I recall in the mid 2010’s seeing pages on Toho Kingdom, and other Godzilla fansites, about Godzilla manga from the 1990’s. Manga such as Monster King Godzilla and the anthology The Godzilla Comic, seemed like hidden treasures, relics lost to time that had not been preserved and remained trapped and untranslated in Japan. It gets even wilder when you go even farther back to comics like Rampage Godzilla which were published before Godzilla was even a proper franchise. While many of these comics still do not have official western releases, the situation has gotten better, and more attention is being given to them. Thanks to the efforts of Nick Driscoll and other Toho Kingdom staff members, much of this manga is being preserved, including stuff as far back as 1963’s manga adaptation of Matango.
While awesome, it still makes me wonder what it would be like back in those times, picking up new manga and experiencing them not as a hidden treasure but as a contemporary and ongoing endeavor. Additionally, despite living in Japan for a while now, I never really had the experience of picking up comics from the racks of my local convenience stores. This changed when Godzilla Galactic Odyssey was announced on November 3rd 2024. In the months leading up to the comic’s release I was excited about the prospect of making regular manga purchases a new ritual of mine.
Published biweekly in Young Champion Magazine, Godzilla Galaxy Odyssey is a science fiction manga about Godzilla fighting a new space monster and going to space. It’s written and illustrated by Ju Ishiguchi who did the manga adaptation of Mobile Suit Gundam Seed. Additionally, Godzilla here was designed by Shinji Nishikawa and additional monster designs were provided by Hiroshi Maruyama of Ultraman Series and SSSS Gridman fame. This is pretty significant. Leading up to the comic’s release, Toho heavily promoted the comic on social media, teasing the public with panels and posters. It’s clear that a lot of talent and effort has gone into ensuring that Godzilla Galactic Odyssey is a hit.
With all of that preamble out of the way, I’m excited to report that Godzilla Galaxy Odyssey is pretty good and has a lot of potential. If you have the ability to, as there is currently no official English release, it’s an easy recommend for any fan of Godzilla.
To give a simple summary of what chapters 1-4 four contain: In a futuristic world where space travel is commonplace, a mysterious space monster attacks a space ship before descending upon Japan. The monster, Volga, has mysterious abilities that prevent it from being seen by radar and video. Godzilla, who hasn’t been seen in a while, shows up and fights it. While initially Godzilla overpowers it, things get a bit trickier when it’s revealed that Volga is being controlled by aliens. Throughout all this, a woman named Kaido and other anti-kaiju forces analyze and react to the difficult situation. Issue four ends with a proclamation that it’s time to send Godzilla to space to fight off encroaching alien forces and monsters.
Based on issues 1-4, the story is okay so far. It’s not very unique, and follows the very simple premise of “a monster appears in Japan and Godzilla stops it”. Outside a small select few references to space, and Kaido’s recollections, there’s not much to be intrigued about outside of the new monster. However, it functions well at introducing the main cast, establishing Godzilla, and setting up the world that the characters reside in. It works very well as an introductory arc, and assuming the series gets a lot wilder, then the first four opening chapters will probably be looked back upon fondly. I’m excited to see where this goes.
In terms of the art, it’s fine. Everything is drawn well, and the action is easy to comprehend. On one hand, it’s what you’d expect a Godzilla manga from Japan to look like. The characters look like standard anime protagonists, with big eyes and clean faces, that allow them to be expressive and drawn repeatedly rather easy. This is a fancy way of saying that the character designs outside of the monsters, are unfortunately a bit bland. There is very little stylization and variation on the human cast to make them seem interesting, both in an artistic and writing sense. I suspect some people might think “this is just how things look in manga”, but bear in mind other manga in the same issue of Young Champion have a lot more variety. I may be wrong in the long run, but it’s clear that Ishiguchi Ju is a pragmatic artist, who sticks to making sure things are easy to follow rather than stand out.
Despite my criticism of the art, Godzilla and Volga look good. Many panels with either monster usually include something in the background to give them a sense of size, or are drawn from a perspective to make the monsters seem huge. A great example of his is when Godzilla fires his beam in chapter four. There is an extreme, entire page devoted to solely Godzilla’s mouth opening, and the following page is a gigantic two page spread of Godzilla firing the beam. The two-page spread of Godzilla firing his beam is drawn from the perspective as though one is behind Godzilla, giving Godzilla a fantastic sense of weight and power.
And, without giving too much away, the battle between Godzilla and Volga is very exciting. It’s well-choreographed, with a healthy mix of melee, beams, and collateral destruction. It impressively shows off both monster’s abilities, and feels long enough to be satisfying without being overly long. There’re a few twists too. A lot of moments, like the aforementioned beam scene, look great and are impactful due to how they are framed. I assume this is the plan, but it goes without saying a lot of this will look amazing animated, if they ever get around to it. However, there are some ideas and moments I’d like to be expanded upon if ever adapted as well.
