Tag: Kaiju

Under the Tree: IDW and Top Shelf’s Best of 2025

From gentle Halloween spirits to ghost-hunting kids, kaiju art showcases, and enduring literary classics, this curated guide highlights IDW and Top Shelf’s best comics for 2025—handpicked titles that belong under the tree.

IDW Publishing SantaFor fans who prefer the indie side of comic books, plenty of publishers still carry the torch for original, creator-driven work. Whether it’s through carefully curated imprints like IDW Publishing’s Top Shelf division or singular passion projects, this gift guide spotlighting IDW and Top Shelf’s best leans into stories that blend the supernatural with a healthy dash of pop-culture charm. The focus here in this latest look are the books I’d be delighted to find under the Christmas tree. The reason is that I didn’t pick them up when they first hit shelves.

Spoops: The Little Spirits of Halloween

Spoops- The Little Spirits of HalloweenWho changes the leaves? Who summons the autumn winds, wakes ghosts, and chills the air just enough to make October feel right? Why, Spoops, of course. These tiny spirits hatch from the smallest gourds in pumpkin patches at the start of every fall, then dutifully tend to their towns to make sure Halloween goes off without a hitch.

This whimsical take on the season’s hidden caretakers is beautifully illustrated. The cover alone is cute and begs to be embraced. As for the title characters, there’s no shortage of moments that inspire a heartfelt “aww” when I first saw it.

The story centres on young Holly Hollowell, who loves Halloween more than anything, much to the dismay of her parents, who disapprove of anything involving tooth-rotting sweets. While other kids trick-or-treat, Holly watches sadly from her window… until the Spoops arrive to turn things around. With a little magical help, Holly shows her parents the genuine spirit of All Saints’ Eve, not candy, but creativity, imagination, and the freedom to let your spooky side soar.

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Hungry For Justice League vs Godzilla vs Kong 2? Thoughts on This Upcoming Release.

It’s hard to say if season two of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters will air in 2025, but in comic book front, fans of Legendary’s Monsterverse can get their fix with the comic book Justice League vs Godzilla vs Kong 2.

Justice League vs Godzilla vs King Kong 2 CoverGetting ready for release next month is Justice League vs Godzilla vs Kong 2. Here, Task Force X’s attempt to create hybrid Titans to rule DC’s Earth Prime universe may well involve invading the Monsterverse! Although I voiced my thoughts on the last series (review link), I’m still curious how this second series will proceed.

Although Legendary Comics is a division whose partnership with other studios has changed over the years, just how this affects the bottom line is still odd. Some departments are autonomous but still have to pitch to executives managing IPs to get the funding to move projects forward.

Here, all that’s known about the upcoming series is that the heroes have to travel into the Monsterverse to convince some titans to hide from Amanda Waller’s plan to create another Suicide Squad. My suspicion is that, and because the summary lacked detail, I had to consider her motivation for creating her own Jurassic Park.

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To Hail a Lunar New Year with 2024’s Ape x Mecha Ape: New World Order

Even though The Asylum’s mockbusters are just that, sometimes there’s a diamond in the rough that gets my attention. When the focus is away from a mutant lizard, Ape x Mecha Ape: New World Order is surprisingly watchable.

Ape X Mecha Ape New World OrderAvailable to view on Google Play and Prime Video
Spoiler Alert

The Asylum is a movie studio well known for its parodies of blockbuster films, and sometimes they create a hidden gem I enjoy. What writer/director Marc Gottlieb got right in Ape X Mecha Ape: New World Order to honour that kaiju spirit. The biggest surprise is the design of the robot! I’d gladly have a model of it stomping on 1998s Godzilla on my shelf!

But for the former, as this planet’s saviour (sort of), the giant sized Abraham knows something the humans do not at the start of this film. And all his human watchers can do is stand by the sidelines and watch the devastation. If that’s not what a typical Toho film from the 70s looks like, then maybe someone can enlighten me. After this monkey’s first confrontation with a worm from outer space, all I wanted to see was who would win during round two!

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Megaghost is Set to Rematerialize in 2025!

Just whether or not MegaGhost ever existed as a cartoon doesn’t matter as Dark Horse Comics have a trade paperback collecting this comic book series next year!

Megaghost Volume 1 TPBDark Horse Comics
Release Date: January 08, 2025

Albatross Funnybooks and Dark Horse Comics invite readers to join an arcane adventure that brings back the action-packed thrills of Saturday morning cartoons, blended with supernatural chills! MegaGhost, written by Gabe Soria (Midnight Arcade, Batman ‘66) and illustrated by Eisner Award-winning artist Gideon Kendall (Marley’s Ghost, Lester of the Lesser Gods), will be released in a new paperback volume in January 2025. It will feature an all-new cover by Kendall and collect issues #1-5, plus bonus content, including the previously uncollected holiday special “MegaGhost of Christmas,” and a new introduction! Die-hard believers will need to keep their eyes peeled for even more MegaGhost, coming soon!

The MegaGhost Saturday morning cartoon was legendary, if short-lived, and in what can only be described as the most fantastic case of the Mandela Effect EVER, the only two people on Earth who seem to remember it are Soria and Kendall.

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Godzilla x Kong The New Empire, A Review and Thoughts the Monsterverse’s Future

After all that’s sand and done in Godzilla X Kong The New Empire, is it really over after Dr., Ilene says humanity must learn how to live with the Titans?

Godzilla x Kong The New Empire Movie PosterGodzilla x Kong The New Empire isn’t the best followup to a new set of films about these two titans begrudgingly working together. That’s because I’ve seen half the ideas before. The one about Kong exploring Hollow Earth and earning his place in ape society is to be expected. Elsewhere, when the trailers show Godzilla aware an unknown threat is coming, he’ll have to power up in order to defeat it. As for whom he targets and how savage he is, that’s the only part I truly liked.

And because I read Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong the night before, I get the sense fans are being groomed for what’s to come. In the Monsterverse, superheroes do not exist. Having people in power armour does, and when considering Mecha Godzilla was introduced the prior film, I suspect putting a human in battle armour ala Pacific Rim can make anyone look super powered like Lex in his giant robot! If my theory is true, I’ll keep watching despite how repetitive the ideas are getting in setting up the future for this franchise.

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When Godzilla Minus One Recreates The Fear, Fans Can Cheer at this Proper Reset of a Beloved Icon!

Here, Gojira and Godzilla will be used synonymously to explore his appeal world-wide, and Godzilla Minus One shows how The East is dealing with the West(ern) threat.

Godzilla Minus One TrailerSpoiler Alert

A primer is needed to help describe where Godzilla Minus One fits in the lore. Technically, not all of TOHO‘s Gojira films belong in one long continuity. Fans know his longevity is due to how he is represented over the nearly seven decades.

Throughout the Shōwa era (1954–75), he eventually became a hero who often saved Japan from other kaiju and alien invaders. During the Heisei period (1984–95), he was an anti-hero. In the Millennium (1999–2004) years, I saw the beast as neither friend nor foe (each film was standalone, save for Against Mechagodzilla and Godzilla: Tokyo SOS). The Reiwa era (2016–present) recognises how this terror is simply a force of nature. Although this studio’s animated trilogy (2017-18) is its own universe, I think they fit under the same umbrella.

Just where this Japanese studio’s latest belongs is somewhere with the first movie and Shin Godzilla. Not only do long-time fans hear Akira Ifukube’s signature score, which really defines the monster’s presence, but also we see nothing has changed in Gojira’s design. Aside from larger dorsal fins and how they activate when he’s ready to breathe fire, the outline can not be altered by much.

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