#kaijumax

[omniversecomicsguide]

@zandercannon of Kaijumax fame shares - among other things - his favourite current read: BENEATH THE TREES WHERE NOBODY SEES by Patrick Horvath from IDW Publishing! But what other recommendations does he have in our brand new COLLECTOR’S ITEM SPECIAL episode?

PLAY >>

[gdwessel]

My Debut In 2000AD This Wednesday

Hi. It's been a while, and this is the 2nd attempt at writing this blog.

This Wednesday, 6/14/2023, will see the publication of 2000AD Prog 2336, another all-ages Regened issue that they do quarterly. Within its pages you will find a story called "Tempus Fugitives." I wrote it. Zander Cannon (KAIJUMAX) drew and lettered it. It's a dream come true for me, and one that's been coming for a very very long time. But here, look at the pretty picture:

Look at this gorgeous page from a master cartoonist. And yes, the aspect ratios of the page are a bit off. There's a reason for that, and I'll tell you all about it next time I post.

Here's the story blurb:

Future Shocks: Tempus Fugitives

Writer: Geoffrey D. Wessel Art & Letters: Zander Cannon

Out in the vast reaches of the universe, there are an infinite number of stories waiting to be told. These cautionary tales pass from traveller to traveller in the spaceports and around campfires on distant planets, acquiring the status of legend, their shocking ends a salutary lesson in hubris. Anything is possible in these twisted trips into the galaxy's dark side. Abandon your preconceptions, and expect the unexpected. Now, in Warrendale, USA, in 1987, a family is attempting to live a normal, settled, suburban life — but they're actually fugitives from the future, having travelled into the past to seek safety and escape the relentless Hunters, who travel the timestreams looking for them...

If you are in the UK, you can get it at newsagents and comic shops. If you are in the USA, it won't be available in print until 8/2/2023, as part of a 4-pack of the June progs. BUT you CAN get it digitally in PDF, CBZ or the 2000AD proprietary app at http://shop.2000ad.com/ so I suggest you do that! And hope you enjoy what for me is a milestone achievement.

Other than that, I am done with DJ training at CHIRP Radio so I hope to have some news about that shortly.

I also would like to wish everyone a happy, and SAFE, Pride Month for you all, and also, just say how proud I am that I now live in a state that has made book banning illegal.

Take care!

[iamthekaijuking]

My issue of @zandercannon’s first Kaijumax deluxe finally came! It’s a Christmas present.

I plan to eventually get all deluxe editions… but the book doesn’t fit on my bookshelf.

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Hi there! Thank you for your kaiju week in review posts - as someone rediscovering their love of kaiju films/media this year, it's been a really accesible way of keeping on top of what's been going on in the kaiju-sphere!

I have a question if I may? Are there any kaiju comic series you'd recommend? I'm thinking particularly Godzilla, but I'm open to other ideas - I'm aware that IDW have the Godzilla licence at the moment, but as I tend to pick up trade paperbacks rather than the individual issues, I've been waiting for them before jumping in.

Thanks for your time! :)

Thanks, I'm happy they could be that for you!

My #1 kaiju comic recommendation for a while now has been Godzilla: The Half-Century War, a miniseries which spans the full career of a kaiju-fighter as he tries to stop and eventually just understand the King of the Monsters. Anything by Matt Frank is worth seeking out too (well, I'm not huge on Project Nemesis). Godzilla: Rulers of Earth is his most famous, at a whopping 25 issues. It follows two other IDW comics, Kingdom of Monsters and History's Greatest Monster, but I think it works as a standalone (and Kingdom of Monsters is dire). It's harder for me to recommend individual issues of Godzilla Rivals with your trade paperback preference—they're a succession of one-shots with a different creative team every time, and the quality fluctuates accordingly—but I'll endorse Vs. King Ghidorah, Rodan Vs. Ebirah, and Destoroyah Vs. Biollante.

Marvel's Godzilla run is great fun (he crosses paths with the Avengers and other big names), although you should wait for the color version to come out later next year. Most of Dark Horse's Godzilla comics are collected in two volumes, tragically in black-and-white; if you have to choose, go with the first volume.

For some non-Godzilla recs: Asadora! by Naoki Urasawa and Kaijumax by Zander Cannon. Both are so good I'd be quick to recommend them to someone just looking for kaiju stories period, with the caveats that the former isn't finished and I haven't finished reading the latter.