One major strength that Godzilla Galaxy Odyssey has is it’s pacing. A result of it being a serialized manga, each chapter typically advances the story a little bit, while ending on some form of cliffhanger. This is interspersed with little world-building details, revelations about the characters, and of course monster action. It never feels like it’s slowing down, and I suspect this will continue throughout the entire run of the manga, especially as the cast and Godzilla sets their gaze upwards and outwards towards the cosmos. Being released biweekly also keeps the wait between chapters short, allowing a continual sense of progression and excitement. This is a sharp contrast between monthly, or sometimes quarterly western comics.
Moving to the human cast, so far there’s not much to say. Kaido may turn out to be interesting, but currently she exists as a character who seems to be an intermediary between Godzilla, the rest of the human cast, and the audience. She seems to have some form of connection to Godzilla, which could be interesting, but for now hasn’t been elaborated on. Other than her, the only other notable character is Osaki Shinya, an ace pilot who very obviously will be controlling that big battle ship that was shown off in promotional material. While I’m a firm believer that interesting human characters are a vital component of Godzilla manga, it seems clear that this comic will primarily be more focused on the monster action, and probably take on a very safe battle-manga format.
That brings us to Volga, the new shiny monster specifically designed for this comic.
Volga is a strange, but cool, monster. It looks like a bird in metal, but like the best of kaiju it’s difficult to describe exactly what it is. Initially, easy comparisons to Gigan can be made, but clearly there’s more to it than that. Despite the similar body type to Gigan, Volga is distinct by seeming to prefer to attack from long-range with a variety of whip and beam attacks. Volga does have a large saber-like hand, but it’s distinct enough from Gigan’s hooks because it mainly heats up. Little abilities, like being immune from radar searches and some form of regeneration, make the monster stand out a bit more in Godzilla’s rogue gallery.
What really makes it stand out though is its “eye”. When Volga fire’s it’s beam the top part of its head unsheathes, like a knight taking off the hood of its helmet. This reveals a strange gooey eye, that seems to float and move around. It’s a small detail, but I appreciate it because it takes advantage of the medium. Such things would be impossible (or at least very difficult) to portray in suitmation. Minus this detail, Volga still feels very much like a “man in a suit” monster, allowing it to fit in comfortably within Godzilla’s roster.
Moving to Godzilla, I must admit, I don’t love Godzilla’s design. The design looks a bit like the Godzilla Final Wars design with a few extra flourishes. Most noticeably, Godzilla’s spines appear to be a mixture of crystals. Maybe they’ll grow on me, but I just don’t find them interesting to look at. Perhaps they’re too cubic for my own tastes. Other than that, the design seems to continue a trend that Godzilla Ultima started by giving Godzilla touches of armor here and there. Godzilla actually uses them offensively to great effect against Volga. Still, as of issue four, despite some minor changes, it doesn’t have any unique features to make it stand out from the pack, although I wouldn’t be surprised if it changes as the comic progresses. Frustratingly, while we can assume it to be blue based on promotional material with blue spines, we don’t know the color of the beam. For all we know it’s solid yellow or red.
That brings us to the biggest problem with the manga, the lack of color. Yes, most manga are printed in black and white and it’s not Godzilla Galactic Odyssey’s fault that it’s printed in this format. But, that doesn’t change the fact that color is an integral part of kaiju media. Outside of the first Godzilla duology, the Godzilla series and greater genre, has excelled with its use of color. Think of how colorful all the Ultraman monster designs are. Unless I’m missing something, I’m not sure what color Volga should be. In my mind, it’s a solid white, but for all I know the monster is silver, or light pink. Again, this isn’t a black mark on the manga, but it makes me really wonder what could be and makes me wish the comic was printed in color. Like I theorized earlier, the comic would benefit greatly by an anime adaptation.
Beyond Volga and Godzilla, so far there haven’t been any returning monsters, save for a brief and rather amusing cameo by Kamacuras. Given that Kamacuras appears, I assume other Toho kaiju will appear in future issues. I respect the manga for avoiding heavy references of other Toho creatures for now. It gives the manga a unique identity, rather than just re-hashing the same old. Likewise, the mecha and ship designs, from what we see so far, look pretty cool.
Recent entries, like Godzilla Singular Point (2021) and the Godzilla Planet of the Monsters trilogy, seem to embrace the science fiction elements of the franchise. I’m glad to see Godzilla Galaxy Odyssey continue this trend, while keeping things fresh by moving things towards space. In a franchise filled with aliens, it’s surprising that outside of Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965), there haven’t been many entries in the Godzilla franchise that are focused on space. Another interesting thing to consider is that soon there will be Starship Godzilla, a western comic published by IDW that focuses on a crew of people heading to space with Mechagodzilla. It’ll be interesting comparing the two and noting their similarities and differences.
Godzilla Galaxy Odyssey has potential. While we have only four issues so far, I could see this easily continuing for a while, and becoming a new part of the franchise that people discuss fondly. However, I could also see this comic becoming a bit safe, and solely being a standard battle manga that is outshined by other recent entries outside of Japan. If it reaches its potential, I also hope there’s some form of adaptation of it. We’ll have to see, but for now I’m looking forward to it.
Excelsior Godzilla Galaxy Odyssey!
