Book Review: Godzilla's 70th Anniversary by various artists

Godzilla's 70th Anniversary by various artists

This anthology pulls together thirteen different stories featuring the most famous kaiju of all time, Godzilla. The book was published in 2024, being the seventieth anniversary of the first Godzilla movie in 1954. The years have seen a lot of different depictions and interpretations of Godzilla. This book presents the same--a lot of different depictions and interpretations (though the stories were produced in the last decade).

As in most anthologies, the selection is hit-and-miss. In the miss category: one story tells of Godzilla in the American Old West; another of a daredevil mountain climber who takes fifteen hours (!) to scale Godzilla's back and take samples. On the hit side, a charming story shows a boy's vision of Godzilla and his enemies. And a serious story is told by a scientist who grew up a victim of Godzilla's wrath, inspiring him to study the "megafauna" in order to defeat it. His struggle to understand the monster is as much an intellectual challenge as a physical one. 

Overall, there's a lot more nonsense and brutal action than good entertainment here. I don't regret reading this but definitely won't be picking it up again.

Mildly recommended--this is really for Godzilla fans only.