Godzilla stories have been told for what feels like eons, but Louie Joyce brings a fresh perspective to the Godzilla lore with Godzilla: Skate or Die, an epic and stunning punk skateboard story dropped into a world where Kaiju battles lay just around the corner.

Four years ago, four best friends and die-hard skaters found the perfect location for a DIY skatepark. After months of hard work, they created the world’s sickest spot that they could enjoy for the rest of their lives… That is, until the ferocious Varan appeared in the middle of central Australia and started making a beeline for their beloved park.

Joyce has written and illustrated a beautiful story with a perfect blend of skate culture with Kaiju stories. While we didn’t get to experience any extreme and epic Kaiju battles in the debut issue we can feel the tension building for future issues in the series. What we do get is a great foundation where best friends just want to shred the park but will have to deal with a potential disastrous battle between Varan and the King of the Monsters.

What Godzilla: Skate or Die #1 brings to the table is a gorgeously designed, illustrated, colored and lettered debut issue. Each page is executed with a great amount of thought to allow us to immerse ourselves in the punk skateboard life. While it can be a difficult task to execute action sports illustrations well in comic book form, Joyce does it so well we can almost feel the motion in each panel. Add to the outstanding illustrations the perfect lettering by Russ Wooton and we get a visual feast for the eyes.

Adapting Godzilla into something new for readers to experience has been a task that many people have attempt to do over the years. Some of them have succeeded in their mission, while others have faltered. Joyce is definitely in the former part of that statement. We get a comic that is unique, entertaining, visually attractive and an overall good time.

Godzilla: Skate or Die #1 may not be for everyone, but if you are anything like us and grew up in a world where skating was part of your everyday life and you are excited for future Kaiju battles, this comic is going to hit just right for you. In the debut issue we get a comic that is not just fun to read but a visual experience in its own right. Now, lets just get prepared for some killer skating and epic battles in future issues.

Godzilla: Skate or Die #1 hits local comic shops on June 12, 2024 from IDW Publishing.