In 2022, IDW released Godzilla Rivals: Vs. Battra written by Rosie Knight and with art by Oliver Ono. The comic, while not one of my personal favorites, did stand out with its unique setting and characters that were personally affected by both monsters and pollution that caused them to awaken. The comic was good, but not perfect, and felt a little undercooked for its length. However, I enjoyed it, and was looking forward to whatever the creative duo had in store for their next artistic collaboration.
I was excited to find out that rather than another one-shot, Rosie Knight and Oliver Ono were given the opportunity to create a full length graphic novel for IDW titled Godzilla: Monster Island Summer Camp. Furthermore, given my recent re-appreciation for All Monsters Attack, it was amazing to find out that Godzilla: Monster Island Summer Camp would primarily focus on Minilla, a monster that up until recently IDW has seldom used. The concept seemed great; an updated and modernized take on Minilla, paired with a fun summer camp adventure.
How was it? Did it live up to my expectations? Is it worth picking up?
To grossly over simplify before getting into extreme detail: It was good! It did not live up to my idealized Minilla tale, but it included a lot of interesting and unique concepts that evolve the Minilla character and what a Godzilla story is capable of portraying. As long as you aren’t looking for an action-oriented battle comic, Godzilla: Monster Island Summer Camp is a relaxing summer read that is worth picking up, or even gifting to a friend interested in art or environmentalism. As I’ll elaborate on later, it feels like the best-executed and complete version of something that IDW has recently been pushing for: a mixture of contemporary environmental justice storytelling with Godzilla. While I was provided a digital review copy by IDW, I have purchased a physical volume as it’s something I can see myself picking up off the shelf in the future for a lazy afternoon read.
Before we get specific, what’s the comic even about? Well, it’s about a teenager, Zelda, who is off to summer camp. While she’s looking forward to enjoying art at said camp, mysteriously a company called More.Inc has appeared to have purchased the camp and replaced all the promised artistic activities with intense physical ones. Zelda befriends fellow campers Wheezy and Rumiko. While discontent one night Zelda wanders off to a mysterious cave and is transported to Monster Island where she encounters Minilla. Strange earthquakes begin to happen at the summer camp and the Kaiju are all in an uproar on Monster Island. The campers, with the help of Minilla, unravel a mystery at the center of all their problems and embark on an adventure to save the day.
Godzilla: Monster Island Summer Camp is a simple and easy to understand tale, one that is easy to relate to if you’ve ever had to attend camp—or some other educational function— that you’ve never entirely been invested in. Towards the end, the comic also becomes very focused on a specific environmental issue, one that is relatively unique to the Godzilla series. It’s all bolstered by a character focused action and cutesy monsters.
To dig deep, let’s discuss perhaps the most important part of the comic, the art!
Oliver Ono’s art for the most part is great. It looks like a step up from his interiors on Godzilla Rivals: Vs. Battra feeling less “sketchy” and much more polished. Occasionally, Ono’s art is simplistic and not overly complex, but when required there’s fantastic texture work and detailing. It’s never hard to understand what is going on and the action is easy to follow. In comics, that isn’t always an easy feat, and it can be immersion-breaking to have to re-read or study a page of just to figure out what is going on.
Ono brings Zelda, Minilla, Wheezy, and Rumiko to life with fun expressive moments and gestures. They’re all distinctive in design. In moments, Ono also adds a lot of nice background detailing, such as having “W was here” and “So was Z”, etched into the wall of the cabin. Like Godzilla Rivals: Vs. Battra these small details add up and gives the impression that these places where the characters reside in are all lived in.
Although monsters don’t appear often in Godzilla: Monster Island Summer Camp, something I’ll address later, when they do they leave an impact. Ono makes the monsters look large and intimidating, often having great POV shots of the Kaiju lurching onto the page and towering over the humans. There’s a fantastic moment where the main cast is climbing up a hill, only to spot a monster emerging from a beach before it quickly towers over them. Things look large when they need to and Ono uses a great sense of scale for both aesthetic and thematic purposes.
A lot of detail is put not only into the monsters, but the worlds they reside in. In contrast to the pine forests of Camp More.Inc, Monster Island has magnificent pink and purplish palm trees that contrast nicely with the greenish sky. There’s also many wide and mysterious caverns, and undersea tunnels. Ono is able to create a fantastical, slightly off, world of fantasy that juxtaposes nicely with a conventional summer camp aesthetic. And, similar to Godzilla Rivals: Vs. Battra, Ono inserts interesting mechanical creations and interiors into this primarily wilderness-focused setting.
