Kaijumax #1

Kaijumax #1
Released by: Oni Press
Released on: March 25th, 2105.
Written: Zander Cannon
Purchase From Amazon

Giant monsters! The first issue of this new series written and illustrated by Zander Cannon begins when a monster makes the case that it's actually the humans preventing it from feeding its kids who are the real monsters in this situation. It turns there's a whole lot of giant monsters sort of hanging around and doing giant monster things but that one of their own, Electrogar, has left the fold to go off and be a family man.

It turns out that's exactly what happened - his two kids, Torgax and Vogo, are hanging out in the family cave waiting for their dad to show up with the good they need and a great story about why it took so long. Electrogar, however, is that monster from the opening scene bitching to the humans who captured him about their preventing him from feeding his kids. His captor, Warden Kang, wants him to know that giant monsters have had their way long enough and that now it's humanity's turn to rule the planet. He wants Electrogar to go join his kin on Gen-Pop but first he wants to know the whereabouts of those aforementioned kids. Electrogar is sent off to Gen-Pop solo, paired up with the Creature From Devil's Creek who tells him about the guy in Kai-Block who might be able to help him get back to his young'ens. Turns out this guy is E68FE3 and after some pleading, he agrees to take the food Electrogar has squirreled away back to his kids.

Payback is a bitch though - and before you know it Electrogar is mixed up in a spat between the regular giant monsters and the mecha giant monsters forcing the warden to transform into… Kang (he's kind of like Ultraman)!

This is a fun first issue, placing a giant monster in the role of a concerned father out not to wreak havoc but to deliver to his two kids the energy pods they need to consume to survive. Of course, being giant monsters as they are it makes sense that the human element of the story would want to contain them, if not control them, so that's what they whole island prison thing is about. Nobody in Tokyo wants to see Tokyo get stomped again, right? The Warden rules the island with an iron first, transforming into Kang when needed and, when doing so, able to smack the monsters around and in turn keep them in line. Not an easy task, one could rightfully assume.

Cannon's writing is fun - lots of amusing references here to giant monster movies of the past (“Oh my Goj!” being the most obvious and repeated one) without overdoing it, and story that, once you get the characters sorted out, has a nice backbone to it. There's some good action here too, which allows him to bust out the pencils and come up with some pretty creative compositions and creature designs. This isn't a particularly heavy comic, but it is a fun one and if you dig giant monsters, it's probably going to be right up your alley so long as you go into it with a sense of humor.