Scan barcode
tomcork's review
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault
undertowsoul's review
3.0
This was a pretty funny graphic novel, although not exactly for me. The majority of the references seemed to go right over my head, probably because I've never been to prison and have never watched any TV shows about or featuring prison life. The jokes I did catch and understand were pretty funny though and I loved the dichotomy between the two gangs and all of the different cronies. I also somehow want to continue just because I want to know what happens to the kids. The artwork was also great. The whole thing was super colorful and I loved the inventiveness of the monsters. This is definitely not one for kids though. Even though there's only mild swearing since everything is either slang cursing or censored, you still know what they were saying. There's not any sexual content besides innuendo but there's a decent amount of violence. Even though it's not realistic looking (it is against giant imaginary monsters after all), I still found myself bothered by it, mainly because of who much of it was against but also just the way the violence occurred. This could just be me but proceed with caution. The biggest reason I'd say this isn't for kids is because I see them having the same problem I did and, unlike me, not pushing through to the end. If you're even a tiny bit more well-versed than I am, I'm sure you'll enjoy.
I would like to thank the publisher, author, and Netgalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.
I would like to thank the publisher, author, and Netgalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.
eddief419's review
5.0
I didn’t really know anything about this book when I picked it up. I had just heard good things and wanted to check out a cool Kaiju book. Everything around the book, be it artwork or cover copy, makes it feel like a giant monster fighting book. After the first chapter, it dawned on me what this book really was, under the ranger team esthetics and power of heart message: this is a prison drama. I was not expecting to read a prison drama and don’t really seek them out, but “prison drama but kaiju” is a hell of a twist and kept me hooked. They hit upon all of the different prison drama troupes with a giant monster twist (and by all of them, I do mean ALL of them, so make sure you take care of yourself). The takes of the monster designs and how they divided up was interesting, but it’s the take on the guards that really stood out to me. They don’t see the monsters as humans with rights and have no problem throwing children into Kaijumax (btw it didn’t dawn on me until later that the title is a pun). This is a hardcore prison drama with bright colors, cartoon monsters, and is one of the most specific things I’ve read in a while.
vegebrarian's review
5.0
Clean, colorful, bubbly art with a solid story. What if Kaiju's were incarcerated by humans? A mashup of monsters and beasts (some victims and some villains) are captured and brought to an island industrial prison complex. Season one has you rooting for a dad just trying to raise his kids, he just happens to be a huge radioactive insect monster. Surprisingly profound.
ania's review
4.0
Love the genre mashup & visual jokes & countless references but on the linguistic side - maybe a little bit problematic, sometimes?
I'm super into Electrogor's character arc though. The trials that megafauna's been through, sheesh!
I'm super into Electrogor's character arc though. The trials that megafauna's been through, sheesh!
clwojick's review
5.0
A stunning futuristic graphic novel about a prison fit for monsters, robots, and all other non-humans. The story immediately pulled me in, and the illustrations were beyond stunning. The colors were vibrant, and the illustrations were so detailed. I absolutely loved it, and couldn't wait to read on to volume 2. This will be a huge hit with a lot of my Litsy friends, as there seems to be a ton of graphic novel fanatics.
I have received a much appreciated digital copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I have received a much appreciated digital copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
librarianryan's review
4.0
This is an interesting premise. All the large monsters and robots, from B movies of the past, are all sentenced to live on an island prison. Many of the monsters, I don’t recognize, but many I do. One has a family and does not want to be parted from his kids. But us evil humans are not giving them any chose. Great fun.
llamareads's review
4.0
The thought of a prison full of Kaiju (Japanese movie monsters, like Godzilla) was fascinating. I don’t know much about Kaiju, so I’m certain there were several in-jokes I missed, but I was able to follow along even without that.
This first collection of issues starts with the arrival of a new group of Kaiju to the prison, including one named Electrogor. While some of the other Kaiju are career criminals, he was captured while trying to get food for his two kids – apparently he was gnawing on the Trans-Pacific cable – and it’s through his eyes that we are first get introduced to the prison.