For a one-hundred plus page graphic novel, Ono did very well. It’s not easy to draw so many pages and keep a consistent style. The end result is a comic with art that can feel whimsical, mysterious, and chill, but still one entire and complete package that all feels tonally consistent. Ono ’s art compliments Knight ’s writing well and they're a good match together.
Another important part of comic books is the way that the writing and dialogue interacts with the art. A difficulty with comics, that movies and literature do not face, is having to have a healthy balance of line art and text. Even the best comics can succumb to having too much dialogue or text that can break the flow of the comic and in worse-case scenarios feel overwhelming. Knight, Ono, and letterer Jodie Troutman mostly avoid this problem. While there are pages with a lot of dialogue-heavy pages, there’s also many pages that are text free and allow the reader to soak everything in. Minus a few brief moments of exposition, and discussing plans, the comic is easy to read page to page.
Rosie Knight’s storytelling is also great. Although the set up is simple, Knight takes a lot of time to establish the characters and their motivations. The three main teens are all distinct in design and play nicely off each other. With a compassionate personality and desire to go to art camp, main girl Zelda is a simple but likable protagonist. Wheezy, an energetic go-getter with a nifty robotic arm, is also disappointed by the lack of art-oriented classes at summer camp. The two are balanced out by Rumiko, a tomboyish physically strong monster-obsessed bucket-hat adorning ruffian. Distinctive in appearance, they blend nicely together and a good chunk of the pages is spent developing their friendships with one another. At some points, it’s easy to forget Godzilla: Monster Island Summer Camp is a Godzilla graphic novel and not a chill story about friends bonding in an unideal situation.
It should be mentioned that Zelda appears to have some difficulty walking and makes use of a cane. Similar to Wheezy’s robotic arm, Zelda’s cane does come into play as a plot element a few times in the story, but it never feels like Zelda or her friends are defined solely by their physical ability. Knight is very tactful and considerate by not turning a physical condition into a character-defining trait, while still acknowledging difficulties that may arise. I’ll address this in the conclusion after spoilers, but I think the graphic novel has potential as a teachable and fun book in middle school and early high school due to it’s positive portrayal of differently abled people and environmental justice leanings. I think it’s well-done.
And, similar to Godzilla Rivals: Vs. Battra, I like Rosie Knight and Oliver Ono’s decisions to use technology as an empowering tool. While the graphic novel is environmentally conscious, it never entirely removes the idea that in specific cases, robotics and other technology might potentially be life-saving or really aid people in need. Some eco-conscious media tends to ignore the positive impact that technology can have, and with robotic arms and mechanical diving suits, the graphic novel is rather nuanced on it’s take towards technology.
Other than the main trio, there are a few additional campers, and even sort of a fourth member who pops in. I’ll touch on this later, but regrettably the majority of the older characters are crazed cliched antagonists who feel more like props. Perhaps that’s intentional; people are used by corporations and taken advantage all the time, but it’s a strange juxtaposition to have such realized characters contrast to cartoony characters. The important thing is that the main trio is well-fleshed out and have considerably more agency and characterization than many other human Godzilla comic protagonists. In a sea of comics that are revenge-oriented, or merely about saving the world, it’s refreshing to focus on a group of campers with relatively low stakes.
Now we have to discuss Minilla, a new friend of Zelda’s and an ally to their cause. Minilla, the son of Godzilla, has historically been a polarizing monster in the Godzilla fandom, though personally I like him a lot. I was curious to see how they’d modernize the character.
Character wise, Minilla is handled well, but some readers may be disappointed to find that Minilla doesn’t talk directly to the main cast. Minilla communicates with Zelda mainly through telepathy, body language, and occasionally roars. In some cases, Zelda bonds with Minilla over drawings and art, which certainly ties the two together thematically in an appropriate way. Whether this is a concentrated effort to update the character, or merely a storytelling decision by Rosie Knight and Oliver Ono to allow for a character who is differently abled than the rest of the cast, it ’s well done and is a unique aspect of the comic.
Minilla comes across as a genuine friend, but in contrast to its incarnations in Son of Godzilla (1967) and All Monsters Attack (1969), is much less goofy. Like the relaxed atmosphere of the comic, Minilla is mostly chill, and it’s an interesting take on the character. There’s no “Godzilla says I have to fight my own battles”, which depending on your personal preferences of Minilla flavoring can be a good or bad thing. Still, the comic does manage to have some great Minilla moments, I won’t say too much, but Minilla gets some fantastic costumes and moments to shine.
