I'm joined by Matt Frank and Chris Mowry who discuss the writing and art process behind Godzilla: Rulers of Earth, the longest running Godzilla comic. In this exclusive interview with me, we will go over the creation process for this landmark comic, but first would like to thank Noah Percival for coming up with some of these questions.

This interview will be broken into two parts, with the first on Matt Frank and then Chris Mowry. Now let's start with Matt Frank, lead artist and co-writer on the title.

MATT FRANK (Artist, co-writer)

Chris Mirjahangir: How many story ideas did you have at the start of Godzilla: Rulers of Earth? What were they?

Matt Frank: Originally the pitch was framed as the world having to live with the fact that the kaiju had carved the planet up into various territories, but we wound up using that as a basic setup for the world's status-quo, and built a story involving aliens and undersea civilizations and new monsters from that...mostly Chris's ideas, anyway!

Mirjahangir: How many different drafts are there for each script?

Frank: Not many! Chris pretty much nails it from the first draft...maybe there'd be one or two rewrites, but we were already on a breakneck schedule that Chris would have to knock it out FAST!

Mirjahangir: Who designed the panel layout of each sequences?

Frank: I'd be the one to work the layouts based on Chris's script. He would lay out the pages and panels in the script, and I would arrange them in the best way I could conceive it. Sometimes there would be a new character or a big moment on the page, and Chris would note, in the script, that it should be the biggest on the page, which I would take into account. Otherwise, sometimes I have to make a judgement call on what might work best for a page and make adjustments accordingly. But usually Chris is great at painting an image in my head, so I usually just default to his judgement.

Mirjahangir: How long does it take to write an issue?

Frank: Chris can usually knock it out in a month, and I can usually draw it in that time. It depends on the issue, of course!

Mirjahangir: How was each monster chosen? Fan popularity or personal choice?

Frank: Largely that depends on who/what worked for the story, but it also depended on who wasn't used much yet. For example, Megaguirus was a great choice for a certain plot because it allowed us to try something new! But Mothra's always been a major part of the universe, so we wanted to work her in to the story more. The monster choices largely came down to who worked and for what and when. Popularity wasn't so much a factor...otherwise I don't think we would have used Zilla! I did request a few monsters personally, like Varan and the Gargantuas. Usually Chris and I would back-and-forth over fights and matchups and even just broad action sequences and get excited over which kaiju would be doing what.

Mirjahangir: How many different potential endings were there for this comic?

Frank: Considering we kept nearly getting the rug pulled out from under us, there were almost a half-dozen near-endings for the book! Regardless, we didn't have a solid ending in mind until pretty late in the run, when we knew that final cancellation was nigh-impending.

Mirjahangir: What was the initial inspiration behind the trilopods and how many different designs did you go through?

Frank: Initially, Chris suggested a menagerie of monsters that would have been like a big crazy monster zoo. I then suggested that maybe the monsters would all be one species, that way we wouldn't have to design a bunch of new monsters that may be only one-offs. Chris then suggested a shapeshifter/power-stealing species, and then I suggested giant bugs/trilobites. I tossed in a thumbnail sketch, then Jeff Zornow took it and refined it, then I put on the finishing touch!

Mirjahangir: We've seen aliens and Kaiju clash before in many a Toho film, but we've never had invaders as unique as the ones in Rulers of Earth before. I particularly loved the interplay and double crossing between the Cryogs and the Devonians. What influenced the designs and characterizations of the two species?

Frank: I really wanted both species to kinda look like they might be people in suits, even the Cryog (originally just called the Yog) would be modeled somewhat after Gezora or Viras. But I wanted the Cryog to have shark-like features to go with their cephalopod-like bodies (with no bones to make shapeshifting easier - Chris's idea!) to make them more wicked, cruel, and even snobbish. Like upper-class aliens, which is what they were compared to the relatively primitive, unrefined Devonians (originally called Dagonians), who were modeled after piranha and other toothy fish (with a bit of Gillman in 'em!). I also knew they had to be expressive, not unlike humans, because they would be much more fun to draw that way.

Mirjahangir: Besides doing tremendous justice to Godzilla's brethren you also created unique new foe for Godzilla with the Trilopods! How does it feel to have your original creations fighting Godzilla in an officially Toho Licensed product?

Frank: Given what a collaborative process it was, the Trilopods feel more like they belong to Rulers as a whole than just to any one of us. Although I'm particularly proud of how they came out, and now that they're part of the Godzilla universe, Toho kinda' has free reign, I believe...I should ask about that! Maybe they'll pop up in a movie?! THAT would be something!

Mirjahangir: What makes this particular comic stand out to me as a total labor of love are all the incredible Easter eggs in every issue for hardcore fans to find! Are there any secrets that you are particularly proud of in this series?

