Daily Scans - Alan Moore draws Godzilla

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September 6th, 2009
05:42 pm
[dr_hermes]
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Alan Moore draws Godzilla
There is a mountain of art about Godzilla, enough to bury the big guy himself in. I don't know why he haunts the unconscious memory of humankind, unless he is some sort of Great Old One left out of the NECRONOMICON and he lives in our collective unconsciousness or something. A very evocative scene from one of the movies had a group of schoolchildren drawing what they had been dreaming about. To the teacher's apalled surprise, they all drew different images of Godzilla (as the march played). Dark Horse did a 1987 one-shot called GODZILLA KING OF THE MONSTERS, which featured a few guest artists.



Alan Moore's page seems at first too gimmicky to have any resonance. The woman's rapidly turning head drawn as three exposures and the depiction of the superheated breath head-on)irritated me at first glance. But a second look reveals several amusing details (the bottom of the big guy's foot, for example) and the perspective of a difficult angle is handled well.



A page from the story. Pencils by Steve Bisette and Ron Randall, inks by Art Nichols and Tony Salmons.



Back cover by Mark A Nelson. This could make a fresh and interesting story, Godzilla awakening in an earlier age. Maybe he wouldn't have his radioactive breath, but he'd still be a handful. Imagine scenes where armies of samurai on horseback charge him, elaborate traps are set, perhaps a pit with poisoned stakes.

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From:[info]btravage.livejournal.com
Date:September 7th, 2009 12:22 am (UTC)
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"I don't know why he haunts the unconscious memory of humankind, unless he is some sort of Great Old One left out of the NECRONOMICON and he lives in our collective unconsciousness or something." Well, Gojira certainly hails from the Spiritus Mundi, or at least the 1954 versian, who if you recall, was the embodiment of the psychic trauma of the Pacific Theater.
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From:[info]dr_hermes
Date:September 7th, 2009 12:50 am (UTC)
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There were a few evocative things about the original movie that make me wonder. If Godzilla (or Gojira) was recently awakened and given his radioactive effluvia by the A-bomb tests, why did Oda Island have ancient legends about him? Had he stirred in ages past, wrecked things a bit and then gone back to sleep. And does he have some sort of psychic influence on the human mind?
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From:[info]fungo_squiggly
Date:September 7th, 2009 01:39 am (UTC)
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Godzilla as a mind-warping alien presence akin to Lovecraft's great old ones would be an interesting take. Unfortunately, I don't think even that could make Godzilla scary for me, after all the cheesy rubber-suit movies I've seen him in.

It's sort of the same way that He-Man's nemesis Skeletor took the whole "having a skull for a head" thing, which ought to be terrifying, and managed to make it completely ridiculous. So much so that whenever I see any skull-faced villain now, my first reaction is "Ha ha, he looks like Skeletor."
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From:[info]johnzdrake
Date:September 7th, 2009 06:25 pm (UTC)
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In Giant Monsters All Out Attack, Godzilla is re-imagined as a physical manifestation of the rage-filled souls of all the Japanese killed in WWII.
From:[info]btravage.livejournal.com
Date:September 7th, 2009 07:12 pm (UTC)
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Oh, is that where I'm getting that from? I thought that was something they touched upon very briefly in the Japanese version of the original film.
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From:[info]johnzdrake
Date:September 7th, 2009 08:55 pm (UTC)
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It wasn't in the original -- at least not as more than a passing comment. I don't recall it, at any rate.

GMAOA was a weird entry in the series. It's a 2001 sequel to the 1954 Godzilla (ignores all other Godzilla movies in between) and the new take on Godzilla's origin didn't go over real well, although I rather liked it.

In Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991), Godzilla's origin was given as being a Tyrannasaurus Rex which had improbably survived on a Pacific Island until WWII, when it died defending a brave Japanese platoon against the American aggressors -- died or was injured, or something, it's a long story, alternate timelines get involved. Radiation then revived the T Rex as Godzilla.