[zandercannon]

Hi Zander! I've been a fan since the days of REPLACEMENT GOD but have basically enjoyed all the various projects of yours I've seen. Here's my question: any word on when we might see the Kaijumax DELUXE for Seasons 5&6? I can't wait, for that and whatever comes next! Thanks for all you do!

Next fall (Oct. 2023) is the plan. I'm writing a lot of character design notes and annotations, transcribing a wide-ranging exit interview, and drawing a wild-looking cover. And after all that, the book market is also slower than Christmas, so I guess we'll all just have to wait a little bit.

[jacobchabot]

2022 Fave Fives!

Comics - Kaijumax, Dwellings, Minor Threats, Savage Dragon, Do A Powerbomb

Movies - Nope, Deadstream, “Weird” The Al Yankovic Story, Bullet Train, Glass Onion

TV - Beavis and Butt-Head, Severance, Primal, Peacemaker, The Kids in the Hall

Games - Overwatch (2), The Quarry, TMNT Shredder’s Revenge, Immortality, Vampire Survivors

Figures - Annex Esbat, Super7 TMNT Ultimates Muckman, Fury Toys Spring, Haslab Victory Saber, Knights of the Slice Hyper Guts

[awpcomics]

Black Friday Mega manga & TPB Sale

Black Friday Mega manga & TPB Sale! $5 each!!

Avatar the last air bender: the search vol. 3 

Five Nights at Freddy’s : the silver Eyes 

Amulet TPB’s vols 1,2, 3,4,5,

Love as a Foreign language vol. 1 

Soul chaser Betty vol. 1

Vampire Doll vol. 2 

Attack on Titan  vols  33,34, 

Runaways vol. 7 

Archie at riverdale High

One Piece vol. 5 

Just princesses vol. 1 

Lumberjanes  vol’s 5,10,11,12,13,

Bleach  vol’s 1, 4, 

Princeless vol’s  4,5,6,7,8,9,

Marry Me : big celebrity wedding vol. 2 

Warrior Nun Dora vol. 1 

Naruto vols 1,11, 

Naruto Chibi Sasuke vol. 2 

Naruto  the movie legend of the sone of gelel 

PVP at Large  vol. 1 

Kevin Smith Green Hornet  vol. 1 

Shadow roads vol. 1 

Kaijumax season 1 

Speed Racer vols. 1 ,2,

Overwatch anthology vol. 1 

Dragonball z. Vol. 26

Dragonbal Super vol. 6 

Voltron: defender of the universe a legend forged vol. 1 

The stuff of legend  vol. 1 

Mouse Guard Fall 1152

Transformers Lost Light vol’s 2,3,

Onegai teacher vol. 1 

My Little Pony  friendship is magic  vol. 2 

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Vol. 12 

Grimm Fairy Tales : escape from wonderland 

Can’t lose you vols 1,2, 

Cheeky Angel vol. 5

Go west vol. 1 

Please save my earth vol. 16

Hot Gimmick vols 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,

Fairy Cube vol. 1 

The plain janes vol. 1 

Nimona vol. 1 

Happy Mani vol’s 5,7,

Komomo confiserie vols 1,2,

Nightmare inspector  vols 1,3, 

Get Backers  vols 1,2, 4,

Inubaka vols 1,2,

Mamotte! Lollipop  vol. 6 

Here is Greenwood vol. 5 

Ninja High School pocket vol. 4 

Tidesong vol. 1 

The Black Mage vol. 1 

The hidden Witch 

Zodiac Starforce  vol. 2 

Batman the manga  vol. 3 

Black Butler vol. 1 

witch& wizard vol. 1 

Date a live.  (Light novel) vol. 5 

My Hero Academia. Vol. 1, 2, 7,8,9,10,12,

Saber Marionette J vol’s 1,2,3,4,5, 

The devil is a part timer vols 9,10,

Splatoon  vol’s 1,3,4,5,6,7,

Chobits vol. 1 

Otomen  vol’s  1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,

Kamui vol’s  2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,

Rising Stars of Manga. Vols 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,