Frank: I get the most amount of pride out of really obscure references, like book titles and the like. But one that I'm the most proud of is the comic convention in #3. I managed to work in Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes (in Calvinball gear!), Ramona from Scott Pilgrim, the Moonlight SY3 crewmember from Destroy All Monsters (1968), Sir Grave-E, a Planet X-ian from Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965), and a handful of others that I'm hoping folks will pick up on!

Mirjahangir: I was wondering if you could talk about the time jump between issues 12 and 13 of the series? I thought the establishment of Monster Island and Godzilla's disappearance was a cool place for the series to explore more than we were able to see.

Frank: Again, that was a point that we thought was going to end the series. The time jump would have been interesting to explore, but sadly we just couldn't. I personally thought it would have been nice to take an extra month off to give the impression of time really passing, but comics don't work like that! Not for our schedule, anyway.

Mirjahangir: Were there any particular Kaiju or even human characters that you wanted to use that Toho vetoed?

Frank: Originally, we were trying to pitch a sort of "Legends 2" featuring various Toho aliens, but that would have involved a lot of red tape that Toho just couldn't give us the green light for. The only kaiju we couldn't use were the handful we simply didn't have the rights to. Otherwise I believe everyone was fair game. But any other human characters would have involved a LOT of legal hurdles being jumped, and it just wasn't in the cards.

Mirjahangir: Since they were created for an official Godzilla comic, will the Trilopods be owned by Toho much like the monster created for the video game Godzilla: Unleashed were?

Frank: That's a question I don't really have the answer to. Again, we'd have to ask Toho directly. I would assume they do, but then again, we couldn't use any characters from the other comics or cartoons, so maybe the rules are different? Hard to say!

Postmortem:
Godzilla: Rulers of Earth was 2 years of my life that I don't think I'll ever experience anything quite like for the rest of my life. The simple notion that, suddenly, out of nowhere, I was doing a full ongoing series when I thought I'd have to do at least a few more one-shots and a mini series or two beforehand was something that took me a while to get over the shock for. I couldn't have asked for a better team either - everyone really kicked a lot of tail to get this book done and to stay on our hectic schedule, and I love 'em all for it. I could go on all day about the trials and tribulations and the ups and downs, but I'll just say that we really put a lot into this, and the feedback has been spectacular. Hopefully we'll get to come back to Godzilla one day soon!

CHRIS MOWRY (co-writer: Legends #1)

Mirjahangir: How many story ideas did you have at the start of Godzilla: Rulers of Earth? What were they?

Chris Mowry: When IDW first went after the license years ago, I wrote a few one-paragraph pitches to just test the waters of what we were going to be able to do. These were pitches with small mini-series feels to them, not unlike how Simon Furman set up IDW's initial Transformers books. After getting passed up in favor of more recognizable names (gotta sell the books, right?), the opportunity came up for both Matt and I to work on something together, and that was to be a new series. Keep in mind that at the time, IDW was going to treat this as their final Godzilla book. The Warner Bros. movie was delayed from 2012 to 2014 (a smart move, but we had planned on that 2012 date), and for a while, IDW was the only license holder doing anything new with the franchise.

So Matt and I got our chance, but it was originally going to be a back and forth thing... I do an issue, Matt does, rinse and repeat... that kind of thing. But then it was suggested that maybe Matt and I work on this thing together, coming up with an overall story that gives us the chance to do a book geared solely for the fans and at the same time (since it was to be the last of the IDW books at the time), allowing us to close the chapter on the "IDW Universe" (Kingdom of Monsters and Godzilla). So we chatted, came up with a basic storyline drawing from events in the previous two series and introducing some new characters as well. I had a few of the mini series pitches that I worked in, but they had to be heavily modified since we couldn't use Toho "human" casts/characters. So the Seatopians were replaced by the Devonians, the Nebulans by the Cryog, etc.

But as the series continued (we'll get to the headaches of that in a bit, I'm sure), it was a matter of tweaking things, and Matt, Jeff Zornow, and I were able to sort of plan ahead to think of things we could possibly do down the road and how to leave room to visit those ideas if possible. I think it's obvious when you read the full series where the team had the time to relax a bit and take our time, compared to the rushed feeling you get from some issues.

Mirjahangir: How many different drafts are there for each script?

Mowry: It really depends on which issue. Obviously the first one was a lot of work. Lots of back and forth between Matt and I, then with editing, then Toho's comments... I think there might have been 10 drafts of that one. For the second issue, we really wanted that one to be strictly about Godzilla vs. Zilla. So Matt and I exchanged ideas of how the fight should go and I worked them into the script, still allowing for beats, reveals, and some basic story progression to happen. I'm really happy with how that one turned out and it still remains a favorite of readers.

Mirjahangir: Who designed the panel layout of each sequences?

