A Team So Well Written They’re Hard To Hate — ‘Godzilla’ #1 Advance Review

Welcome to the table,

I think I hate Jacen Braid.

As a fan of Godzilla, I’m not totally sure if that is the point or not. Jacen is cool. Like, really cool. He is the kind of character who they would have made Saturday Morning cartoons about when I was a kid. He dresses like a anime protagonist with goggles, hair that looks like it’s always caught in the perfect breeze, and a body that is sculpted from the best sketches out of every Superhero sketchbook. He has cool powers. He has cool poses. He even says really cool stuff like “I’m going to kill Godzilla” in a really cool way.

Who is Jacen Braid? He is the new cool guy protagonist who wants to kill Godzilla in IDW’s headlining Godzilla comic written by Tim Seeley with art by Nikola Cižmešija, colors by Francesco Segal, and lettering by Nathan Widick.

This book is part of IDW’s new era of Godzilla books, and it feels like a solid start to a larger Godzilla-themed universe of stories. I like it. I hate the protagonist with the fire of a thousand atomic breaths, but the book itself is very entertaining and looks absolutely phenomenal.

The image above was actually the first glimpse I got of this new Godzilla universe. It immediately locked me in and had me excited to find out what was going on. There is no way to deny the way Nikola Cižmešija draws the King of Monster is amazing.

I mean that from my very core. Godzilla in this book feels like he really is the manifestation of rage and ruin that I picture him being each time he stomps down on some part of the ‘churn and burn’ military complex or some group of war hungry jerks hellbent on reshaping the world in their image. Godzilla for me has always been the world’s protector. Harsh at times, as he is blasting some space monster to bits, or mean when he kicks the crap out of the giant lady kidnapping ape, but always looking out for the Earth’s best interests even if he was feeding his ego while doing it.

I think that is what makes me even more opposed to this new kid, Jacen Braid. He stands in opposition to the grand green Kaiju that I have loved for all my life. That is a hard thing to deprogram from my brain. I mean, I had fifty or so mini posters from various Godzilla movies and projects along with Funko POP!s (including three that were stolen after my office went on lockdown), toys, minis, and even the screen backgrounds of all my devices in my pre-COVID workspace were decorated with Godzilla.

I would argue with the I.T. guys about how Godzilla was better than King Kong. I argue with my editor here about the same thing. If you watch our Happy Hour Show, when we actually find time to record more of them, you will probably see more of that same kind of behavior because I love Godzilla and in turn, must hate his enemies including Jacen Braid.

Jacen Braid, who I hate, is not waging a war against the King of Monsters on his own, either. He is accompanied by a collection of powerful and experienced allies, including the warrior of justice Jet Jaguar, Dr. Rumi Chiba, Nuki, Incense, and Rivera. This team is calls themselves G-Force U.S.A. While very cool, they are also automatically going into the villain column of my brain because they stand in direct contrast to the one true king.

I think that is what makes this book so hard for me. It’s so good. The force who stands against Godzilla are wonderfully drawn, well written, and fun to follow along with. The new G-Force U.S.A. stands in direct opposition to The King of Monsters, and yet I find myself struggling to maintain my dislike for them. I’m going to keep trying my very best to hate this charming, cool, rag-tag band of warriors but between the solid storytelling and amazing art that is going to be very very hard.

Until next time… I still hate Jacen Braid.