Godzilla issue 1 (2025)
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Godzilla #1 is a comic book from IDW Publishing. The first story to be set in the Kai-Sei Era, it was published on July 23, 2025.[1] The issue's prologue was previously included in Godzilla: The New Heroes.
Description
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In 1954, experimentation with a mysterious energy source known as Kai-Sei awakened Godzilla and a host of immortal kaiju. In the years that followed, humanity has been pummeled by near-constant monster attacks. While Japan has begun to treat the kaiju like natural disasters, understanding that their attempts to fight Godzilla only make the threat worse, the American G-Force is going to fight, fight, fight.
The Americans have just discovered the ultimate tool in the fight against kaiju: a young boy named Jacen with the power of Godzilla. Able to harness the mysterious Kai-Sei in the same vein as the King of the Monsters, this boy will either save the world... or bring about its doom.[1]
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Plot
In 2025, Godzilla rises from the waters off the coast of Manhattan and approaches the giant wall surrounding the city. Shrugging off the interception of fighter jets and a missile turret, he blows a hole through the wall with his atomic breath. Later, at the United Nations Godzilla Countermeasure Center in San Diego, Commander Riviera presents footage of the attack to G-Force U.S.A., whose members include Japanese transfer Dr. Rumi Chiba, heavy munitions expert Nuki, pyrotechnician Incense, and the musical android Jet Jaguar. Riviera explains that Godzilla was first awakened in 1954 by an "unknown weapon test" which also infused him with mysterious Kai-Sei energy. His subsequent razing of Tokyo proved to be the first of numerous kaiju attacks over the coming decades, motivating the nations of the world to come together in search of ways to stop them. The team proceed to watch Godzilla topple the Gravesend Charter Academy, a boarding school that takes in children orphaned by kaiju. Outside of the school, a fistfight breaks out between two of the evacuated students, who are only snapped out of it by the sight of a looming Godzilla. One of the kids, Jacen Braid, urges the other to run away before being blasted into a crater by atomic breath. However, Braid suddenly erupts out from the cloud of smoke unscathed and lands an energized punch on Godzilla's foot. Though the attack succeeded only in getting Braid tail-whipped, Riviera explains that the boy is a "G-Mutant"—and the most powerful one they've ever seen. Just then, Braid walks through the door in a G-Force uniform and declares that he will kill Godzilla, to Chiba's chagrin.
In the Gulf of Mexico, a grandmother's recounting of the Billy Bowlegs Pirate Festival to her grandson is interrupted by a whirlpool from which Anguirus emerges. Meanwhile, Nuki leads Braid to his bunk, which he'll share with a science officer. She explains that its small size is standard for new recruits due to their high casualty rate; he responds he's used to roommates and being the last one left from his time at the orphanage, to her amusement. His roommate Marco Petithomme greets him in a hazmat suit, partially removing it after it reports Braid's Kai-Sei emissions aren't dangerous. He voices his resentments towards the field team as Braid obliviously pops a box of popcorn with his powers. He then invites Braid to a mixer in the facility's lab, but the teen turns him down due to combat training. As soon as he leaves, Petithomme contacts his superiors, vowing to learn Braid's secrets no matter what it takes.
To teach Braid the strengths and weaknesses of his teammates, Chiba proposes a game of kemari, tasking Braid with carrying a ball across the floor without the rest of the team landing a hit on him. Jet Jaguar opens the match by growing its hand to enormous size for a palm strike, and Riviera follows with an exo-mech-powered kick, but Braid taunts them both for their age as he evades. Nuki unloads on him with lasers from her artillimech suit, but he correctly discerns that the suit is ineffective at close quarters. When he pauses to flirt, however, Incense blasts them apart with a fireball from his ex-mech suit. Braid comments that despite his firepower, Incense lacks the discipline of military training, but when the pyrotechnic teases him for his crush on Nuki, he becomes enraged and knocks him back with a burst of Kai-Sei energy. Riviera stops the match, slamming him into a wall to admonish him for turning his incredible power on his fellow Americans and instructing him to save it for the kaiju. Just then, they receive an alert that Anguirus has appeared off the coast of eastern Florida. The team quickly files onto a plane to confront the kaiju, with Riviera noting that Godzilla often follows Anguirus. Chiba tries to explain to Braid that Japan's philosophy regarding kaiju is different from the U.S.: minimizing conflict and putting anger and power to better use. He coldly responds that she should tell that to his parents. While Anguirus's movements are in line with its usual migration routes, and Chiba deems it unlikely to come ashore, Riviera judges it to be too close to the mainland and orders them into battle anyway.
