Summer has finished, but there is still time to pick up the Godzilla: Monster Island Summer Camp graphic novel! The creative team, writer, Rosie Knight, and artist, Oliver Ono, both worked on Godzilla Rivals: Battra for IDW Publishing. They have crafted the perfect graphic novel for young readers, grades 4-7 is the target audience, and all lovers of manga and kaiju! The cover promises fun with Minilla carrying a basket of fruit with three girls from the summer camp. Colorful green skies with a touch of manga and just fun artwork by Ono. This instantly brings back his appearance in Godzilla’s Revenge (1969) which was geared specifically for kids. Zelda is a young girl who likes sketching with the ambition to be a cartoonist. Could this be more relatable to all comics fans?
She sketches in her book drawing her mother who inspired her with comics and manga. Zelda is taking a bus that is leaving the city which has some futurisistic buildings. She is heading to camp which she hopes is an arts camp. Her mom worked hard to give her the birthday surprise of summer camp. The bus suddenly comes to a stop and the camp counselor announces that everyone has to give up cell phones and hurry into the camp. Zelda is trying to pick up all of her scattered art supplies when the counselor reveals that More Inc. is a sports camp! They have taken over last year to make a high tech sports camp, no time for crafts, it has a “military-level obstacle course”!
Zelda walks with a cane and she is assigned to the Oak cabin. She meets her roommates, Weezy with orange pony tails, and Rumiko with a bucket hat. I wonder if Rumiko is named after manga legend, Rumiko Takahashi. Zelda asks if they knew it was a sports camp and Weezy says no. The interior of the cabin looks like a Studio Ghibli design, very comfortable with potted plants and a stained glass window of a leaf. Rumiko loves sports, but Weezy wanted to paint, she also has a bionic arm(!). Zelda loves the arm. I love the cyber future and also the relatable summer camp experience. Rumiko offers to do the sports for them. They start to talk about comics when the counselor sends them to the mess hall. At their table, Rumiko talks about her interest in cryptozoology, including monsters like Mothman. I like the sketchy fellow campers in the background.
This is again interrupted by the head counselor, who introduces himself, Jack, and the others, Dane and Morgan. Jack says that they have to follow what they say, ends the meal, and sends them off for a night run! He has them wear neon vests, but Zelda is defiant in doing any laps. I like the face off of the three friends next to three counselors. Jack then notes that only one of them can return to the cabin. Zelda says Weezy can go back to her paints. Jack says Rumiko has to do laps three times and she loves it! Zelda goes her own way alone, she parts a tree branch, and sees a cliffside cave by a lake! She enters the cave which is filled with crystals and stone bridges. Zelda walks up to a fountain of water when a pudgy paw pulls her in! This leads to a splash page of yellow skies, pink and purple palm trees, and Minilla!
Zelda follows Minilla into the palm tree forest, but her cane snaps, I feel her frustration. She sees Minilla try to hide by a tree branch. Zelda explains that she needs help with her broken cane. She introduces herself, then ends up sketching herself with the cane, Minilla nods his head. He brings her to a statue by a waterfall and snaps off a stone cane that almost looks like a plumber’s pipe. She takes the cane and suddenly unleashes some kind of power! Donald Blake was transformed into Thor by his cane in the comics. Minilla roars and the scepter allows her to understand him! His thoughts show her via her sketchbook that this is Monster Island, three “strange men” appeared, and the monsters went missing, only to return changed. Zelda of course has adventures with her new friend, eventually the other girls, and they encounter some of the best kaiju! One kaiju interests Ororo, Rumiko’s friend, the King of the Monsters! Godzilla: Monster Island Summer Camp is fun, highly recommended, a story for kids and kids at heart, and a great kaiju tale!
Five Sketchbooks out of Five!
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