There’s a lot of smart and hilarious parallels to prison life, from using waterfalls as showers and weightlifting skyscrapers, to prisoners getting high off uranium, to the mech Kaiju preaching about the “Cloud” and nonviolence. The art is absolutely beautiful, cartoony and inked with bright colors, and the characters are widely expressive. It’s a weird juxtaposition, though, because this is at heart a gritty prison story, full of various gangs jockeying for position, corrupt guards, and prison rape and its consequences. Based on the art, I was not expecting it to be so dark. Watching Electrogor’s transformation from a single dad just trying to provide for his kids to the “mon” he’s forced to become in the prison was simultaneously horrific and sympathetic. There’s so many plot lines going on that it was initially hard for me to keep track of everything that was going on, but I think that may have been due to my lack of familiarity with the source subject matter.
I’m not usually a fan of prison dramas, but I finished this book desperate to know what happens with Electrogor and Whoofy, the not-too-bright son of a gang leader, so I will definitely be picking up the next one! If the thought of a gritty prison drama mashed up with Japanese monster movies sounds appealing, then you will definitely enjoy this!
This first collection of issues starts with the arrival of a new group of Kaiju to the prison, including one named Electrogor. While some of the other Kaiju are career criminals, he was captured while trying to get food for his two kids – apparently he was gnawing on the Trans-Pacific cable – and it’s through his eyes that we are first get introduced to the prison.
There’s a lot of smart and hilarious parallels to prison life, from using waterfalls as showers and weightlifting skyscrapers, to prisoners getting high off uranium, to the mech Kaiju preaching about the “Cloud” and nonviolence. The art is absolutely beautiful, cartoony and inked with bright colors, and the characters are widely expressive. It’s a weird juxtaposition, though, because this is at heart a gritty prison story, full of various gangs jockeying for position, corrupt guards, and prison rape and its consequences. Based on the art, I was not expecting it to be so dark. Watching Electrogor’s transformation from a single dad just trying to provide for his kids to the “mon” he’s forced to become in the prison was simultaneously horrific and sympathetic. There’s so many plot lines going on that it was initially hard for me to keep track of everything that was going on, but I think that may have been due to my lack of familiarity with the source subject matter.
I’m not usually a fan of prison dramas, but I finished this book desperate to know what happens with Electrogor and Whoofy, the not-too-bright son of a gang leader, so I will definitely be picking up the next one! If the thought of a gritty prison drama mashed up with Japanese monster movies sounds appealing, then you will definitely enjoy this!
skjam's review
4.0
Electrogor just wanted to feed his family. His children were the only things in the world he cared about. Unfortunately, what Electrogor’s children eat is gigawatts of electrical power and he got caught trying to tap one of the humans’ power cables. There is no trial for kaiju (giant monsters) so it’s off to prison he goes!
Once the kaiju were powerful, effectively rulers of the Earth who laughed at the puny humans’ attempts to fend them off. But those days are over. The humans have the technology to fight the monsters and imprison those that break human law in an island facility in the South Pacific referred to as “Kaijumax.”
This Oni Press miniseries by Zander Cannon combines giant monster action with prison drama. It’s an odd combination that works about eighty percent of the time. Mr. Cannon has mentioned that while anti-kaiju prejudice has echoes of real world bigotry, kaiju should not be read as any specific race or religious group; it’s whatever works for the story.
While Electrogor is sympathetic ala Jean Valjean, many of his fellow prisoners are on the island for good reason. Drug dealers, murderers, organized crime types, and some who are just plain evil. There’s a lot more of them than the ones who just made a mistake or had an accident. (Or in the case of Whoofy, son of Ape-Whale, just related to a criminal.)
To be honest, it’s not as though most of the guards are much better. The Warden is brutal and has little sympathy for his charges, guard Gupta is openly corrupt, and the prison doctor has compromised her ethics for a prisoner she’s emotionally attached to. Any guard who comes in with idealism will soon find much of it crushed.
