Godzilla: Rulers of Earth

Godzilla: Rulers of Earth is a comic book series by IDW Publishing.

IDW Publishing had announced their next ongoing which started in June of 2013, following the conclusion of their current run with Godzilla #13. To create the new ongoing, IDW has tapped into the creative team of writer Chris Mowry, who wrote the Hedorah vs. Mechagodzilla issue of Godzilla Legends #4, and artist Matt Frank, who did art duties on the Anguirus vs. Destoroyah issue of Godzilla Legends #1.

Joining them will be a host of new Toho kaiju that haven't been seen in the IDW comics to date, including Biollante, Gorosaurus, Moguera, Zilla, Manda, Gezora, Varan and Jet Jaguar as confirmed picks.

Issue #1
An unknown fast-moving monster is detected somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, and is swimming towards Honolulu, Hawaii. A character named Lucy Casprell enters a hotel room at Honolulu. Then, Gigan wakes up and ends up in Kumonga's turf in the Grand Canyon, Arizona. Kumonga starts covering Gigan in webbing until Gigan cuts off one of Kumonga's limbs. Kumonga hides, and Gigan sets the webbing aflame and flies away.Then, an international Megazoology conference is held. Dr. Kenji Ando, a founder of Megazoology, speaks at the meeting. He says that Megazoology is the study of Daikaiju. He then shows a slideshow about monsters, showing some information about them, such as their whereabouts. Anguirus is in the border of Mexico, Titanosaurus is in the ocean, most footage of Mothra has disappeared, Rodan was last seen above Canada, and then he shows others that are unnaccounted for, like Battra, Hedorah, and SpaceGodzilla, and then the fire in Arizona is shown, thought to have been caused by Gigan and Kumonga hours previously. There are many other kaiju that have not been discovered, said the doctor. Lucy takes a camera and plans to film Zilla, but almost gets eaten by the monster. Right then, Steven Woods and his troops shoot at Zilla with guns, which seem to drive it away a little. Steven then tells an officer named Chavez to take Lucy to the hotel's shelter. Steven calls for weapons, and asks the name of this monster. The connection to the other officer gets glitchy, and as he is telling Steven that Godzilla is approaching, it is communicated as the monster's name being Zilla. Just then, a blue atomic breath is shot at Zilla. The troops turn around and see Godzilla approaching them.

At the same time, Zilla arrives at Honolulu, sending the people at the conference to panic.

Issue #2
The comic picks up where it left off, in Honolulu, Hawaii. Godzilla and Zilla stomp down the streets approaching each other to battle. Once close, the two monsters roar with a mighty "Skreeongk" and a "Skreenk", respectively. Godzilla hurls his claw at Zilla to which Zilla swiftly dodges. Zilla tries to bite him but Godzilla hits the monster's head with a strong smash attack, and then tries to stomp on Zilla's head while he is on the ground. Just as Godzilla slams his foot on the ground, Zilla moves his head out of the way and scratches the king of the monsters, making him visibly bleed. Godzilla, however, retaliates by biting Zilla's tail and throwing him towards a building. Godzilla immediately fires his atomic heat ray at the building which Zilla landed upon, but to his surprise there is a giant hole where the building stood.

Steven Woods then calls Chavez and asks for his whereabouts, to which he responds that he is still escorting Lucy to the safe zone. Lucy then recites the facts she got about Zilla, and says Zilla is bipedal, an estimated 200 feet in height, has a large snout, and that he has dorsal fins, which she ponders what are called--Chavez says they are called scutes, and they continue towards the safe zone, and drop off Lucy. Chavez and Woods resume talking, but just a couple of feet away, Zilla emerges from the road in front of Chavez. Godzilla detects a charging Zilla right behind him and bites his neck, and Zilla gasps as some blood flows down. Military helicopters fire missiles at Godzilla which make him let go of Zilla's neck. Woods then tells his men to aim at the monsters' eyes, as it may be their only weak point. Woods has a flashback to when he joined this team, and remembers how he was asked if he was the Woods whose family was killed--by Godzilla--and told that don't want anyone with revenge or vendetta motives in the team. Woods asks them if they know of someone else who took down three monsters with a giant robot and a little girl as their co-pilot, and they accept him.