Mowry: When writing a comic script, there's only so much you can do with the pages you've been given, and that space has to be devoted to a number of things for that particular issue. So while the issue has to progress the story, it also needs to have a number of monster scenes in it being that this is a Godzilla book and not say "Godzilla's Human Adventures." So I'd write the script with some basic pages already in mind to devote to the monster action, but would be pretty simple in how the were laid out. So I'd put "page X, 5 panels" and have each panel being something as simple as "Godzilla punches Gigan" or something like that. Unless I had some very specific ideas in mind, I completely trusted Matt and Jeff to do their thing... which they did very well.

Mirjahangir: How long does it take to write an issue?

Mowry: Some were easier than others. But I guess on average, it would take a week or so to get a basic outline, then tweak it more (I'm unfortunately one of those obsessive personality types), and more, until I'd finally turn it in... sometimes later than need be. So roughly a month, I guess? But there were a few that took me a long time because I was going through some personal issues at the time and simply lost all interest in things. That's where the team really stepped up and cranked out their work in high gear, turning in some really great artwork on a very expedited schedule. I really owe it to them to have stepped up like they did. And honestly, their personal support (along with Editor Bobby Curnow and IDW Editor-in-Chief/Chief Creative Officer Chris Ryall) was what got me through it enough to finish the series. Hell, I went to Hawaii to get away from things and finish the last two issues. Ironic that where the book began (Honolulu) is where it ended, too.

Mirjahangir: How was each monster chosen? Fan popularity or personal choice?

Mowry: Since Matt and I (Jeff, too) are such fans of the franchise, it was a bit of both. We wanted to see certain characters that hadn't appeared before, as well as some that had never interacted before. So it was a matter of finding the right time for them to fit into the story and when/how the would make that appearance. A good example of that is the Showa Mechagodzilla. We all wanted to use that design, but we were unable to use it without the monster being created by aliens (Toho requirement). When one of many extensions the series received happened, we wanted to get an idea we had finally put out there... that these things were going to be used to hunt down the monsters of Earth. Matt and I worked on an overall idea for that which happened to allow us to bring in Mecha-King Ghidorah as well. One thing you'll notice, though is that we can't kill any of the monsters... so the Mechagodzilla units are numbered 3 and above. You won't find a 1 or 2 in the bunch since they're technically trademarked characters.

Mirjahangir: How many different potential endings were there for this comic?

Mowry: Quite a few given that the series was going to end so many times. The first ending was going to be Godzilla and company being brought to an island that is unfortunately for them, alive. Biollante was going to be one giant island... aka, Monster Island. The monsters were all going to fight and win the battle, only to be left there in isolation. But then we got another extension and the idea was to "kill" Godzilla by burying him deep underground, at the bottom of the ocean. But then we got another extension, and another, and things just kept going on from there. One of those ideas for a big finale was hinted at in #13, but I'll get into that in a bit.

Mirjahangir: What was the initial inspiration behind the trilopods and how many different designs did you go through?

Mowry: Going back to the idea that we couldn't kill the monster cast, we wanted to raise the stakes a bit and have some clear winners/losers of our battles. We tried to establish that the monster characters we know are all sort of giant, dysfunctional family on the planet. Each element of the planet has their own "army" and those work in unison to keep a balance on the planet. So killing one of them would throw off the balance and that would be bad for the Earth. It was a stretch, but thinking of it like Pokémon or something is a bit easier. But what if we could kill something? What if a new monster was around that had nothing to do and no concern with our planet's state of harmony? How would the monsters react? So we decided to ask and see if we could create new monsters and surprisingly Toho said yes. So I had a few ideas of things, but then the idea was thrown out there of "what if they were clones of our familiar monsters?" and that really took off. The idea that they (the Trilopods) are two forms was ripped pretty much from Alien and the xenomorph life cycle, but I remember sending an image of the Mospeada Invid race and I think that's when things really just all lined up for the Trilopods.

Mirjahangir: We've seen aliens and Kaiju clash before in many a Toho film, but we've never had invaders as unique as the ones in Rulers of Earth before. I particularly loved the interplay and double crossing between the Cryogs and the Devonians. What influenced the designs and characterizations of the two species?

Mowry: As I mentioned before, we couldn't use the actual Toho alien races, so we made up ones that were similar to those. Matt came up with the names of them all and I basically looked at some of my favorite characters and traits to apply to them. Cryog Leader Rhizon is basically Starscream from Transformers, while Cryog Emperor Karkaro is part Megatron, part Emperor from Star Wars. It's really quite obvious once you read it that these two are at odds with one another, but it's the one that you don't expect to have all of the hubris and attitude, while the other really did have a plan... if it wasn't for that pesky Godzilla. The poor Devonians were just peaceful creatures that were fed up with mankind's nonsense and pollution (we always tried to throw an eco message in there when we could), and sided with a poor ally that happened to find them a long time ago. Well, one of the Cryog ships did and Rhizon just took advantage of that opportunity to work on his own plan.

