who I am, but comic store owners are more likely to recognize a name like Eric Powell or John Layman, and that's what they base their orders on.

I thought it would be Doctor, since we are your monkies and Zornow's fiends.

I can be both! What, you think doctors can't ALSO has nieces and nephews! That's profiling! SHENANIGANS.

[Captain Aktion]

Not saying I like the cover, 'cause I kinda don't but it has more to do with the palette than the "swipe".

You guys do realize that a half-way decent artist doesn't have to trace, and more often than not the majority of these "swipes" are not traced.

Look, if I had a Polaroid photo of the toy, and was using that as reference ('cause, y'know, I may not have grown up drawing Goji in the margins of all of my homework) do you call that tracing...or is it reference?

Going along with that idea, if I'm a capable artist that never really had an interest in Goji but have been given a mandate from the higher ups that my Goji has to be as absolutely accurate as possible to satisfy them and the fans, well, I dunno but I'd probably lean heavily on reference as well.

Oh, and there's one thing none of us know: How long is the deadline for these artists? If, say, Messina gets the nod to turn in a cover but has a deadline of a couple of days? How fast can you bang one out?

I'm not saying that I like this instance, or any instance of "swiping" but if you don't know any of the valid reasons for it happening (and it's happening all over comics) then you can't judge the artist. I hate Greg Land's artwork, but I know why he does it and if the editor's aren't going to do anything about it then I've got to admit to myself the man is making a living. At a job. Sometimes it's not all high-art and not all comic artists want to be the next Alex Toth. Sad, but too true.

[Tormentor]

3. No plans for Red Bamboo. Don't expect to see any human characters directly from the films in the ongoing. That's actually something we're not allowed to do. Was able to squeak in Miki in Legends #3 as a 'cameo'.

Damn it!

Ever since Miki appeared in Legends #3 I thought that maybe, with consideration and thought that the Red Bamboo could have a story built around them within a mini-series or a part of the on-going. They have so much potential!

[KaijuX]

I thought it would be Doctor, since we are your monkies and Zornow's fiends.

I can be both! What, you think doctors can't ALSO has nieces and nephews! That's profiling! SHENANIGANS.

OH SH--

Now like CA said, there's a thing called reference. Those of us inexperienced or not familiar with drawing kaiju need some form of reference to understand how to draw them or the style to draw them as.

[Gojisan866]

Finally got the final issue today (no pun intended). I must say, it was good to finally know that the series had ended, as it really wasn't that good. I like how everyone there seems enthusiastic about the reboot series. Then again, they were enthusiastic about the first run, and look how THAT turned out... It can go either way... At least we know the art will be better...

[Primevalgodzilla V2]

But if Godzilla isn't as photo/suit/film-accurate as humanly possible then won't everybody get up in a tizzy about that?

"Boo-hoo, his face looks a little different on this page. This art is Sh**!"

There are apparently no winners when it comes to a Godzilla comic, me am starting to thinks.

Now you are being unreasonable. I would love to see a film accurate Heisei Goji but you are blind if you can't see this is a tracing, or extremely close copying (practically as bad) of one of the Monsterarts promo images. Sure, film accuracy is one thing. Bob Eggleton's Godzillas are frighteningly film-accurate, and I love 'em. But stealing a picture, tracing it, and putting it as your cover is bullshit, and I can;t believe you expect us to be siatsfied with that when we have talented artists like EJ Su, Matt Frank, Zornow and others, who can do a film accurate Godzilla without damn tracing and ruining the integrity of the art.

Quit your typical 'you guys never satisfied' stint already, its getting old and frankly quite insulting. If the new series' artwork was entirely traced images would you say we are a impossible-to-satisfy little bunch too if we complained?

[Tyler]

I still want a Mike Mignola cover. Or six.

[KaijuX]

Well, okay. I'll somewhat take back on what I said, since I merely skimmed his comment. Actually reading it... Dang, I wonder how he lives life. Silver platter and gets whatever he wants and expects everyone around him to be defensive about it? Sounds right to me. =/

Frighteningly film accurate indeed. Bob Eggleton's stuff is amazing. Heck, all the people PGv2 made mention of are amazing. Because they know the Big G and company without tracing. That's dedication, to know the character and all the like. The love of a big fan is expressed in the person's artwork. I've noticed that with the covers of KOM, especially recently. It seems that the covers by Messia just don't... POP, not like the others. Matt's portraits, I feel as if they come alive in an animated way. They're amazing. Zornow, I feel the stuff, all the crazy action and whatnot. It's all there. The love and effort that was put into the covers. Adams, like the others, I feel something in his own little "portraits" (for Legends) that I don't feel at all with Messia's covers. Heck, believe it or not, I actually feel something in the two (issues 7 and 8) covers I have with Eric Powell's artwork! But let's wait for issue 2 of GODZILLA. If this new guy is a tracer fellow... We have a problem in cover respects. Though more importantly, the contents better be good. Now I know I said I liked KOM, but let's all admit: it has its flaws. Don't get me wrong, nothing's perfect. But the flaws here are every bit as noticeable as a moose on a highway. It's noticeable, and there's no way you can miss it. It would be much better if there was a cat on the highway. No one is really going to notice it, but it's still going to be there.

[xenotactics]

Someone's probably going to be irritated with my request, but would it be possible for someone to post or link to the Monsterarts image which is said to have been traced for the Godzilla # 1 cover?

[RedZillaKing]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[gatorzilla]

Hey kids, your kindly Uncle Matt Frank here!

There definitely seems to have been a mix-up - while the trading cards were indeed planned at one point, those were nixed some time ago (not part of the agreement with Toho) so sadly, Art and I won't be lining your plastic card-holders with extra goodies

Nevertheless, expect some REALLY cool stuff this year. Everything I've seen for the new series is gonna' knock your socks off, not to mention the new mini-series. If all goes well, there may be even MORE later in the year...so keep those wallets limbered up!

Keep the wallets limbered up huh? Thats what I like to hear!!! Good man!

[GreenAiden555]

keep those wallets limbered up!

Dammit, Matt, you already made me spend close to $150 on your pretty pictures...

WHY MUST YOU MAKE ME BUY MORE?!

But seriously, I'm excited for more between you and Jeff. He seems really excited to be back in the ring, judging by his facebook posts, so I can only imagine what you two will concoct for your new covers.