Zilla and Godzilla resume their fighting. Zilla is tugging on Godzilla's arms with his mouth but Godzilla slaps him with his tail, and Zilla then burrows underground once more. Zilla makes a hole under Godzilla, making him fall into it. Zilla then surfaces elsewhere, where he is greeted with missiles to the neck. Zilla runs from under the rain of missiles, just as a blue atomic heat ray comes from behind Zilla. Zilla, confused, turns around and finds the hole is seemingly empty. Zilla continues to wander around and look for signs of Godzilla. Zilla smells around and walks towards a building, and Godzilla breaks right through the building roaring loudly, taking Zilla to much of a surprise. Godzilla grabs Zilla by the neck using only one hand and begins to charge his atomic heat ray. However, the military approaches behind Zilla and fires missiles. Zilla uses quick reflexes to move his head out of the way, making the missiles hit Godzilla, effectively letting Zilla go and retreat to the ocean. Woods tells his officers to follow Zilla and see if he surfaces. Godzilla then starts to retreat. Woods states that if Godzilla spent any longer with Zilla, Godzilla would have surely killed him. The story returns to Lucy, who meets Professor Kenji Ando. Ando says he is impressed with Lucy's works with the megacreatures, and asks her to join the group of megazoology researchers. She excitedly accepts, and Ando brings her to the group he is overseeing, consisting of people known as Jeremy, Kristina Sumres, Shawn Lelonzo, Kyle Fellows, Shannon Nunez, Marcia Marshall, and Jason Ford. The story returns to Woods and Chavez who meet up and talk fo a bit. Woods sees the giant hole that Zilla made a few feet in front of Chavez earlier. Chavez says he saw a thing stuck to Zilla's skin fall off, and it turns out to be a mysterious giant crustacean's brown claw. Woods puts the thing in his vehicle and remarks that Zilla, but he took a big chunk out of Godzilla's skin.

Just then, a spaceship with aliens inside can be seen viewing the Earth, and the captain says that they are due for a visit. An alien devonian spokesman contacts the captain, and he says: "Not ready. Big problems. Breach. Escape. Attacking.", to which the captain replies "Escape? What escaped?".

Issue #3
The comic resumes in San Diego, California, at the Science Division of the CKR Headquarters. Steven Woods is greeted by a Mr. Allison after he and his crew arrive in a military plane. Woods says they brought pizza, the mysterious leg that fell off of Zilla in Hawaii, and a chunk of Godzilla's skin. Allison asks what's up with Chavez, and Woods replies that he hates flying, but doesn't mind sitting next to a piece of radioactive Godzilla hide. Meanwhile, the CKR Headquarters is being monitored by the alien race that appeared briefly in the first issue, and one of the aliens disguises itself as a human to go after the Godzilla skin after noticing that it is being taken inside. Allison and Woods continue talking, first about a new weapon made from the absolute zero cannon from the last MechaGodzilla, called the "Ice Box". Allison states that a direct shot will do some damage if the kaiju are hit in the eyes, but the main theory is to pick at them bit-by-bit. Woods replies that the eyes thing doesn't work. Allison says that the weapon can be used to freeze small ports of a monster, as the ice explodes, the weapon could be useful, and that he has a few ready for Woods' team. Woods asks if the government has moved on to these types of weapons and is done with giant robots, to which Allison replies no, and that new members from the Monster Kill Crew that have experience building them have been added to the ranks after being given a choice of either hard time or hard work because of threats they had made against the world's governments.

The alien, in a human disguise, walks towards the entrance to the headquarters. A guard stops it, and the alien asks if a transport plane arrived there a short time ago. The guard refuses to answer, and the alien grabs him by his neck with its tentacle, and asks where it was delivered to. The guard tries using his gun, but the alien does not allow that. The guard points to a warehouse nearby, and the alien says "thank you" before snapping the officer's neck. The alien tells the alien strike team to commence landing.

