 Hey everybody, welcome back to We Can Geek Them. Today on the channel, we're gonna be taking a look at Godzilla, The Half-Century War. I hadn't read this before. I have to admit, as of recording this video, my knowledge when it comes to Godzilla comics is very limited and only now I am getting into it. Now the main problem I have with Godzilla books themselves, comics, we're not talking about the movies or the characters in set films and all that stuff. I love them. However, with the books, there is a pattern of them just being mini series and a lot of the tropes and story beats are rehashed from time to time when it comes to the IDW comic books, for example. They will go through the same story motions and feature a lot of the same characters and that's perfectly fine, but it doesn't make me want to seek out every single comic because I know, unfortunately, that at the end result, it kinda does the same thing, you know? But recently, well last year, we had that cool announcement that Half-Century War was gonna be reprinted in this sweet looking oversized heart cover. Now the main appeal in this, for sure, and you could say the same for a lot of the comics, the modern stuff, is the art. And to have this by the awesome James Stoco is so cool. I love Stoco's art. It is so distinct and picturesque and the way that he draws expressions and characters and the insane amount of detail he puts into his drawings is so awesome to see and very wild usage of colors, super expressive with great character facial features and to be able to see this in a fantasy setting with giant monsters is a special treat and, of course, to get it in oversized format is even better. So what the heck is Half-Century War all about? Well, it's a five issue mini series following the character of Ota Murakami who meets Godzilla when he makes first landfall in Japan in the, you know, in the 50s and what soon, what first starts as this revelation and awe of the terror of having a giant creature stomping on the city and destroying buildings and all the chaos that ensues soon turns into an obsession as Ota is following Godzilla, trying to put a stop to it. And it sort of becomes this cultish obsession where you have this character who joins this organization called the AMF. I can't remember for the life of me what the letters mean at the moment, but they formed this team to hunt down this creature and obviously they don't know what Godzilla's intentions are and they're trying to make sense of a senseless world and the utter destruction that comes from having giant creatures fighting each other and destroying cities and you can't really get into the mind of these Kaijus and the book does a really good job of putting you in the shoes of the common people even though they're army men, even though they're people from armed forces I should say, it still represents us and our uncertainty with the events of with uncontrollable events in nature and how we're just powerless to it and it's not that we have to bow down to it, it's not that we have to resonate ourselves to that fate but it's for us to recognize the immense power that is at play and how do we react and how do we keep ourselves safe from such an incoming catastrophe? In the case of the book, we have Kaijus and you have a lot of Easter eggs for fans of the franchise with so many monsters and references to other movies, devices and places that characters are visiting, they're a nod to all the classic Godzilla films. Now, each issue basically takes us through different decades, the story begins in the 50s and then we go to the 60s to Vietnam of all places and we have the first fight between Godzilla and Anguirus, which is great because it's a nice callback to the chronology of the original films. So you know that James being a super fan of these characters, of these creatures is paying a lot of respects with this beautiful love letter and homage to the Toho franchise and the monsters and Godzilla is displayed with a ferocity and just a masterful depiction with just great attention to detail, like I said earlier, the story keeps going and we move to different places such as Africa and then eventually Antarctica. We even get some space action and we get some surprise appearances from classic villains that I'm not gonna ruin just in case you've never read it but just know that it's a beautiful story detailing one man's obsession against what could be said as an inevitable force that is Godzilla while trying to find his own humanity in this doomed quest to understand the nature of a giant beast that seemingly will not be killed by human intervention and instead there are so many stories where people realize he is this epic guardian of earth fighting against these monsters. Now there is a subplot as to why Godzilla appears and why he's attacking different cities before all the other monsters shows up and it's standard trophy mechanisms from franchises like this where there might be some things involved that are influencing these monsters. I don't wanna give it away and that's all fine. I didn't actually mind it. I was in it for the nostalgia. I was in it to admire the wonderful art. I was in it to just geek out over Godzilla man. I think James Stoker just knocked it out of the park with this book. I am a little bit late to the party. I do realize that and at five issues I think it captures the essence enough where it is a lovely kick-ass tribute with wonderful renditions of these monsters and the humans don't really get in the way of you enjoying the story. You get to see the perspective of the character of Ulta like I mentioned earlier. Now he's just trying to figure things out because he's trying to save the world. I mean, you gotta take it from their perspective. You know, Godzilla arrived, stomping everywhere and fighting and you know there are a lot of casualties on the civilian side due to all the destruction involved. So naturally, yes, that would be the response for people, for humans to wanna take these creatures out but what if there's something more? And there's a beautiful point within the end of the story where the character of Ulta reflects on his life because it goes all the way up to the 2000s, early odds. And he reflects on how he sort of just spent his whole life on this one obsession and he wonders what could have been if I had dedicated myself to other things and have actually lived a full life with maybe a family or loved ones and all that stuff. And yeah, that was strangely poetic and beautiful and I really enjoyed that moment and it made me think and reminisce about my own life and all the obsessions that I go through to get things right and to worry about this or that without looking at the larger picture and the inevitable nature of it all and to just live life. At least that's what I took out of the story. Also, Godzilla's a badass in fighting all these wonderful characters. If you're looking for a nice entry point into the world of Godzilla through comic books, this is a nice, simple way to get your fix and the splash pages on this book are out of this world. I absolutely love them. So that's about it. Honestly, it's a win-win. You got to pick this book up in my opinion as for the rest of the Godzilla comic books. Now, I know there are some duds out there. I kind of want to read them all just to say that I've read them all, but I don't know. I have some other books in my collection that I want to review. So if you want to see more of that, let me know in the comments section down below. Also, what is your favorite kind you decide from Godzilla himself? Very interested in finding out. Guys, as always, thank you so much for liking, commenting, and being a part of A We Can Geek Them. It truly does mean a whole lot. Thank you so much. God bless. I will catch all of you on our next video.