Kai-Sei era

Kai-Sei era
General Information
Started	May 3, 2025
Production Information
First entry	Godzilla: The New Heroes

The Kai-Sei era, also stylized as the Kai-Sei Era, is a line of comic books based on the Godzilla franchise by Toho Company Ltd. and a shared comic universe by IDW Publishing. The series is a reboot of the previous Godzilla book series by IDW, which will feature returning and new characters in the franchise. It was previewed on May 3, 2025 during Free Comic Book Day, and will have its first release on July 23, 2025.

Set in a post-nuclear world forever changed by the "kai-sei" radiation, the series will follow members of the G-Force and other characters exploring the setting as they endure the menace of Godzilla and other kaiju made from the "kai-sei" energy. Also roaming in this world are a mysterious new breed of humans empowered by the radiation, some capable of superhuman abilities and others physically transformed into kaiju themselves.

Development

We challenged ourselves to build up a world around Godzilla that is as interesting as the King of the Monsters itself. A new continuity filled to the brim with super powered humans, kaiju half breeds, stories across Earth and Space, and a fresh new take on Godzilla itself. All in service of one singular goal: tell Godzilla stories that can only exist on the pages of a comic book. Big, bold, bizarre—and above all, cool as hell.

― Jake Williams, editor

The comic line was first announced on November 18, 2024, as part of IDW's upcoming project lineup for Godzilla comics in the coming year. The line will be proceeded with a one-shot prelude comic, Godzilla: The New Heroes, that serves as an introduction to the comics' setting, featuring new characters, new kaiju, and will serve as the launching point for the new Godzilla continuity.

Several creators will be working on multiple series for the franchise, including Tim Seeley (writer of Grayson, Local Man, and Godzilla vs. Chicago), Nikola Čižmešija (Batman and Robin, Batman: Sword of Azrael). Ethan S. Parker and Griffin Sheridan (Kill Your Darlings), Pablo Tunica (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Sea Serpent's Heir), Chris Gooch (In Utero, Under-Earth), and Oliver Ono (Godzilla: Monster Island Summer Camp and Godzilla Rivals).

On February 19, 2025, IDW announced that it will proceed with the launch of three titles to follow the one-shot: Godzilla in July, Godzilla: Escape the Deadzone in August, and Starship Godzilla in October. The design for Godzilla was also revealed in the announcement.

Concept art of Godzilla

Godzilla will be released on July 23, written by Seeley and drawn by Čižmešija on the new version of Godzilla. It will revolve around the kai-sei-enhanced members of G-Force, assisted by an outdated version of Jet Jaguar, to quell the attacks set by Godzilla.

Godzilla: Escape the Deadzone will be written by Parker and Sheridan and drawn by Tunica. It will entail the experiments performed by America to harness the kai-sei energy and how it became a wasteland known as the Wasteland as a result.

Starship Godzilla will be written by Gooch and drawn by Ono. Set in outer space, it will see the various alien races in previous Godzilla series, including the Xiliens, interacting in a high-stakes mission battling against extraterrestrial kaiju for rewards.

Monsters introduced

• Godzilla
• Mechagodzilla
• Jet Jaguar
• SpaceGodzilla
• Moguera
• Anguirus

Gallery

Issues

Godzilla: The New Heroes cover

Godzilla #1 cover

Escape the Deadzone #1 cover

Starship Godzilla #1 cover

Scans

Godzilla #1 preview

Escape the Deadzone preview

Starship Godzilla preview

Trivia

• This franchise will be the second shared Godzilla continuity by IDW Publishing, following the Godzilla trilogy that started with Godzilla: Ongoing and ended with Godzilla: Rulers of Earth.
• The title of the era, "kai-sei", is the term for the radioactive energy that is prevalent in this continuity, being the energy that changed Godzilla and much of the world at large.
  • The term "kai-sei" was created from the word "kaiju".
• Like the Showa and Heisei eras, this continuity, while self-contained, will begin with the common origin of most Godzilla stories with the atomic bombing of 1954 that exposed Godzilla to radiation, and like the latter, has his biology radically altered into a new form.
  • The Godzilla of this incarnation takes most of its inspiration from the original 1954 film, having its destructive nature serving as a metaphorical vengeance of the Earth for humanity's selfishness and irresponsibility.
• According to writer Tim Seeley, the era is a mixture of kaiju, Japanese super sentai, American superhero, apocalypse, and space opera story.
• This is the first time in the franchise and history of Toho that human-kaiju hybrids will appear in a Godzilla series, here called "G-mutants". The first to appear will be a Godzilla-based human named Jacen Braid.
• The Godzilla that appears in this series will have an original design by Nikola Čižmešija with assistance from Pablo Tunica. According to editor Jake Williams, the design that appears on the cover of the one-shot is not the official version and was made by Ono as a placeholder based on a more classic Godzilla. He went on to state the official design will be a terrifying force and has the biggest visual update to Godzilla IDW has taken with the character to help make it unique in the Godzilla canon.
• Unlike previous versions, this Godzilla's radioactive energy will be green due to the kai-sei energy.