Honey Hunt  vol’s 1,2,3,

Ragnarok vol’s  1,2,5,6,

Warriors vols 1,2,3,

Warriors: the rise of scourge 

Vampire Kisses: blood relatives  vols 1,2,3,

Peach Girl Change of Heart  vol’s 1,3,

Peach Girl vol. 4

Snow Drop vols 2,9, 

Black bird. Vols 1,2,

Candy color paradox. Vols 1,2,5,

Sand chronicles  vols 1,2,

Oyayubihime Infinity  vols 1,2, 

Akuma no riddle vol. 1

Escaflowne  vol. 6 

Twin Star Exorcists vol. 1 

He is my Master vol. 1 

Strawberry Panic vol. 1 

Arifureta vol. 1 

Wild Ones vol. 7 

Kami Kaze vol. 6 

Sgt. Frog vol. 6 

Rave Master vol. 3

Ai Yori Aoshi vol. 14

Jujutsu kaisen. vol. 3

Undead unlock vol. 2 

Mad love chase vol. 1 

Doubt vol. 1 

Fiancee of the wizard vol. 1 

Kat & Mouse vol. 1 

Deathnote vol. 12 

Vermonia vol. 2 

Steady beat vol.1

Say I love you vol. 1 

12 beast vol. 1 

Crest of the stars vol. 1 

Kashimashi vol. 4 

Sacred vol. 1 

First love monster vol. 1 

Black rose Alice vol. 1 

Le Chevalier d’eon vol. 7 

Monster  vol. 2 

Princess Ai vol. 3 

Jinki Extend vol. 1 

7th Garden vol. 1 

Sweat and honey 

Cherry juice vol. 1 

Starcraft ghost academy  vol. 2 

R2 vol.1 

Steel angel Kurumi  vol. 4 

Dawn of the arcana vol. 2 

Candidate for Goddess vol. 1 

Alive vol.2 

Digital Charat theatre :piyoko

The saints magic power is omnipotent vol. 5 

The last Airbender vol. 1 

Liberty liberty vol.1 

Immortal Rain vol.4 

Wicked lovely  vol. 1 

A certain scientific railgun  vol. 1 

Yotsuba & !  Vol. 1 

[ehronlime]

My Favourite Comics I Read in 2022

Blue Flag

I binged this entire series in one night (well, early, early morning lol). It's a really sweet and earnest story about a guy who tries to help a timid girl change her image and ask out another guy who he's friends with, and whoops they end up liking each other, but also whoops turns out this guy actually also likes him and it gets complicated. It handles its queer themes really deftly, and ties them really strongly to the overarching themes of figuring out your own identity and navigating the expectations of others, which resonates through all the other characters too. While the relationships between the core 3-4 characters are really well done and obviously key to the story, I also really loved the supporting cast.

I love how the series tries its best to show all its characters as well-rounded, flawed, striving, changing people. I also loved how the ending emphasized that the series has been focusing on a short, intense period of youth for all these characters, but they'll continue to grow and change in the future too. Not all loves last forever, and not all answers are found immediately, and so it goes.

Goodbye, Eri

Tatsuki Fujimoto's work has always reflected a keen interest in cinema. Characters often end up connecting to each other over movies, and the ways stories are conveyed. There's a fascination with the act of movie-making as well: the artifice of acting and editing around things that seem to happen "in real life" to become something that happens "in the movies", and yet somehow feeling truer than real. It was hugely important in the middle sections of Fire Punch, which is tricky to recommend but is a work I still find incredibly compelling, when Togata is trying to build up the movie, the myth of The Flame-Covered Man.

Goodbye, Eri similarly takes a look at the artifice of movie-making and storytelling, and plays around with it. It feels to me like a spiritual successor of sorts to parts of Fire Punch, and refines the ideas there into something much sharper and funnier. It's pretty funny to make essentially a movie about making movies, in the form of a comic, and have it work so well because of the different affordances you have in the comic form. You can play with time more and make it more rubbery in between frames in ways that you could never do in film.

And so, a comic about a movie about making movies that's also about how we think of stories in larger ways. While Look Back might be the Fujimoto one-shot with more "heart", Goodbye, Eri is the one that reminds me why I'm so drawn to Fujimoto's particular brand of bullshit in the first place.

Himawari House

Himawari House is a comic about three women from different places who live in a share house in Japan for a while, and it hits on so many themes that I care about. I'm going to repeat my trick with Everything Everywhere All At Once and link you straight to my Tweets about Himawari House because that kinda covers it and I've still got the tabletop games section to finish up!

Honourable Mentions: Kaijumax finale, Ao Ashi, You And I Are Polar Opposites, Witch Watch, Astra: Lost in Space, Elden Ring: The Road to the Erdtree, Witch Hat Atelier

[the-shy-lonely-weirdo]

My art was displayed in the latest Kaijumax Issue!

