10.08.2010: Godzilla’s Triumphant Return to Sequential Art

Truly fantastic news from New York has hit the ‘net this morning: IDW Publishing has just announced at New York City Comic Con that they have acquired the rights to produce Godzilla comics starting in 2011.

Fans should prepare themselves for more than just a giant radioactive dinosaur stomping through the pages of this new series, which is slated to begin showing up in your local comic book shop in February of next year. Not only has IDW worked closely with Toho to secure permission to bring back Godzilla, they’ve also gotten permission to use the following giant beasts in their upcoming books!

Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah, Rodan, Mechagodzilla

Anguirus, Gigan, Battra, Destoroyah, Hedorah

Space Godzilla, Titanosaurus, Kumonga (aka Spiega)

Exciting news, if you ask me – and I know for a fact that a big Godzilla fan at IDW is working closely with this project. I don’t have any more to add to this news that hasn’t already been covered by MTV, so I’m including their content below ( [sarcasm] just in case some kind of highly unlikely MTV website restructuring that deletes the page happens in the future [/sarcasm]) but I’ve also included the link to the article as well.

NYCC 2010 EXCLUSIVE: Godzilla Returns To Comics… And He’s Not Alone!

It’s Day One of New York Comic Con 2010, and we already have one monstrous piece of exclusive news to bring you, Splash Page readers!

The King of the Monsters, Godzilla, will return to the comics world in 2011 with a brand new series, courtesy of a partnership between IDW Publishing and Toho Co., Ltd. And the most famous monster ever to stomp on downtown Tokyo won’t be alone when he makes his triumphant return, either — he’ll welcome a host of old and new monsters making cameos in the comic.

“We wanted Godzilla to return to comics, but this time we wanted him to have some company,” said Chris Ryall, Editor-in Chief for IDW Publishing. “I think fans will be pleased with the monster guest appearances, which will really offer something for every fan of these films. There are the classic characters, but there are also a few surprises, too.”

The new series will kick off February 2011, and promises appearances from Mothra, King Ghidorah, and Rodan, among other notable monsters from Godzilla’s universe.

As Godzilla fans know, this is far from the monster’s first appearance in the comics world, as Toho’s roaring, atomic-breath spewing creation smashed his way through the pages of comics for several decades, including memorable runs at Marvel Comics and Dark Horse Comics. The monster’s activities even made their way into Marvel Universe canon during the “Godzilla, King of the Monsters” series.

While IDW hasn’t released any information about the creative team for their “Godzilla” series, the publisher promised “a number of unique storylines from some of the industry’s top creators.”

“This new series will be monsters and mayhem, but most importantly, it’s going to be a lot of fun,” said Yukio Kotaki of Toho. “Godzilla has been gone from comics for too long and we feel that IDW is the perfect company to welcome him back in 2011.”

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About IDW Publishing

IDW is an award-winning publisher of comic books, graphic novels and trade paperbacks, based in San Diego, California. Renowned for its diverse catalog of licensed and independent titles, IDW publishes some of the most successful and popular titles in the industry, including: Hasbro’s The Transformers and G.I. JOE, Paramount’s Star Trek; Fox’s Angel; the BBC’s Doctor Who; and television’s #1 prime time series CBS’ CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. IDW is also home to the Library of American Comics imprint, which publishes classic comic reprints; YOE Books, a partnership with YOE! Studios; and is the print publisher for ComicMix.