The end result is insight into how Toho can refreshingly modernize the character without fully discarding what makes it popular. Similar to how recent IDW comics have popularized Jet Jaguar as an unwavering source of bravery and heroism, Minilla is a cute, goofy pal, that cares about children and those around him. It’s fantastic, and in many ways makes Godzilla: Monster Island Summer Camp along with Godzilla: War for Humanity, the definitive Minilla comics.
There are other monsters in the comic. They’re alright. Before getting into spoilers, it’s important to recognize a make-or-break issue with the comic: the lack of monster on monster violence. I’m well aware that many Godzilla fans primarily enjoy Godzilla, or other monsters, beating each other into a pulp, or going on destructive rampages. While Godzilla: Monster Island Summer Camp does have some tense moments and spurts of action, it is not a battle comic, nor is it focused on destruction global scale. If a reader goes into the comic looking for Minilla or Godzilla to fight a horde of monsters they will be disappointed.
While I enjoyed Godzilla: Monster Island Summer Camp overall, a bulk of my criticisms relate to spoilerly topics. If you’re still interested in Godziilla: Monster Island Summer Camp, and I do recommend it, now is the time to pick up a copy yourself. Unlike other serialized Godzilla products and IDW comics in general, there was something very immersive about being able to sit down and read it all in one go, not having to wait months between issues.
#
Getting into spoilers, the monster roster is a little paltry for my tastes. Minilla is the star, alongside Zelda, Wheezy, and Rumiko, so its expected Godzilla and other fantastical creatures will take a backseat. However, for being called Godzilla: Monster Island Summer Camp, it is a bit disappointing that the final roster of Godzilla creatures totals six, including Godzilla and Minilla. It doesn’t help that these monsters are only there for a page or two, and that there aren’t too many surprises on which ones appear. Comics that are a quarter of the size of the comic have managed to include more monsters organically, so again this might disappoint some fans.
The monster roster consists of: Minilla, who I’ve already addressed, Godzilla, a trio of disrupted monsters—consisting of a singular Kamacuras, Ebirah, and King Caesar— and Mothra. While this isn’t the fault of Rosie Knight or Oliver Ono, it is disappointing to see monsters with a strong association with Minilla, like Gabara and Kumonga, or even the likes of other traditional Monster Island residents, such as Baragon, Manda, Varan, or Gorosaurus, not make even a cameo. To Rosie Knight’s (or Toho’s) credit though, there is a deep-cut reference to Dogora that Rumiko makes. In addition, although the island lacks a gigantic roster of giant critters, the comic is abundant with beautiful and bizarre fauna and other cryptid-like creatures.
Godzilla, like Minilla, is respectfully portrayed. Unfortunately, Godzilla doesn’t appear for long, only really showing up for the climax of the graphic novel. Godzilla not appearing enough is a common criticism of Godzilla media, be it the movies or comics. It's a bit more understandable here as it doesn’t take away from Zelda and friends’ agency. Godzilla functions much like he does in Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966) wherein awakening him is a decisive moment of the narrative. Still, it’s a shame because Oliver Ono’s Godzilla is honestly one of the coolest he’s had in recent comics. With the head of Godzilla Minus One’s Godzilla design, and an upper chest reminiscent of Shin Godzilla’s, it’s an awesome Godzilla incarnation. While IDW has seemed to stay away from a Shin Godzilla design overall, it’s very neat that Ono was able to draw a Godzilla that is also able to play off the success of the 2023 film.
That brings us to Kamacuras, Ebirah, and King Caesar. Kamacuras is uncharacteristically purple and slightly lanky, but Ono manages to make the giant mantis fearsome and monstrous. There’s a fantastic double page spread where Minilla and Zelda look up at Kamacuras with shock and awe. Likewise, Ebirah looks decent as well, with the addition of barnacle encrusted claws and wiry antenna as an added touch. A cutesy King Caesar abruptly appears at the end with little foreshadowing. I understand this allows for a moment of interaction and mutual understanding between the main cast and monsters. It would be strange for Ebirah to bow in the same way that King Caesar does, but it still feels like a strange choice.
Finally, there’s Mothra, whom regrettably is perhaps the worst part of the comic. To be clear, Mothra looks wonderful and there’s a rather touching moment where she embraces Zelda and the others. The main issue is that Mothra has very little build-up and just sort of flies in at the very end. While I love the spirit of it, it takes away from a tense confrontation between Zelda and the main MoreCo.inc baddie, and I wished that it was Minilla instead that did something. Similar to Godzilla abruptly flying in Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971), Mothra’s inclusion does provide for a fantastical and ecstatically happy moment where after a long struggle there’s a triumphant release of good will and energy. There’s a fantastic spread of Mothra destroying More.Inc while Minilla roars triumphantly. Still, I wish Mothra, and the other monsters, could have done just a bit more in the comics.