Miles from the CKR facility, several Aggregate Destoroyahs surface from the ocean and invade Ultra Convention VII. At first, the people confuse the Destoroyahs for suits and take pictures. The Destoroyahs attack, bullets prove ineffective, and the San Diego police calls for help. 200 miles away from the California coast, the USS Goldstein is out at the ocean protecting the people living at the coast. However, an "Arooooaroooaroo" is heard, and Manda attacks the ship. The aircraft carrier explodes, and what's left of the crew is attacked by Gezora. Back in San Diego, Woods and his team arrive and start fighting the Destoroyahs. Woods says "You have to be %$@#ing kidding me" when he sees the Destoroyahs, who are roaring loud "Shreeeeeeeeek"s. They try using their machine guns, but they barely scratch the creatures. Woods asks HQ if there are any other weapons, but no one responds. The aliens have secured Godzilla's skin and they bring it aboard their space craft. The aliens seem to want the Earth as a home for themselves, and assure that the humans will be wiped from the planet in due time. Woods tries to get theice boxes working as everyone runs out of ammunition. A girl is cornered by a Destoroyah as it sticks out its toothed tongue to eat her. Woods tackles it and completely uses up the magazine of the machine gun, but Destoroyah uses its tongue to cut a piece of Woods armor down to his skin, making him bleed. Woods quickly uses a knife on the Destoroyah and grabs the girl, and just as the Destoroyah was to attack them, it appears frozen. A member of Woods' team got the ice box to work, and so they try to use them on all of the Destoroyahs. Woods tells Chavez that they'll need to get a containment team down there to gather all they can of the Destoroyahs, which seem to dissolve when frozen. Both say they can't communicate with HQ, and Chavez states that the Destoroyahs look like the crab leg found on Zilla, however, the one on Zilla was much bigger than these kaiju's, and that maybe the Destoroyahs they fought are babies.

Godzilla surfaces nearby the wreck of the USS Goldstein, but is pulled underwater by an unknown creature, and Woods and his team head back to the CKR Headquarters. They find Allison is the only one remaining, but he starts shooting at them. Woods orders his team to hold fire, and hides behind a car. He orders Chavez to pull his trigger before Allison if Allison shoots. Woods takes off his helmet and walks towards Allison unnarmed. Allison wants Woods to stay back, and demands to know if Woods is really human, and he states that they both know that Allison is a lousy shot. Allison tells Woods he doesn't know what he saw, and faints. Meanwhile, on the alien ship, the alien commander states that everything is going as planned, but asks if the Godzilla skin is enough to work with. The alien that was on the CKR HQ said that it was sufficient, but all of it would have to be used, and that if the new creature did as it should, Godzilla would end up being nothing more than carrion. The alien asks how would they free the captive monster from its stasis, to which the commander replies that they just need to create another one in a populated human city, and they are ready for that. Back in Malibu, California, Godzilla appears with a scar on his chest, and he collapses to the ground.

Issue #4
The comic resumes in the former R&D Headquarters in San Diego, California. Steven Woods is being interrogated by a military officer, who assures that Allison will be fine, but asks about the aliens. Woods tells the officer that Allison saw a man come in, change forms and kill everyone in the facility. The officer questions this, asking for what purpose would an alien race take a Godzilla specimen and why did something attack the USS Goldenstein. Woods says that he doesn't know the answer to either questions, and that he was not aware the ship had been destroyed. The officer explains that it was destroyed by what could have been a squid or a snake, and that the reactor is missing. When Woods asks for Godzilla's status, the officer replies that they've deployed some ground units which will be approaching Godzilla via the sea. Woods then tells his men to suit up, as Godzilla's going to have some company.

Many live news reports start being broadcasted as Godzilla lies on the ground, seemingly dead. However, multiple Aggregate Destoroyahs come and terrorize a few people, just before biting Godzilla, waking him up. Godzilla stands up and unleashes a nuclear pulse which kills the Destoroyahs attached to him. While Godzilla stands still in the beach, Lucy and her fellow megazoologists-in-the-making are at the Beijing Capital International Airport. Kristina Sumres asks what the things attaching themselves to Godzilla are, to which Lucy explains they are crustaceans, and adds that all these new creatures, the giant squid, the giant snake, and the Destoroyahs, must be appearing for a reason. Dr. Ando asks why would they be appearing, and Lucy replies that she doesn't know, but she bites her finger and tells herself that maybe Godzilla is the reason.

