“Arena for Three!”

GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS — Issue no. 11, March 1978

Book: Godzilla, King of the Monsters

Issue No.: 11

Published: March 7, 1978

Title: “Arena for Three!”

Cover Price: 35¢

This book finishes up Godzilla’s big fight with Yetrigar (he’s like a giant Bigfoot monster) that got started in Godzilla no. 10. In addition to all of the players we saw last time — Godzilla, Yetrigar, kid-piloted giant robot Red Ronin, and a few SHIELD agents — this story features four new characters, a group of tourists whose Grand Canyon rafting trip gets interrupted by the Godzilla/Yetrigar battle. The original Godzilla (AKA Gojira) movie is as much a disaster movie as it is a monster movie, and the trials and tribulations of the rafting group are very much in the disaster movie spirit.

In a nice twist for the late ’70s, when female characters were often delegated to damsels-in-distress roles, the two male rafters are injured, so the two women rafters take charge and lead the group to safety.

The story ends on a melancholy note. Red Ronin’s pilot, young Rob Takiguchi, wants to protect Godzilla from Yetrigar, but he doesn’t want to hurt Yetrigar, either. Takiguchi believes that both monsters should be allowed to live in peace — they aren’t evil, they’re just wild animals who happen to be very, very large. But Yetrigar won’t back down, so Takiguchi ends up killing him, believing there is no other way to save Godzilla.

After two Marvel Godzilla books, I am already a big fan. It’s a rock-solid Bronze Age book, with a nice balance of action, drama, and melodrama. Eventually I’m gonna have to find some time to go back and read the first nine issues of Marvel’s run!

Next time — The Thing teams up with Black Panther to fight a vampire!