Review by Lewis Savarese
All Zelda wanted was to attend art camp this summer. When she arrives at Make It Summer Camp, Zelda is shocked to find it’s now a sports camp run by More Inc. With the help of sympathetic bunkmates Rumi and Weezy, Zelda is able to practice her cartooning in peace, away from the watchful eye of the draconian camp counselors. It’s on one of her excursions into the forest surrounding the camp that Zelda discovers a remote cave and within it a portal to Monster Island. Writer Rosie Knight and artist Oliver Ono craft a tender story of friendship and perseverance in the face of adversity that also happens to feature kaiju from the Tohoverse. What’s more, they manage to rehabilitate the image of one of Godzilla’s most maligned allies, his adopted son Minilla.
Monster Island Summer Camp’s strengths lie in its developing the human characters and their relationships, a facet of Godzilla media where creators tend to falter. Bunkmates Zelda, Rumi, Weezy, and even secondary characters such as fellow camper Ororo are fully realised, with distinct backgrounds, hobbies, and desires. Zelda comes from a single parent household and her mother worked overtime to send her to art camp; Rumi’s athletic ability astounds her family, especially her brothers, but her true passion is cryptozoology; Weezy has a mechanical arm prosthesis that her engineer sister designed to have variable grip patterns so she can continue to pursue painting. Knight eschews the jocks vs nerds dynamic one might expect from these characters by shifting the conflict to an underdog story of kids vs shady corporation. The bunkmates get along swimmingly and work together to uncover More Inc.’s ulterior motive for acquiring the camp.
Ono’s rough lines and attention to detail for everything from clothing to landscapes make the world feel lived-in and worth savouring. Knight and Ono made a conscious decision to have Zelda, Rumi, and Weezy be a racially diverse trio: black, asian, and white, respectively, and their character designs are devoid of stereotypes and instead celebrate their differences. You can tell hair styles, skin tones, and fashions were carefully selected to make these characters realistic and relatable. In panels depicting the grounds of More Inc. Summer Camp there are subtle hints to the nefarious nature of the company such as machinery and pylons dotting the landscape. Ono lushly illustrates the sylvan setting of the camp with coniferous and deciduous trees, which he contrasts with the tropical environment of Monster Island.
Don’t fret, this graphic novel does feature kaiju! Knight wrote the story as a vehicle for Minilla and she delivers. Zelda is able to communicate telepathically with Minilla when she swaps her broken cane for an ancient sceptre from Monster Island, a reference to the various telepathic characters of the Showa and Heisei era films. As their bond grows, Minilla learns to draw, wears fun disguises, and becomes an integral part of the gang. As for the other kaiju, they are presented as cryptids who Rumi had previously only read about in books. When we finally see Kamacuras, Ebirah, and King Ceasar, Ono portrays them as truly otherworldly beings. His slight redesigns make the kaiju look less like actors in rubber suits and more like animals, while simultaneously demonstrating a reverence for their original designs.
“Godzilla” is in the title for more than brand recognition, as he does make an appearance. The appearance is brief, but impactful. As a stand-alone work for younger readers, the book introduces enough of the Tohoverse for the uninitiated and its ecological messaging is sure to resonate with the target audience.