Also, today is my birthday!

[rupertbbare]

[omniversecomicsguide]

LOOK OUT!! KAIJUMAX DELUXE EDITION 3 by @zandercannon is finally here! From @onipress!

[graphicpolicy]

Preview: Kaijumax Season 6 #6

Kaijumax Season 6 #6 preview. As the duplicitousness of the Earth government is laid bare, monsters, robots, aliens, space superheroes, and figments of the imagination all come together to even the scales and clean up the mess #comics #comicbooks

[iamthekaijuking]

A review of Kaijumax and its themes

(trigger warning for mention of dark topics. Also Kaijumax spoilers)

Something that continues to amaze me about the kaiju genre is just how versatile it is. Its ability to mesh with just about any genre is no doubt a reason why it has persisted for what is gradually creeping closer to a century. And of course the best kaiju media always has something important to say sociopolitically, and indeed that commentary is part of its dna. From warnings of nuclear weapons, to failings of a current government, to nationalism and even the state of the economy. But these are usually topics that affect pretty much everyone. Very rarely do you see a piece of kaiju media that says something about topics more personal or about the people in society who have the least power.

Kaijumax is one of those few.

Created by @zandercannon (who I’m pretty sure has abandoned his tumblr) and published by oni press, Kaijumax tells a story of kaiju in a prison system, and the drama that entails. The kaiju are stand ins for marginalized groups and criminals this time, and while using city flattening monsters usually isn’t a good choice for representing these people, I think it works here because Zander has gone out of his way to make sure that humans are the ones with the power in this setting. The kaiju really do feel like minorities that society loathes often for hypocritical or even little reason.

Most review companies say Kaijumax is a cult classic (somehow it’s a classic even though it finished this year?) and this is a rare occasion where I agree with critics. Kaijumax is a must read if you can get your tentacles, claws, or whatever monstrous grabby grabbies you have on it.

So long as you can stomach it. It’s not gory or gross, but Kaijumax is one of the darkest pieces of media I’ve ever consumed in spite of its fun art style.

What I specifically want to talk about though is the messages it tells us and moments that define them. Of course this also includes spoilers.

Volume 1 sort of sets us up, and introduces us to everything. Usually we follow Electrogor and indeed he’s the main character in volume 1. Right off the bat we’re shown the brutality of prison life with gang violence and with nobody Electrogor can trust even though all he wants to do is get back to his kids and take care of them. Corruption and racism is rampant in Kaijumax prison. I should warn though that Electrogor does get r*ped off screen so that’s a potential trigger.

Volume 2 follows Electrogor breaking out to get back to his kids and one major theme for a few issues is…

Racism. There’s also quite a bit about the Thin Blue Line. We also see how Electrogor’s kids have been holding up in his absence and… it’s not the best. Electrogor and his daughter Torgrax produce uranium on their backs and in this setting uranium is a hardcore drug for kaiju. In order to make ends meet Torgrax has essentially been selling her body to support herself and her brother. She’s technically selling drugs but it plays out like prostitution. Despite the wild setting, this does unfortunately have parallels with real life. Many families in poverty have to resort to typically unsavory professions and crime just to get by.

Volume 3 has Electrogor and his family return to Kaijumax and this time it’s all about a gang war and abusive parents (Electrogor isn’t one of the aforementioned parents, don’t worry he’s a good dad). We also witness Whoofy (a Minilla expy) and his downward spiral due to his guilt complex over not being able to do anything while his father Apewhale and his gang destroyed cities. There’s also a bit of domestic abuse too.

Volume 4 shakes things up by showing us the women’s half of Kaijumax prison and we get to see some stuff about ptsd and more domestic abuse.

In volume 5 Pikachu’s ass gets the chair! Okay technically it’s a pikachu expy who’s the leader of a Pokémon and other mon games inspired gang. Most of the volume takes place in the court room and Pikadon’s case is morally grey, although he never tells anyone what actually happened and appears as a remorseless killer to everyone. He technically did kill someone cold blood and his reason for doing it was actually justified. We also get a bit of stuff about a character having been groomed (in fact that word is the title for one issue) and a Kaijumax inmate becoming horrified to learn that his boyfriend is the closest a kaiju can be to a pedophile; a literal child predator. Sprinkles the unidragon totally deserved to be choked to death for that.