In the tradition of prison soap operas (I used to be a big fan of Australia’s Prisoner, aka Prisoner in Cell Block H) we follow multiple characters in their own subplots. Electrogor, the new meat, learns how the prison works and who he can and cannot trust. Whoofy, abused by his father, meets a mysterious human boy who suggests how to get even. Gupta wheels and deals, but may have gotten in over his head. Mecha-Zonn, a pacifist built to destroy the monster Zonn (but who refused to destroy anyone), has family issues with his creator/father and little sister.
This volume has an explosive (literally) climax that leads into the events of the second volume. (Watch for my review of that one!)
One of the nice things about having kaiju as the main characters is that each can be a unique design and thus easy to tell apart, making it easy to follow the story. The humans are a bit harder to differentiate, especially as most of them in this volume are wearing uniforms. The art is a good kind of cartoony, and doesn’t skimp on the backgrounds.
On the less good side, every so often there’s a moment that doesn’t quite nail the combination of goofy and dramatic, and that took me out of the story multiple times.
Content note: Rape and abortion happen, as well as a lot of monster gore. This is a “Mature Readers” title, despite the usual obscenities and ethnic slurs being substituted with other words. As a movie, maybe a hard “R”?
Overall, I have already purchased the second volume, and recommend this to grown-up kaiju fans and prison drama fans who can accept the bizarre premise.
Once the kaiju were powerful, effectively rulers of the Earth who laughed at the puny humans’ attempts to fend them off. But those days are over. The humans have the technology to fight the monsters and imprison those that break human law in an island facility in the South Pacific referred to as “Kaijumax.”
This Oni Press miniseries by Zander Cannon combines giant monster action with prison drama. It’s an odd combination that works about eighty percent of the time. Mr. Cannon has mentioned that while anti-kaiju prejudice has echoes of real world bigotry, kaiju should not be read as any specific race or religious group; it’s whatever works for the story.
While Electrogor is sympathetic ala Jean Valjean, many of his fellow prisoners are on the island for good reason. Drug dealers, murderers, organized crime types, and some who are just plain evil. There’s a lot more of them than the ones who just made a mistake or had an accident. (Or in the case of Whoofy, son of Ape-Whale, just related to a criminal.)
To be honest, it’s not as though most of the guards are much better. The Warden is brutal and has little sympathy for his charges, guard Gupta is openly corrupt, and the prison doctor has compromised her ethics for a prisoner she’s emotionally attached to. Any guard who comes in with idealism will soon find much of it crushed.
In the tradition of prison soap operas (I used to be a big fan of Australia’s Prisoner, aka Prisoner in Cell Block H) we follow multiple characters in their own subplots. Electrogor, the new meat, learns how the prison works and who he can and cannot trust. Whoofy, abused by his father, meets a mysterious human boy who suggests how to get even. Gupta wheels and deals, but may have gotten in over his head. Mecha-Zonn, a pacifist built to destroy the monster Zonn (but who refused to destroy anyone), has family issues with his creator/father and little sister.
This volume has an explosive (literally) climax that leads into the events of the second volume. (Watch for my review of that one!)
One of the nice things about having kaiju as the main characters is that each can be a unique design and thus easy to tell apart, making it easy to follow the story. The humans are a bit harder to differentiate, especially as most of them in this volume are wearing uniforms. The art is a good kind of cartoony, and doesn’t skimp on the backgrounds.
On the less good side, every so often there’s a moment that doesn’t quite nail the combination of goofy and dramatic, and that took me out of the story multiple times.
Content note: Rape and abortion happen, as well as a lot of monster gore. This is a “Mature Readers” title, despite the usual obscenities and ethnic slurs being substituted with other words. As a movie, maybe a hard “R”?
Overall, I have already purchased the second volume, and recommend this to grown-up kaiju fans and prison drama fans who can accept the bizarre premise.
disobedientlib's review
5.0
Fun, inventive read with great artwork! Prison life (for Kaiju; monsters) was never so darkly funny and just bizarre.