There is another monster, sort of. MoreCo.Inc has a giant hydraulic fracking machine called The Behemoth. Hydraulic fracking machines use pressurized water to break through layers of the earth and extract oil and the Behemoth is a fictionalized, almost monster-fied version of that. Looking like a giant tower outfitted with legs and what might be cannons, it’s another one of Oliver Ono’s fantastic robotic designs. The Behemoth is the cause for the earthquakes as well as the monsters being displaced and agitated. Alongside More.Inc, The Behemoth is the main antagonist, and where the comic’s environmentalism slant becomes explicit.
When reading the comic, it almost seems to set up the Behemoth as a mecha that Godzilla will fight. Unfortunately, this never really happens, and while I cannot blame the authors for my own expectations not coming true, it’s a bit of a shame that Godzilla blasts it away with ease.
There was great potential here: a mechanical beast that fires pressured waterspouts that pierce Godzilla’s hide, causes earthquakes that render Godzilla unable to standup, or even cover Godzilla in a miasma of sticky oil. Instead, it’s a neat design that feels underutilized. Perhaps Rosie Knight and Ono did not want to risk making a giant fracking machine look cool, but it’s a shame that what-would-be a unique mecha design goes underused. And after knocking it out of the park with a fun adventurous mixture of emotion, gumption, and friendship, it would have been well earned for a more climactic, action-oriented encounter.
A bigger issue though is the nonsensical nature of MoreCo.Inc’s plan. To be clear, having a greedy fracking operation be the main antagonists of a Godzilla comic is an excellent idea and executed well for the most part. But, upon re-reading the comic, other elements seem to clash and become pointless when scrutinized further. The first half of the comic has an emphasis on sports, and counselors who are corporate suck-ups who enforce a strict regime of exercise and competition. With their fanatical adherence to physical fitness, I expected there to be more of an explanation as to why they were so crazed. It got to the point that I expected them to all to be revealed as Xillien interlopers. As that would remove humanities role in anthropogenic environmental exploitation, it was a smart decision to not head this route. Still, I feel there’s more missed potential with making it explicit that the fracking operation is like an alien invasion, with More.Inc going to town to town invading and destroying the land before moving on to their next conquest.
Additionally I don’t think there’s enough connective tissue between the fracking operation and the campers. There’s no real reason for More.Inc to not just close the summer camp, or even bother with the full facade.
Perhaps there could have been something akin to to Louis Sachar’s Holes, wherein teenagers are digging holes unaware of the ulterior motives to discover long-lost treasure. It just feels like the evil sports dynamic is played up pointlessly, and perhaps superfluous other than giving reason to why Zelda would be discontent and wander outside. If Zelda and the others were allowed to draw or make art, would they ever be keyed into More.Inc’s plans? Probably not. Furthermore, why have campers still come in the first place? There’s a flimsy explanation that they wanted the campers to explore and find a secret underground entrance to Monster Island but it’s a tad confusing. I can appreciate it for being similar to Peace Land for Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972), wherein villains misunderstand what children want in an alien fashion.
Returning to the Behemoth for a moment, there’s also really strange scene where Zelda, Rumiko, and Wheezy actually enter the machine and face the trials of an obstacle course inside it. While I understand and like the moment it allows of bonding over physical endurance between the main trio, it’s a bizarre inclusion. Are all hydraulic fracking machines outfitted with rock-climbing walls and dodgeball cannons in their interiors? Again, I understand and like the character moments that this results in, but it feels like a pointless level of extra complication that makes one element of the graphic novel feel at odds with another.
Despite the lack of action, and some creative choices that leave me with a few questions, Godzilla: Monster Island Summer Camp still accomplishes what I believe to be its goals; that of incorporating inclusivity, without being overly preachy, in an environmental justice-slanted Minilla tale. The graphic novel manages to have a unique concept, Godzilla vs. Fracking, that is inhabited by fun and diverse characters. To be clear, I am not arguing that the graphic novel is good because of these elements, but rather I personally believe that Rosie Knight’s writing, bolstered by Ono’s relaxed aesthetics, excels at entertaining with all of this additional substance.