Volume 6 is about an alien invasion touches on how the system in which we live in is absolutely fucked and that the true monsters in power do everything they can to stay in power and flatten anybody opposing them underfoot. This is the final volume and Kaijumax ends on a pretty bittersweet note. Telling us that the world we live in is ruled by complete sociopaths who will replace you at the drop of a hat, and that you have to play the long game and count your blessings.

Pretty dark stuff huh?

Of course Kaijumax isn’t all doom and gloom. There are plenty of fun and lighthearted moments, and my favorites have got to be when War of the Gargantuans expies perform the entire original godzilla film as a rap stage play, and when two team rocket expy lawyers in volume 5 show up fashionably late to court and perform the team rocket intro but lawyer edition. What I’m saying is Kaijumax can be fucking hilarious when it wants to, and is saturated in references and love for not just tokusatsu media but 90s animated shows and old anime. Some of these references are really obscure too. For instance I had no idea what Science Ninja Team Gatchaman was before reading volume 2.

Some of the references though are sprinkled into the dialogue through the various slang the kaiju use, which is very fun and clever. A lot of the dialogue references are godzilla related as that pretty much comes with the territory of being a piece of kaiju media, even if the setting of Kaijumax takes more after Ultraman. It should be noted though that in early Kaijumax these treaded close to actual slurs, but Zander and his writing consultant took note of this and laid off on the parallels, so if it seems a little much at the beginning, don’t worry, it doesn’t stay that way long.

At the end of every issue is also a few pages of extra stuff too, and this is where Zander does some Q&As and movie reviews, and tells you what little character you should keep in eye out for in the issue you just read. Sort of like a kaiju case of Where’s Waldo?. Usually it’s Grubbzo.

The art of Kaijumax evolves with each volume as well. With volume 1 being pretty good but by the final volume it has stylized and improved to such an extent that Kaijumax could be considered a sort of artist’s journey.

And speaking of art; I made fanart of my favorite characters!

Whoofy is actually pretty easy to draw but he was a lot of fun. Basically just a tube with limbs.

Here’s Kaijumax’s resident kind hearted hustler Giant Monster Terongo Terror of Pago Pago. He’s basically just a vaguely pterosaur shaped kaiju a la Rodan but I decided to see what he’d look like with more actual pteranodon anatomy. His color changes a lot over the story from blues to greens, so I took a middle ground and made him mint. I also tried making him throw peace signs but it just looks like he’s missing his thumbs.

And finally the main character of the show Electrogor. His design is really fun and has an early 2000s/90s monster feel to it. He’s obviously meant to be a nondescript bug kaiju but always thought that he could be a crustacean before realizing you could easily apply insect anatomy to him (so I guess still technically a crustacean). I also used Matt Frank’s art of him as reference too. He’s a little off proportions wise but I’m pretty proud of him.

That’s my Kaijumax review. Hopefully it was comprehensible.

[mischievous-monster]

im reading kaijumax and i really love electrogors design :00 hes lovely hehe >:))

[zandercannon]

hi there, I have just read the first season of Kaijumax. I just wanted to share my thoughts. I was not expecting it to be what it was. I wanted to read it cause of your colorful art, and the giant space monsters. Your story holds a raw, emotional reality I was not prepared for. I was disgusted by your story, despite desperately hoping that it somehow wraps up happy. I wish I could be angry with you for it. I feel that was your intention, in a way. its art. It moved me but its too much for me

I... don't think I was trying to make anyone angry, but this ask made me get a little bit introspective. I think I was trying to be transgressive in terms of the premise of the book, and in terms of the "gags" (that is, the mashups of prison and kaiju tropes), but I quickly* realized that that unrelenting cruelty was not something that I liked making.

I appreciate that you feel like it made you feel something, and that was certainly my intention. I think the book made a barely-perceptible shift after the first book, when the prison-drama tropes were exhausted for the most part. It became, hopefully, a very slow story of personal triumph in the face of awful circumstances, and I was conscious of riding the line between dramatic and needlessly cruel with a bit more care.

I don't blame you if you don't care to read any more. It certainly is not what the funny monsters on the cover promise. I guess I will just say that I agree with you and leave it at that.

[smashpages]

Kaijumax, Season 6 #1 (Oni Press, $3.99): Zander Cannon is back for a final round of lockdown with the crazy criminal kaijus of Kaijumax. As aliens prepare to invade Earth, the inmates are forced to go all “Suicide Squad” and defend the planet from the invading forces in order to get their sentences reduced.

See what other comics and graphic novels you can find in shops this week!