Anguirus roars at Floridian beachgoers as he threatens to make landfall. Riviera explains to Braid that conventional weapons like jets and tanks are easily targeted by kaiju, while heavily-armed humans like themselves are more difficult for them to hit. Mistrustful of Chiba's approach to kaiju, Riviera orders her to stay on the plane, while she voices skepticism that Braid won't create another Deadzone. Nuki strikes first, firing at Anguirus with a massive gun while riding on Jet Jaguar's back. Incense, livestreaming the battle to his thousands of fans, ignites the oxygen inside the kaiju's mouth. Riviera encourages Braid to get angry at all the kaiju have done to their country as the teen shatters one of its carapace spikes with a punch. Chiba tries to psychically convince Anguirus to return underground, but senses its overwhelming rage at something that was taken from it. Just then, the rest of the team strikes the kaiju simultaneously, causing her to fall unconscious. Jet Jaguar catches her as Anguirus retreats.
The field team celebrates with drinks on the beach, with the exception of Chiba, who believes something is amiss with Anguirus. Riviera dismisses her, reminding her that her abilities caused trouble for her in Tokyo. She takes a boat to the spot where Anguirus decided to turn inland, but her contemplation is interrupted by Braid revealing his presence by throwing up. She asks why he followed her instead of enjoying Riviera's praise. He answers by recounting the last time he saw his mother, who left the house on a quick errand just before Godzilla attacked, and the hours he spent waiting at the door for her; in short, he doesn't like when people leave. Pity in her eyes, she helps him to his feet. He declares that Anguirus must have fled because of him, but she responds that the monster has survived every weapon in humanity's arsenal and even Godzilla himself. She senses that Anguirus had been drained of its energy prior to their battle and is now dying. Braid says he felt this too, but enjoyed it, relishing the chance to take revenge against the kaiju. Just then, a giant leech seizes him and pulls him underwater. Chiba dives in after him as more leeches converge on them. Elsewhere, a kaiju watches their struggle on an array of monitors, declaring them, Anguirus, and Godzilla a family united by violence.
Appearances
Monsters
Characters
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Weapons, vehicles, races, and organizations
Locations
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Gallery
Covers
Cover A by Nikola Čižmešija
Cover B by Jake Smith
Cover C by Arthur Adams
Cover D by Martin Simmonds
CaptCan Comics exclusive variant by Andrew Thomas
Collector's Paradise connecting Kai-Sei Era exclusive variant by Patrick Horvath
East Coast Comics exclusive variant by Franck Uzan
East Coast Comics exclusive variant (Japanese variant) by Franck Uzan
Exclusive cover by Chrissie Zullo Uminga
Exclusive cover by Matt Frank
Exclusive cover by Matt Frank
Exclusive cover by Jordan Noir
PCB Hobby exclusive by Nate Melendez
Zombie Unicorn Comics exclusive by Jeff Monk
Zombie Unicorn Comics virgin foil exclusive by Jeff Monk
Final Order exclusive by Maria Wolf
GalaxyCon foil exclusive by Dave Wachter
GalaxyCon foil exclusive by Drew Edward Johnson
GalaxyCon foil exclusive by Georges Jeanty
Exclusive cover by Camron Johnson
Exclusive virgin cover by Camron Johnson
Shopville exclusive cover by Yadvender Singh Rana
Shopville virgin exclusive cover by Yadvender Singh Rana
Cape & Cowl Comics exclusive variant by Jesse Hernandez
Impulse Creations exclusive variant by Nikola Čižmešija
Third Eye exclusive variant
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Famous Faces & Funnies exclusive variant
Mock-up of retailer variants
Second printing cover by Nikola Čižmešija
Previews
Trivia
- The IDW Monthly Title Catalog for May 2025 used this issue's Cover A as its cover.[2]
- A second printing of the issue was announced ahead of its release in response to the issue setting a new record for Godzilla comic sales for IDW with over 80,000 orders.[3]
- This is the first American comic book to use the name "G-Force" for a military organization, as it was originally used in the Heisei-era Godzilla films, rather than for a private group.
- In correcting Commander Riviera's translation of Kai-Sei, Dr. Chiba ironically makes an even more egregious error. The Kai-Sei Era logo indicates that Kai-Sei's Japanese rendering is 怪精, which can be translated as "strange energy", making Riviera's suggestion of "strange beast energy" mostly correct. Despite this, Chiba writes it off as an Americanism and asserts that the phrase directly translates to "sea star", which is patently false; there is no word in the Japanese language pronounced kaisei which means sea star. This was likely caused by the writer being confused over the word hitode (海星, "sea star"), the kanji in which are pronounced kai and sei in other words.
- Jet Jaguar's theme song includes the lyrics Yo! Who's that in the blue, yellow, and red? Is that a bird or a plane, that ain't what I said, alluding to Superman.
References
This is a list of references for Godzilla (2025 comic) issue 1. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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