To address the elephant in the room of ongoing culture wars and their intersection with environmental justice, it must be reinforced that the themes of Godzilla: Monster Island Summer Camp are entirely warranted and not without precedent. Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) is about unrestrained corporate greed. Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966), portrays the dangers of nuclear proliferation and indigenous exploitation. All Monsters Attack (1969), Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971), and even Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972), all rather explicitly, and in some ways more preachily than Godzilla: Monster Island Summer Camp, contain themes of human-caused environmental disasters and pollution. In many ways, the graphic novel fits perfectly into the zeitgeist of the Godzilla films from the mid-sixties to seventies, with a focus on fun characters overcoming bigger problems with the help of monsters.
I bring all this up because I believe some will complain about these elements of the story, specifically the anti-fracking message, and decry it as cliched or preachy. Others might disagree, but I think it’s fine and handled well. While the environmental message is a big part of Godzilla: Monster Island Summer Camp, it never feels overly preachy and keeps the focus on how these bigger issues impact the characters, keeping it feeling personal. Unlike a lot of environmentalism-oriented issues, I also appreciate the focus on a specific environmental issue, rather than a vague “save the earth, anti-consumer” message”. Likewise, if I understand correctly, Ono grew up in the rust belt, where fracking is common, making this a story that does feel personal indeed.
I can see some action-oriented readers bounce off this comic. Readers who wanted a non-stop monster brawl, akin to the contents of Godzilla: Rulers of Earth, or recent Godzilla vs. Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, may be disappointed. Likewise, although I enjoyed the environmental justice leanings, I’m well aware that some fans might be irked that these elements play a bigger role in the story than some of the monsters. However, I feel that minus a few specific criticisms I had, this feels like the most fleshed-out and completed style of this kind of Godzilla storytelling.
If you've been paying attention to IDW ’s recent output, it's abundantly clear they're trying to cast as wide of a net as possible with Godzilla, and it has been very hit to miss. Without specifically calling out past IDW endeavors, there have been past comics that have felt overly ambitious of trying to combine societal issues, environmentalism, or even trauma, that have missed the mark.
Godzilla: Monster Island Summer Camp feels the most mature and fleshed out of these kinds of stories. In contrast to a lot of Godzilla comics, I can very easily imagine a non-Godzilla fan who simply likes relaxing art, cozy vibes, and a hint of environmental justice, picking this up and really enjoying it. It’s a lazy summer read, one that isn’t intense, but isn’t lacking in emotion.
Perhaps I’m getting overzealous here, but I also see potential for Godzilla: Monster Island Summer Camp as a teaching material. I can very easily imagine this being used in a middle school or high school classroom as assigned or optional reading. There’s enough mixture of self-reckoning with identity, in a way that shouldn’t be controversial, as well as teachable environmental concepts. In high school I took environmental classes and hydraulic fracking was a major subject brought up in regards to energy and environmental pollution. Certainly Godzilla: Monster Island Summer Camp can be used as a material to jump off into discussions about ableism and hydraulic fracking.
Also, If you’re interested in this sort of thing, Rosie Knight and Oliver Ono have a neat page at the end that discusses the historical figures that some of the characters are based upon. They go over Jackie Ormes, Louise Simon, and Rumiko Takahashi, three women that played an important role in comics and activism. While it’s not essential to understand or know all this before reading the graphic novel—I certainly didn’t—it’s another teachable moment that gives educators a jumping off point for a larger discussion.
Finally, I’d like to address how this was released and it’s format. Unlike other serialized Godzilla products and IDW comics in general, there was something very immersive about being able to sit down and read it all in one go, not having to wait months between issues. I’m hoping that moving forward, other vetted and talented Godzilla creators with industry experience —Matt Frank, E.J. Su, and Godzilla Rivals: Rodan vs. Ebirah writer James F. Wright and artist Phillip Johnson to name a few— get the opportunity to work on something like this. The Godzilla: Rivals comics are very hit or miss, and even the ones that are great, generally feel a little undercooked and needing more development. I’m not IDW, I don’t know if there’s a market for this, but I appreciate them giving Rosie Knight and Oliver Ono a shot on this.
In conclusion I really enjoyed Godzilla: Monster Island Summer Camp and give it a recommendation if you’re okay with something that isn’t pure monster violence. Like All Monsters Attack (1969), or some of the more divisive Godzilla entries, it’s an acquired taste, and it’ll come down to what you specifically are interested in media consumption. It’s the type of thing that if you look at the cover and hear the plot summary, and think it sounds like your kind of thing, I think you’ll really enjoy it. Kudos to Rosie Knight, Oliver Ono, and the rest of the creative team for making such an enjoyable Godzilla graphic novel. I look forward to seeing what projects they work on in the future, Godzilla or otherwise. |