Mirjahangir: Besides doing tremendous justice to Godzilla's brethren you also created unique new foe for Godzilla with the Trilopods! How does it feel to have your original creations fighting Godzilla in an officially Toho Licensed product?

Mowry: It's really rewarding, actually. The fact that Toho said yes, then that the fans really seem to like them, it's all very cool to be a part of. The fact that it was a team effort to bring those beasties to life is even better, too. Proof that there are indeed people that can collaborate at times!

Mirjahangir: What makes this particular comic stand out to me as a total labor of love are all the incredible Easter eggs in every issue for hardcore fans to find! Are there any secrets that you are particularly proud of in this series?



Mowry: Since I'm usually gun shy about putting things in the scripts (easier for things to be rejected), I was happy to see Matt and Jeff put so many Easter eggs in there for the fans. I think I've only had a few (Lucy's room number in Issue #1, a few dialog references to things in other issues, etc.), but it's really Matt and Jeff that have made that part of the book so much fun. I'm still surprised that for what was rejected art-wise, so many others made it through! One that we couldn't do that still really bums me out was the nod in Issue #10 to Godzilla eating a whale. Toho said he couldn't eat a whale, but we wanted to pay homage to the brilliant Paul Chadwick piece from the first Godzilla Portfolio by Dark Horse. But Godzilla just ends up chasing the whale, only to be drawn to Sanda and Gaira swimming... and that played out just fine.

Mirjahangir: I was wondering if you could talk about the time jump between issues 12 and 13 of the series? I thought the establishment of Monster Island and Godzilla's disappearance was a cool place for the series to explore more than we were able to see.

Mowry: This is the first time that it's been mentioned, but there was a thought that Godzilla's ultimate enemy was going to be himself. The final issue was going to be Godzilla vs. Godzilla, with the one we've known all along fighting for his life against a clone of himself. So having another Godzilla show up in an iceberg would be told later on as the clone escaping or something (but still dishing out sweet justice on some illegal hunters), but I think right when we had started proposing ideas, Toho said no to that. So an untold story that has never been put to paper would probably be how Godzilla burrowed from the remains of the Devonian fortress, then meeting up with Megalon along the way in a fight that goes underground until Godzilla wins and finds himself frozen in the Arctic circle. That was probably one of the biggest disappointments I have with the series. I should have handled that a lot better.

Mirjahangir: Were there any particular Kaiju or even human characters that you wanted to use that Toho vetoed?

Mowry: Not that I really can remember. I mean, we wanted the Seatopians, Kilaaks, Nebulans, Xiliens, etc., but I can't think of one particular character right off of the bat. For the monsters, I know Minilla was talked about, but it was just really tough to see where he'd fit in without making things seem rather goofy, or more forced. Come to think of it, it would have been cool to have Rodan obliterate a Giant Condor at some point. Hmm, who knows, maybe that would happen in a "Coda" series or something if that ever happened.

Mirjahangir: Since they were created for an official Godzilla comic, will the Trilopods be owned by Toho much like the monster created for the video game Godzilla: Unleashed were?

Mowry: To my knowledge, yes. Our agreement (and most out there) is not unlike ours with Hasbro or something. If you create a character, or story, or anything for a licensed book, it belongs to the licensor. Our only "payment" or "credit" is the personal satisfaction that we were able to contribute to something as great and enduring as Godzilla.

As for a post mortem, I'd really just like to thank everyone from the fans, to the media, and to my co-workers on making this such a fun ride. I especially want to thank those who took the time to have my back earlier in the year when things were pretty dark for me, it's because of them that I didn't just walk away from the book, IDW, heck, life in general. Some things could have been better in the series, and I take full credit for those, but it was a great time all the same, and something that I'll always be proud of. I mean, we have the longest-running Godzilla title, but the larger reward to me is really that I've made so many friendships from this series and it's been so great to work with a team as wonderful as I've been able to on this book. In an industry where people look at numbers, gimmicks, big names, etc. to judge a book, it has been quite humbling to just hear people say our book is how we always wanted it to be... fun.

MATT FRANK AND
CHRIS MOWRY

The creative team behind the long running Godzilla Rulers of Earth series. Matt Frank, artist and co-writer, has been working with IDW Publishing on their Transformers and doing cover work for their Godzilla titles before being the lead artist on the Rulers of Earth series.

Chris Mowry has worked at IDW Publishing on a number of properties, from Transformers to G.I. Joe, before becoming the creative consultant on all of their Godzilla titles. Godzilla Legends #4 marked the first time Mowry has been in the writer's chair for a title featuring the King of the Monsters before being given the chance to helm a full series.

Date:	9/27/2015
Interviewer:	Chris Mirjahangir

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