by Random House in the mid-1990's, this was one
of several books from the firm that was aimed toward
catering a very young audience. Unfortunately, this
publication makes for a rather tepid experience
all around. In terms of the story, it focuses on
a oval shaped object washing ashore Monster Island
that Anguirus and Godzilla decide to protect. As
expected, a number of the other inhabitants of the
island want to destroy it, as the pair fight off
Kumonga, Kamacuras and Gigan (whose inclusion as
an inhabitant of Monster Island is bizarre). Eventually,
humanity catches wind of the object, and sends Mechagodzilla
to defend it, causing Rodan, who is drawn in the
hideous "Trendmasters look", to join the
fray as Godzilla eventually defeats his metal doppelganger.
Following this skirmish, the object hatches to reveal
that it was a cocoon with Mothra, Imago, inside.
Overall, the story is more complex than one would
expect from the title's target audience, although
there isn't much to praise about it all the same.
The idea of having Mechagodzilla sent to defend
the cocoon is an odd one, and the writing clashes
with this explanation as details like "cruel
yellow eyes" are used to describe the mech.
Unfortunately, in that vein, the quality of writing
in general is pretty bad, even with the given age
group in mind. The biggest problem is simply that
it moves from point to point at such a rapid pace
that the words sometimes feel like they are leaving
the images behind. In retrospect, it probably would
have benefited if the action was condensed, like
removing one of the battles in order to better explore
another. Despite the writing's faults, though, the
biggest blemish here is simply the rather unappealing
art, which was done by Tom Morgan and Paul Mounts.
It's unfortunate, but really the only decent shot
in this book is the one on page 6 and 7 that show
Varan and Anguirus looking over the cocoon. Otherwise,
the book is just filled with drawing after drawing
that misses its mark, with many looking like it
was a rough sketch that was then going to be replaced
with a more fleshed out drawing that never came.
Bottom line, unless you are a diehard collector,
there is little reason to search this book out compared
to most of the others that Random House distributed.