Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, kickstarter

World War Kaiju, Cold Warriors And Something Special For Bleeding Cool Kickstarters

Published Sun, 23 Jun 2013 11:00:56 -0500

By Josh Finney

So why Kaiju?

And why now?

The idea for World War Kaiju came about roughly two years ago. I was coming off of putting the finishing touches on Titanium Rain 2 and needed some time to get away from the heavy military themes that dominated that book. So what did I do? I took a trip back to some of the better memories of my youth. I immersed myself in the golden age
of kaiju cinema—Godzilla, Gamera, King Ghidorah: The Three-Headed Monster. I figured these films would be a perfect escape from the bleak headspace that comes with composing an unforgiving story about war. So then I watched Gojira, the original Godzilla. You know, the Japanese version which includes all the references to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Yeah…

Now that is a dark, dark ninety-six minutes of film. Even by today's standards Gojira cuts pretty deep. So this got me thinking. How did this nuclear apocalypse monster go from being a symbol of the bomb, to a lumbering (and occasionally goofy) hero who often did more harm than good? Much of this had to do with the Big G becoming a metaphor for
the USA. Sure, after the war America had become Japan's protector, but just like Godzilla, Japan wasn't exactly comfortable with the nuclear giant that watched over them.

After doing some deep research into the history of kaiju cinema I came across the recurrent notion that several of the Toho monsters were actually metaphors for the global superpowers. Mothra was Japan, Rodan was Russia, King Ghidorah was China, and so on. Which got me thinking, what if the A-Bomb had never happened? What if when the atom was split in Alamgordo, New Mexico the result wasn't the dawn of the Nuclear
Age, but rather the Kaiju Age? What if once the smoke cleared from the Trinity test site the first thing Dr. Oppenheimer saw was a fifty foot harbinger of atomic death?

And thus World War Kaiju was born.

So why take World War Kaiju to Kickstarter? Why now? Do I even need to say it? Pacific Rim. If there was ever a time when the public would be receptive to my wacked out idea of a Cold War driven by a kaiju arms race, it was now. Truth is, for the last two years artist Patrick McEvoy (Arkham Horror, Call of Cthulhu) has been crunching out pages for the book when his schedule allows. But with Pacific Rim rekindling America's fascination with apocalypse monsters I knew the time for WWK had come. To make that happen Patrick would need to drop everything and devote himself to the book full-time.

So, how does an author like myself cough up the cash to afford one of the most in-demand fantasy artists in gaming. And fulltime, at that? Kickstarter.

The great part is, if the Kickstarter campaign succeeds the book will be far better than I ever imagined. Patrick will be able to devote his full attention to the project which will inevitably lead to even better artwork. Also it means I won't have to go lean on the story. Scenes that were shortened to save Patrick time can now be portrayed in all their city-stomping, fire spewing, radiation drenched glory.

Now for the fun part. Rich Johnston has offered Team Kaiju the opportunity to promote WWK's Kickstarter campaign here on Bleeding Cool. In conjunction with this site, we've created a special "Bleeding Cool" incentive pack. For those BC readers who choose to support WWK, their copy of World War Kaiju will come with a special Bleeding Cool Bookplate which will feature an illustration of everyone's favorite media overlord, Rich Johnston, as a kaiju climbing the Empire State building. And yes, he'll be swatting at bi-planes and clutching Fay Wray.

The BC Pack incentive will be limited to a total of fifty. And if all fifty BC Packs are taken, Rich will make a cameo in the book during the Cuban Monster Crisis. When the monsters clash, Rich will enact the classic, "Look! Here comes Godzilla!" scene that has appeared in so many classic Toho films.

I hope you choose to join us on this epic journey of Cold War monster paranoia. Thanks!

THE BLEEDING COOL PACK (Limit: 50)

Specifically for fans of BleedingCool.com, this incentive includes everything in the Deluxe Pack AND a special, limited edition Bleeding Cool bookplate that depicts everyone's favorite journalist, Rich Johnston, as a kaiju climbing the Empire State Building. And yes, he'll be swatting at bi-planes and holding Fay Wray. This plate will be signed by the artist, Patrick McEvoy. Even better, if all fifty BC Packs are taken, Rich will make a cameo in the book during the Cuban Monster Crisis. When the monsters clash, Rich will enact the classic, "Look! Here comes Godzilla!" scene that has appeared in so many classic Toho films.

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