Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #2

History

IDW Publishing secured the Toho license in 2010, acquiring not just Godzilla but the full ensemble of Toho movie monsters — a deal without precedent among American comics licensees. The series was originally solicited under the working title Godzilla: Monster World before being retitled as a play on the American release title of the original 1954 film, Godzilla, King of the Monsters. Eric Powell (best known for The Goon) and co-writer Tracy Marsh helmed the first eight issues, with Phil Hester on art for the opening four, though Powell later revealed in a post-series blog post that Toho had pushed back against a significantly darker creative direction he and Marsh had planned. Issue #2 arrived just weeks after the record-breaking debut of #1, carrying the weight of fulfilling the multi-monster promise that #1's cover had already teased.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Published April 27, 2011 by IDW Publishing — the second issue in IDW's inaugural Godzilla ongoing series, which ran 12 issues from March 2011 to February 2012.
• First comic-book appearance of Anguirus (IDW continuity): the ankylosaurus kaiju erupts from underground in Sabinas, Mexico, and crosses into Texas.
• First comic-book appearance of Rodan (IDW continuity): a boy in Moscow unknowingly brings home a 'meteorite' that is actually a Rodan egg, which hatches into a small winged creature that rapidly grows.
• Historically the first American Godzilla comic to feature licensed appearances of Toho kaiju other than Godzilla himself — a milestone neither the Marvel Comics run (1977–1979) nor the Dark Horse run (1987–1999) achieved.
• Written by Eric Powell and Tracy Marsh; interior art by Phil Hester (pencils) and Bruce McCorkindale (inks); cover A by Phil Hester with colors by Ronda Pattison; retailer incentive cover by Matt Frank.
• The issue advances a key human subplot: the fisherman whose children were killed by Godzilla in issue #1 straps salvaged explosives to himself, leaps onto Godzilla's face in Yokohama, and detonates — inflicting no meaningful damage, a sequence that became one of the series' most discussed darkly comic moments.
• The series' entire 12-issue run was later collected in three trade paperback volumes beginning in September 2011, in a single-volume deluxe trade paperback in July 2019, and again in Godzilla Library Collection, Vol. 2 in April 2024.
• Issue #2 is the foundation of both Anguirus's and Rodan's roles in the broader 'IDW Universe' continuity, which spans two subsequent ongoing series: Godzilla (2012–2013) and Godzilla: Rulers of Earth (2013–2015).