‘A SPACE GODZILLA’ by Katsuhiro Ōtomo and Nobuyuki Shirayama
‘A Space Godzilla’ was an illustrated short story initially proposed to be the 16th Godzilla film. However, the idea was thrown out by Toho, leading the story to be published in two parts in Starlog Magazine [of course, this time with Toho's approval].
The short stories have no correlation to Godzilla vs Space Godzilla [1994].
A Space Godzilla was illustrated by legendary Japanese manga artists Katsuhiro Ōtomo [Akira, Domu] and Nobuyuki Shirayama [Shōnentō, Maboroshi no Hana]. Katsuhiro Ōtomo had yet to produce Akira, which later would go on to make "anime" a thing in the west.
In A Space Godzilla, a giant dead Godzilla washes up on the shores of Japan, cause of death diabetes. Scientists attempt to communicate with Godzilla's brain and find out this Godzilla's name is Rozan, who came from Godzilla Planet. To make things even more interesting, Rozan is pregnant with a baby Godzilla, Lilin.
Rozan & Lilin are sent back to Godzilla Planet in a rocket after protests by humans, reunited with Kunin, Rozan's husband. Godzilla Planet gets attacked by an alien race called the Sunerians, and a fight between alien races emerges.
In the first part of A Space Godzilla, feature film-style credits can be seen, which we can assume would have been the actual credits if the story had become a movie, including director Nobuhiko Ōbayashi.
Check out some out-of-this-world [literally] illustrations from the 16th Godzilla film that never was.
