Godzilla: Gangsters & Goliaths (2011)

	IDW
	Godzilla: Gangsters & Goliaths
	#1 • #2 • #3 • #4 • #5

Godzilla: Gangsters & Goliaths (ゴジラ：ギャングスター＆ゴライアス, Gojira: Gyangusutā ando Goraiasu, lit. "Godzilla: Gangster & Goliath") is a comic book miniseries by IDW Publishing, written by John Layman and illustrated by Alberto Ponticelli. It ran for five issues from June 15 to October 19, 2011. The series follows Detective Makoto Sato, whose quest to bring down the Takahashi Crime Syndicate leads to him ending up on Monster Island. After encountering Mothra's tiny priestesses known as the Elias, Sato hatches a desperate plan to bring the Elias to Tokyo so that Mothra will follow and destroy Takahashi's criminal empire. Things quickly go awry as evil yakuza boss Ryota Takahashi kidnaps the Elias himself with the intention of using them to rule Tokyo, attracting all of the denizens of Monster Island, including Godzilla himself, to the city. Now, Sato must work to fix the mess he created with the help of his two sons and G-Force's retired Mechagodzilla.

Godzilla: Gangsters & Goliaths was republished as part of the Godzilla: World of Monsters trade paperback in August 2021, along with Godzilla: Cataclysm and Godzilla: Oblivion. It was republished again as part of the Godzilla Library Collection, Vol. 1 paperback in October 2023, along with Godzilla Legends and Godzilla: The Half-Century War. Saldapress translated and released the series in Italy across three issues from October 2019 to December 2020. It will be translated into Japanese as a standalone paperback by Phase Six on November 30, 2023.

Issues

Italian release

Godzilla #1 (issues #1–2)
Godzilla #2 (issues #3–4)
Godzilla #3 (issue #5 and Godzilla: Cataclysm #1)

Trade paperbacks

Appearances

Monsters

Characters

Makoto Sato
Ryota Takahashi
Oshii
Kou
Chief Nakamura
Yamane
Jiro Sato
Koji Sato
Akiko Sato (flashback)

Weapons, vehicles, races, and organizations

Elias
Guardians of the Elias
G-Force

Locations

Monster Island
Japan
- Tokyo
  - Yurakucho
  - Minato
  - Harajuku
  - Roppongi
  - Shinjuku
  - G-Force Headquarters
  - Takahashi Tower
- Tokyo Bay

In other languages

Language		Name	Meaning
Italian		Godzilla: Giganti e gangster	Godzilla: Giants and Gangsters

Trivia

The issues of Godzilla: Gangsters & Goliaths contained a unique disclaimer stating that it is set in a different continuity from Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters, with which it ran concurrently.
Series writer John Layman and Godzilla: Rulers of Earth writer-illustrator Matt Frank devised a follow-up to Gangsters & Goliaths entitled Godzilla: Lolitas & Leviathans. Layman described it as being "about a Tokyo biker girl gang that uncovers an aliens-among-us plot that ultimately unleashes Space Godzilla",^[1] with Frank adding that it would have featured "goth lolitas teaming up with 'sukeban' or delinquent girls," comparing it to Tetsuya Nakashima's film Kamikaze Girls.^[2] The series did not materialize before IDW's rights to Godzilla lapsed, and it has yet to be revisited under the company's renewed deal.

References

This is a list of references for Godzilla: Gangsters & Goliaths. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: ^[1]

Comments

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[Layman-1] Layman, John (21 September 2020). "I wanted to follow my Hong Kong John Wu GANGSTERS & GOLIATHS with a GODZILLA mini called LOLITAS & LEVIATHANS, about a Tokyo biker girl gang that uncovers an aliens-among-us plot that ultimately unleashes Space Godzilla. It did not happen". Twitter. Archived from the original on 21 September 2020.

[2] Frank, Matt (21 September 2020). "Something special for hitting 15K on Instagram! A few years back, when IDW was still producing new Godzilla comics, I began talking to comic book superstar John Layman about making a follow-up to his mini-series, Godzilla: Gangsters and Goliaths, tentatively titled "Lolitas and Leviathans"! It would be akin to the film KAMIKAZE GIRLS, with goth lolitas teaming up with "sukeban" or delinquent girls, who uncover an alien invasion plot that leads to a rematch between Godzilla and Space Godzilla. Unfortunately we never got it off the ground and IDW lost the license after a certain point. C'est la vie, at least it's a cool idea! Hopefully John and I will get to properly collaborate one day! #godzilla #godzillakingofthemonsters #godzillaidw #idwpublishing #johnlayman #godzillagangstersandgoliaths #gangstersandgoliaths #lolitasandleviathans #mattfrank #mattfrankart #sukeban #lolitafashion". Instagram. Retrieved 8 August 2025.

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