Rampaging across the October manga landscape is the king of the monsters! Godzilla turns the big 7-0 this year, and IDW is releasing a collection of new and classic comics inspired by the kaiju legend. These short stories take place all across time, from the earliest Godzilla sightings to worlds where giant monsters are just part of the landscape. Familiar names like Matt Frank (Godzilla: Rulers of Earth) and Joëlle Jones (Catwoman) populate the pages, each bringing their own spin to the story.

This collection is at its best when it’s interrogating individual human stories within Godzilla’s broader world. Matt Frank’s contemplative “In the Shadow of a God,” featuring poetry by Donny Winter, is a fleeting, touching story of two very small lives in the wake of Godzilla’s movement. Casey Gilly’s “Ain’t No Place for an Angel” is another stand-out entry: a Wild West-flavored tale marking the return of Mothra and her twin priestesses. And Natasha Alterici’s “Aftermath” is a stark reminder that, despite misconceptions over the decades, Godzilla is never the true villain of his story.

The book also features production art and reprints of issues of Godzilla in Hell, Godzilla Legends, and the aforementioned Godzilla: Rulers of Earth. It’s a fabulous collection for kaiju fans or people just wanting to know more about the stories at the heart of this mammoth franchise.

A satisfying collection of Godzilla stories with well-done graphics. The stories are full of action and the artwork does an excellent job of portryaing the story. Overall, a good read.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

These were all pretty fun! Basically a lot of short one shots of Godzilla tearing through cities, creating messes for regular people to deal with, or fighting gigantic monsters. I do love that this book has a lot of different styles of one shots so it paints Godzilla it a lot of different ways. The later half is just pieces of bigger story in other books. But overall for a Godzilla, this is worth a read if you love the Big G like me!

A collected edition of the Godzilla: 70th Anniversary & Best of Godzilla one shots by IDW, and what a collection! An anthology of stories spreading across the various eras of Godzilla history, artists and writers, it really is some of the best of the best! Of particular note here is James Stokoe's work (as always), especially "The Half Century Bore", a spoof of his own "The Half Century War" (possibly the best G story put to print), poking just the right amount of fun at his own premise, flipping the story to focus on a team assigned to Hedorah.

I highly recommend this anthology for kaiju fans!

*ARC provided by NetGalley & IDW*

This is the perfect diverse comic anthology for any Godzilla fan! Each story is amazing in its own way and left me hoping for a second anthology.

GODZILLA IS THE BEST!!!! This is such a cool collection of comics! I loved the times that Mothra showed up!

My thanks to NetGalley and IDW Publishing for an advance copy of this new graphic novel showcasing the King of All Monsters on the anniversary of his first appearance, featuring stories by different creators covering the different eras, different locations and even different attitudes Godzilla has had with humanity.

I am not one for knowing what gifts are appropriate for certain anniversaries. This whole concept is kind of foreign to me. I once received an invite to a wedding that had +1 on it, and my first thought was why was there a Dungeons & Dragons reference here. So i turned to Google and found that the 70th anniversary gift of choice is platinum. In celebration of this anniversary the editors at IDW have brought together a platinum cast of writer and artists to celebrate this event, and to share their different views of what Godzilla is, and what Godzilla can be. Not many characters have had such a long career, with so many changes in their character arc from human destroyer to human defended. Even harried parent in some movies, dealing with a child who seems to cause more problems than anything else. This collection, Godzilla's 70th Anniversary features artists and writers new to the Godzilla mythos, and many familiar names celebrating 70 years of city destroying, tail swinging, fire shooting, even drop kicking action and scares.

Godzilla began as a prehistoric creature awoken from its home deep under the sea by the numerous atomic tests being conducted in the 40's and 50's by the superpowers. Godzilla charged with radioactivity and rage, attacks Toyko leaving a past of destruction, fear, guilt and revenge in the hearts of many. As the movies progressed, Godzilla began to protect humans, while still destroying cities, and probably a lot of collateral lives. This collection features stories from all over from city destroying, a little bit of humor, a few tales of horror, and one memorable tale of Godzilla going to Hell, and looking like he was planning to take over. Some of the stories feature body horror, good old stomping, a little mystery and conspiracy, and one tale about a daredevil who climbs Godzilla, while examining the many creatures that live on Godzilla. I liked this story as it is both a reflection on aging, doing what one fears, and just a fun little story.

The stories jump in time, from Old West, to distant past, featuring aliens, a little body horror, good old scares, and lots of crushing and monster fighting. As is usual in collections like this some of the stories are good, some are ok. The art is quite different story to story. One dealing with daredevil climbing Godzilla and the first tale with dealing with the Sisyphean task of cleaning-up from a battle between Godzilla and the Smog Monster, Hedorah, are very European in look. The art is bright, in places and have a look of 70's Heavy Metal magazine. A few have a strong horror vibe, one that I liked. While I love Destroy All Monsters, watching the black and white version of Godzilla Minus-One reminded me of the fear, the rage in the original Gojira films. I was glad to see a little bit of that here.

Godzilla fans will enjoy this collection, especially the fact that it is different from what is out there. A strong collection, with quite a few good stories, sure to make fans want to jump up and down in a Little Godzilla dance.

Godzilla's 70th Anniversary collects the recent 70th Anniversary Special as well as various issues showcasing the diverse work that IDW has done with the character in all the time they have had the license. Reading through this volume really shows how there is a wide breadth of tone among the Godzilla stories being told. I've always believed that if a character is good enough, we can get multiple iterations of them at the same time, and IDW is proving it with each project that Godzilla fits the bill. Highly recommended and I will keep picking up whatever stories they give me.

Special Thanks to IDW Publishing and NetGalley for the digital ARC. This was given to me for an honest review.