Exclusive Interview: 'Godzilla vs. Avengers' #1 Writer David F. Walker

Just as the King of the Monsters is beloved across its incarnations, for many, Marvel Comics' New Avengers can hit like old friends. And for Godzilla vs. Avengers #1 writer David F. Walker, there's plenty of appreciation for both when the event comic arrives on June 16. Check out exclusive preview pages and read the full interview below.

Godzilla.com: You’ve mentioned that you grew up on Godzilla movies. What’s your “Godzilla Fan Origin Story”?

David F. Walker: My mom was a big Godzilla fan, and she passed that appreciation on to me by watching a lot of the films with me. It seems like Godzilla movies were on television all the time when I was a kid in the 1970s and '80s, including the 4:30 Movie on Channel 7, which regularly had "Godzilla week," and that was always something to look forward to. I remember watching Son of Godzilla, King Kong vs. Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, and a few others with my cousin, and my mom took me to see Godzilla vs. Megalon in the theatre when it was released in the United States. There was also Marvel’s Godzilla comic in the 1970s, as well as the animated show. I couldn’t get enough of any of that stuff when I was growing up.

Godzilla.com: This story, like the others in the series, is anchored in a specific Marvel era. How did you get into the spirit of this New Avengers period?

David F. Walker: I absolutely loved Brian Michael Bendis’s run on New Avengers, and I have the entire run. I read a lot of Avengers titles when I was younger, but that Bendis run will always have a special place in my heart, and this particular story provided a great excuse to conduct “research” by reading several dozen issues of New Avengers by Bendis.

Godzilla.com: You’re also working with a specific Godzilla era in this story. What kind of research did you have to do to brush up on this version of the King of the Monsters?

David F. Walker: I sat down and watched all the Millennium Era stuff, as I hadn’t seen any of it since it originally came out. For me, those were the most important films to watch, because they weren’t burned into my memory the way the original Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla is burned into my brain. It was also important to rewatch those movies because quite honestly, Godzilla Minus One forever changed me. I loved the movie, and it is my favorite, alongside the first film from 1954. But I knew that I wasn’t writing a Godzilla specific to either of those eras—especially in terms of tone.

Godzilla.com: This issue has an interesting storytelling device with unreliable narration. What made that the right approach for this meeting of heroes and monsters?

David F. Walker: For one thing, with the New Avengers alone, you’ve got a big cast. I wanted to find a way to make sure these iconic heroes had their moment, without getting lost in the weeds of overly complex story of character development. The readers already know Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man and the others, so I knew I could focus purely on their personalities and the events of whatever confrontation they have with the giant monsters. But more than that, Godzilla is really hard to write—at least for me. It’s one thing to watch a movie with the King of the Monsters, but it is something completely different trying to write a story. I decided to treat Godzilla like a force of nature, not unlike a hurricane or an earthquake. Perhaps most important of all, I love Akira Kurosawa’s film Rashomon, and my philosophy is “when in doubt, go with a Rashomon-style story.” And maybe…just maybe…it was my way of acknowledging the working relationship between Kurosawa and Ishiro Honda, director of the original Godzilla.

Godzilla.com: We ask everyone this: What’s your Godzilla collection like?

David F. Walker: Honestly, I only have a few of the movies on DVD or blu-ray, but that’s because I know so many people I can borrow the movies from at any time. My homeboy Ian lives down the street, and he has every movie on disc, and I’m guessing on VHS as well. That said, I do have the original version of Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, King Kong vs. Godzilla, and about a half dozen other titles, including the Millennium Era films. I also have a lot of comics, including the Marvel issues from the 1970s. But I think the best part of my collection is Mattel’s Godzilla action figure that was part of the Shogun Warrior collection, which I’ve had since I was a kid, and still has the hand that shoots out like a missile. Honestly, my mom bought it for herself, but I stole it from her.