In the original timeline, Godzilla maintained some good feelings toward Japan for some unexplained reason, but aliens altered the timeline, with the result as one character says, "Godzilla is no longer a friend to Japan." Also the second-timeline Godzilla was much bigger.
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From:[info]silverzeo
Date:September 7th, 2009 12:41 am (UTC)
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Death by a giant radioactive lizard has never been so awesome!
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From:[info]fungo_squiggly
Date:September 7th, 2009 01:35 am (UTC)
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Godzilla sure does look happy as he terrorizes the countryside.
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From:[info]dr_hermes
Date:September 7th, 2009 02:55 am (UTC)
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He's comfortable with who he is and what he does, I guess.
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From:[info]superfan1
Date:September 7th, 2009 08:13 am (UTC)
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You got to admire the dedication.
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From:[info]earthelemental
Date:September 7th, 2009 04:50 pm (UTC)
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Godzilla's the best there is at what he does.

And what he does is stomp major cities throughout the world and get other giant monsters pissed off at him, for repeatedly screaming, "And then...?" all the time.
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From:[info]dr_hermes
Date:September 7th, 2009 07:19 pm (UTC)
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So that's what the roar means!
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From:[info]earthelemental
Date:September 7th, 2009 09:21 pm (UTC)
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That, my friend, is why Godzilla does it!
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From:[info]nezchan
Date:September 7th, 2009 02:02 am (UTC)
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For some reason, the figures almost casually falling from the train car just scream Rick Geary to me.
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From:[info]ashtoreth
Date:September 7th, 2009 05:03 am (UTC)
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Don't make me post the Dum Dum Dugan/Godzilla fight!
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From:[info]dr_hermes
Date:September 7th, 2009 05:30 am (UTC)
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Oh, i'd like see some scenes from the Marvel version. I remember Godzilla got shrunken to mouse size and went back in time to fight Devil Dinosaur. Then he stepped on the Hulk. (Or was it Hercules?)
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From:[info]majingojira
Date:September 7th, 2009 12:00 pm (UTC)
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It was hulk--and it was a gag from the letters pages. Sadly, Godzilla never met the Hulk officially.
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From:[info]earthelemental
Date:September 7th, 2009 04:15 pm (UTC)
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The Hulk would have smashed Godzilla for stepping on him, given half the chance. Marvel couldn't have that, and certainly not in Godzilla's own book!
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From:[info]majingojira
Date:September 7th, 2009 05:46 pm (UTC)
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I've thought this out before, and it can be summed up like this:

F=MA
Force = Mass x Acceleration.

Godzilla Mass > Hulk Mass by orders of Magnitude.

Godzilla, casually, is far stronger than the Hulk, who needs extreme rage to come to that level.

In a proper vs. scenario, that's time Hulk doesn't have.

Yeah, it's science and logic in a discussion about two radioactive behemoths, but how else can it be decided beyond the narrative?
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From:[info]dr_hermes
Date:September 7th, 2009 06:41 pm (UTC)
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Oh, that's what I remember. Thanks for posting the picture. The Hulk called Godzilla "Frog-face," which is perfect.
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From:[info]earthelemental
Date:September 7th, 2009 10:05 pm (UTC)
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You're welcome. :)

If Godzilla was fast and relentless, then Hulk wouldn't stand a chance with Frog-Face.

But if the Hulk DID have time to grow mad enough and strong enough to actually fight him, but also remain bright enough to use Godzilla's own size, strength, anatomy, and even his own powers against him, then the odds might actually fall into the Hulk's favor. Especially if Hulk started with clapping Godzilla's flame back into his face, smashed a big enough hole in the ground under his feet to knock him off-balance, then grabbed him by the tail and went to town with the big lizard, Hulk-style...

Hey, if the great Steve Irwin could take on Godzilla...
From:[info]psychop_rex
Date:September 9th, 2009 05:55 am (UTC)
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Wait - Alan Moore DREW that first page?
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