Oh, no! There goes Chicago! Godzilla finally gets to the Midwest in new comic book
As if Chicago didn't have enough problems.
Here comes Godzilla, as in Gojira, the Big G, Tokyo's Own.
'Da King of da Monsters has come to da Windy City!' a shocked CTA train operator gulps in 'Godzilla vs. Chicago,' the first issue of a limited 'Godzilla vs. America' series by IDW, the publisher of the 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,' 'Star Trek' and 'Goosebumps' comics.
Unfortunately, Blue Line service is interrupted.
Also impacted by a giant radioactive lizard tramping through Illinois: Soldier Field, the Bears, Michigan Avenue, Interstate 94, Navy Pier, Millennium Park, Garfield Park Conservatory, Cottage Grove, hot dog stands, the mansions of Lake Forest and most CTA service to Logan Square. On the bright side, a searchlight rental business in Bridgeport seems to do pretty well. And in one of four Chicago-centric stories in the issue — definitely the funniest — a Chicago woman makes herself larger than Godzilla, wraps herself in a Chicago flag, then picks up Godzilla and drops him on another shore of Lake Michigan.
'Screw Indiana,' she says.
If you're wondering: Yes, this is the first time Godzilla has attacked Chicago. He rose from the depths in 1954 and took on Tokyo, then later New York City ('Destroy All Monsters,' 1968), San Francisco and Honolulu ('Godzilla,' 2014), Cairo ('Godzilla, King of the Monsters,' 2019), Osaka, Hong Kong. It's only taken him 70 years to find the Midwest.
'Godzilla vs. Chicago,' which arrives in comic book stores on Feb. 26, makes the most of his visit. Nicolas Niño, associate editor at Los Angeles-based IDW, said that when the publisher — among the largest comics publishers not named Marvel or DC — was deciding locations for 'Godzilla vs. America,' one consideration was practical: They wanted each issue written and drawn by writers and artists of those cities, 'and Chicago has a great scene we wanted to tap.'
That decision lends the comic more local flavor and credibility than the usual cliches coming out of drive-by film and TV producers in Chicago. There are nods to aldermen, Svengoolie, Lori Lightfoot, Cubs nemesis Steve Bartman, Dave Matthews' tour bus and Naperville residents who say they're from Chicago. Jake Williams, IDW's editor for Godzilla comics — this year alone, the publisher has six different G-series — is a Peoria native who once pictured 'Chicago as a magical place in the distance I got to visit every now and then.' He took Second City classes, he got lost in neighborhoods. In Wicker Park, he ran into a comic book creator named Caroline Cash, whose work would later become known in the Chicago Reader and the New Yorker. When he was putting together a talent roster for 'Godzilla vs. Chicago,' he asked her to do one of the stories.
She came up with a woman who downs an energy drink, grows enormous and takes on Godzilla: 'Soon it's gonna destroy the city! Not just the Loop but also parts of the city I like!'
'It's about time he attacked Chicago,' Cash said. 'Originally I wanted Godzilla as a Bridezilla coming out of Lake Michigan, but we went with a giant woman, which is also fine — the setting in my comics is so much of a character, and since I write gag comics, and Chicago has been the setting for so much of my work, Godzilla became another chance to write more Chicago jokes.'
Writer Mike Costa and artist Ryan Browne contribute a story in which a disruptive Bears fan tries to make amends by fighting Godzilla while inside of a robotic MechaGodzilla suit hidden beneath Millennium Park. Ezra Claytan Daniels — who started his career creating trial illustrations for local courts, including for the Rod Blagojevich trial — plays off South Side-North Side animosity, inserting Godzilla into a tale about corrupt politicians and developers from the North Shore.
And finally, Portage Park's Tim Seeley, whose popular series 'Hack/Slash,' 'Revival' and 'Local Man' have made him a leading creator of contemporary horror comics, switches gears with a romantic comedy that happens to costar the CTA and Godzilla.
'All of my pitches for this were super Chicago-specific,' he said. 'So much so that one story I came up with was about Godzilla stepping on a parking spot right after this guy had shoveled it out. The guy is so angry he tracks Godzilla across Chicago, to kill him with his shovel. I thought for sure that was going to be the one that made it into the book.'
After Chicago, Godzilla heads to Los Angeles for the second issue, then Boston for the third. Maybe Godzilla will face the wrath of a Chicago dibs owner someday: Seeley's next big project will be IDW's main Godzilla series, set in an America rebuilding after this cross-country stomping. On Feb. 28, his Chicago-centric Godzilla work will also be shown as part of a Chicago/Godzilla art show at Howling Pages comic book shop in Portage Park, alongside local takes from other area artists.
'What I can't answer is the inherent problem of how Godzilla gets to Chicago. He swims everywhere, yet just comes out of Lake Michigan? Maybe we don't need to know how.'
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