Godzilla vs. America: Chicago #[nn]

History

The series was announced on October 18, 2024, at the New York Comic Con, where IDW editor Jake Williams revealed it alongside Godzilla: Heist and Mothra: Queen of the Monsters as part of the publisher's 2025 Godzilla slate; additional details including creator lineups were revealed exclusively through TheWrap the same day. The editorial mandate from the start was that each issue's creative team must be drawn from residents of or people currently living in the featured city — a constraint that shaped the entire Chicago roster and gave Williams the hook he pitched publicly as wanting the books to 'feel like coming home' for local readers. The original solicitation billed the project as a four-issue limited series, but audience response was strong enough that a fifth issue (Portland) was confirmed on December 19, 2025, converting it to an ongoing. A standalone hardcover edition of the Chicago issue followed on March 10, 2026, and a collected trade paperback gathering the first four issues arrived April 7, 2026.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First published February 26, 2025 (comic shop edition); standalone hardcover published March 10, 2026 — making it the launch issue of the Godzilla vs. America anthology series from IDW Publishing.
• The issue is 48 pages and contains four fully self-contained short stories, each approximately 10 pages, all set during a single Godzilla attack on Chicago.
• Creative team — all Chicago-affiliated talent: Mike Costa (writer) with Ryan Browne (artist) on 'Godzilla Does Chicago'; Tim Seeley (writer/artist) on 'Blue Line Sign'; Ezra Clayton Daniels (writer/artist) on 'CHI-GODZILLA'; Caroline Cash (writer/artist) on the fourth segment introducing a new Chicago-based superhero who reaches 'the end of her rope.'
• Main cover art by Ryan Browne; Tim Seeley provided a variant cover; a black-and-white retailer incentive version of the Browne cover was also produced.
• The issue introduces the new character 'Fangoolie the Fan Man' — a Chicago sports mascot turned reluctant Mechagodzilla pilot — who serves as the comedic protagonist of the Costa/Browne lead story.
• According to Wikizilla, prior to this issue Godzilla had appeared in Chicago in official media only twice: once in the picture book Godzilla Discovers America and once in episode 30 of Godzilla: The Series ('Metamorphosis').
• To commemorate the issue's release, the Seventh Corner Gallery and the independent comic shop Howling Pages co-hosted a Godzilla VS Chicago art show running February 28 through April 25, 2025, featuring work by various Chicago-based artists.
• The Chicago issue was subsequently collected alongside the Boston, Los Angeles, and Kansas City issues in the trade paperback Godzilla vs. America: Boston, Chicago, Kansas City, Los Angeles (April 7, 2026; 200 pages), with cover art by Jacob Edgar.