Back on the shorelines, a giant, flightless Destoroyah surfaces and starts to battle Godzilla. Godzilla and Destoroyah exchange beams, but Destoroyah is not damaged and slams Godzilla on the ground. Godzilla hits the giant crustacean enemy with his tail, only to have Destoroyah grab Godzilla with his tail and slam him on the floor once again. The military arrives and starts attacking Destoroyah, but Destoroyah's wings unfold as he takes to the skies and destroys all the craft. The aliens are monitoring the fight and claim that Destoroyah's power might make it so phase two of their plan wouldn't be necessary. The commander alien congratulates a scientist alien on the crustacean monster, who the scientist reveals is named Destoroyah. The commander reminds him that this plan must work and that the race cannot stay in space forever. The scientist says that they are analyzing the Godzilla DNA and have found an island to test a possible terraforming of on. The commander again congratulates the scientist, when he is interrupted by an object heading towards the battle of Godzilla and Destoroyah.

Destoroyah is thrown over by what is revealed to be Mothra, who chirps a "Cheeeeernt" as she arrives. Destoroyah shoots his micro-oxygen beam at Mothra, which she dodges, and then uses his tail to catch the moth with. Just then, Godzilla surfaces from the ocean with the USS Goldenstein's missing reactor. Destoroyah throws Mothra to the ground and is headbutted by Godzilla in the chest, followed by atomic breath being shot at him. Destoroyah is still not affected by it and fires his micro-oxygen beam at Godzilla, when Mothra dives in and hits Destoroyah, followed by him having his tail grabbed and then being slammed on the ground by Godzilla. Right then, two twin Mothra larvae come swimming from the ocean. Broadcasting of the battle is cut, and Dr. Ando says they'll have to go in jeeps. Back in the battle site, Mothra releases her scales upon Destoroyah, which Destoroyah retaliates to by using his laser horn attack on her. Mothra hits the ground, and Godzilla grabs Destoroyah's horn and rips it off his forehead. Godzilla starts using his atomic breath against Destoroyah and the larvae use their web shots to trap Destoroyah. The web shots completely cover Destoroyah, and the Aggregate forms start emerging from the cacoon. Godzilla incinerates them all, and says farewell to Mothra and her larvae, who gently put her wings on their backs and ferry her across the sea. Woods and his soldiers arrive when the battle ends, and notice that Godzilla took the Goldenstein's reactor to lure Destoroyah to shore and have better chances against the crustacean in a battle with Mothra. Meanwhile, Lucy and the others have arrived at a place where Rodan and another unknown kaiju has been spotted, whom the government has asked them to help find. Just moments later, Lucy encourages someone who is still able to take pictures, as most of their batteries have died, of something unbelievable rising from the waters, Varan, who the soldies insist is not the monster being seeked.

Trivia

 * The series will feature the first ever official battle between Godzilla and Zilla since Godzilla: Final Wars. The battle starts in issue #1 and ends in issue #2.
 * Zilla possesses the explicit design of the 1998 Zilla, despite being a direct incarnation of the 2004 Zilla. It was confirmed by Chris Mowry in an interview that they used Final Wars' Zilla so that Zilla did not have Zilla Junior's green atomic breath, and that Zilla first appeared in the 1998 film.
 * This marked the first ever comic appearances of Gezora, Manda, Jet Jaguar, Gaira, Sanda, Varan, King Caesar, M.O.G.U.E.R.A., Orga and Biollante, as well as Gezora's first non-video game appearance.
 * This comic series also became the first official piece of media to use Gezora's copyright icon, Sanda's copyright icon, and Gaira's copyright icon.
 * The Series marked the return of main human protagonist Steven Woods from Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters.