Jason Reviews: World War Kaiju

Probably one of the more anticipated comics in the daikaiju genre that was discovered and gained traction via Kickstarter, World War Kaiju. After many months of fundraising and putting it together, we’ve finally had our hands on the copy from the great and talented creators of this graphic novel, Josh Finney and Kat Rocha and by artist Patrick McEvoy.

The creators and artists that have worked on this graphic novel have had their hands dirtied in the comics industry from DC Comics to Marvel, and have worked with well-known projects such as Batman and Spiderman. They decided to go on their own and start their own businesses and comics after gaining years of knowledge in the industry – plus they wanted to do their own things then by going along the big comic company schedules and deadlines.

Once outside of the industry, Finney and Rocha created great independent works, and out of that, came World War Kaiju. They’re both fans of the genre and wanted to do some kind of tribute to the genre. We all know that things really began via Kickstarter for the graphic novel, but it was actually thought-up and was already in the works before the creators took to Kickstarter to bring WWK to the fans and the general public.

The first graphic novel book itself was originally going to have 3 chapters within it, however, it quite didn’t reach its Kickstarter goal  to get the third chapter in book one. But nonetheless, the novel is still great, even if there was a third chapter or not. I think it’s better if the series’ releases spanned out a little more so there would be more anticipation and interest towards the series.

But, enough about the little backstory here, let’s talk about the story and the series’ first book overall here. Although, below may contain some spoilers. So if you want to hold out till the book is out, then I’d suggest you do so; otherwise, you can continue at your own risk.

The story mainly focuses around a government agent named Hampton and news reporter Keegan, where Hampton tells the backstory on how the giant monsters were created and were used by countries/factions during World War II and all the way up to the 70’s. A lot of the kaiju in the book were of course inspired by many of the well-known kaiju in the genre, such as Godzilla, Mothra, Gamera, etc. We also see well-known faces like Nick Adams, Akira Takarada, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Harry Truman.

The first book is a great way to build-up the series’ universe and story and to get everyone acquainted with the central and supporting characters. Also, the format of the book isn’t like your usual comic book format – it’s more or less like big shots, then goes to a couple shots with a script-like text setup, then vice versa. What’s also unique is that in certain parts of the book that the drawing techniques change from the book’s main, realistic drawings to either a 1950’s comic strip-style to a 70’s/80’s style of comic artwork, and all of it was done on purpose just to get the feel of what decade it was.

The monsters themselves are really interesting. Most of them were born out of an element called KAI-235. The book can explain it better than I will here, but simply, the scientists of some countries and factions find a way to create these monsters from KAI-235 and are able to control them. It’s kind of like how they work with nuclear material, but with kaiju of course. After the second chapter ends, you’ll see TONS of info on how the monsters were specifically made, their psychology and much more. I can say that this part of the book is the most important part with everything you need to know about the backstory to the kaiju and how they can be controlled.

Overall, World War Kaiju is a fantastic read. Although there isn’t much text in the book overall, but it’s also great to look at the amazing artwork that was created. As I said earlier, this first book gives the series a great way to be setup before other books for the series come down the road. The story and the artwork are just amazing and I’m definitely looking forward to more World War Kaiju! I definitely recommend it to all kaiju fans, but also to those that are just starting to get into the genre and those that are curious – this book is a great way to introduce first-timers on what giant monsters are about and introduce certain characters/actors that the novice fans will see soon in films.

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