Kaijumax Season One

Terror and Respect

by Zander Cannon

Comics & Graphic Novels | Sci Fi & Fantasy

Pub Date

This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.

Buy this Book on

Comics & Graphic Novels | Sci Fi & Fantasy

Pub Date

Talking about this book? Be sure to tag it using #Kaijumax #NetGalley

Description

THE COMPLETE SEASON ONE! On a remote island in the South Pacific lies KAIJUMAX, a maximum security prison for giant monsters. Follow doting father Electrogor as he stands up to the cruel space-superhero warden! See corrupt guard Gupta manage his illicit uranium-dealing empire and pay off his gambling debts to the Queen of the Moon! Watch Mecha-Zon battle his own programming when the monster he was created to destroy shows up on the pound! These stories and more will assault you from every angle in the cesspool of corruption that is KAIJUMAX.

THE COMPLETE SEASON ONE! On a remote island in the South Pacific lies KAIJUMAX, a maximum security prison for giant monsters. Follow doting father Electrogor as he stands up to the cruel...

A Note From the Publisher

ELEBATOR PITCH: Orange is the New Black and HBO'S Oz meets Godzilla and Ultraman.
AWARD-WINNING CREATOR: Zander Cannon is a three-time Eisner Award-winning cartoonist for his work on Top 10.
YA APPEAL: School Library Journal says “Teens will be attracted by the idea of a jail for giant monsters and find themselves falling in love with, caring about, crying for, and wanting to kill some of the characters—both monster and human.”
CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED SERIES: Kaijumax is one of our most beloved titles, consistently garnering rave reviews from The New York Times, Booklist, School Library Journal, Salon.com, Mental Floss, Paste, The Observer, UPROXX, Syfy Wire, and more. TIMELY SUBJECTS: This series has been lauded for being a subtle, tongue-in-cheek critique on a variety of hot-button topics, including prison life, police brutality, and racism.
AWARD RECOGNITION: Eisner Award nomination for Best New Series (2016).

Advance Praise

“This is fantastic stuff.” - Alan Moore (Watchmen, V for Vendetta)

“The cartoony art is the ultimate sucker punch: Some of the creatures are cute and start to tug at your sympathies—despite their sometimes reprehensible actions.” - The New York Times

“Cannon’s story might seem to be a joke at first, aimed at fans of “kaiju” films such as Godzilla, especially as illustrated in his candy-colored, cartoonish style. But the pain and horror of prison life is no laughing matter and readers will ache with sympathy for some characters, while seething with frustration or anger over others. Death, rape, and violence are all prevalent, as are corruption, greed, and short-sightedness... Cannon is a top-notch writer and illustrator, and readers will be sucked into his unique, yet familiar, world.” - Booklist

“A fresh take on monsters and prison drama.” - Publishers Weekly

“Kaijumax is a fun comic that will make you get all the feels for giant city-destroying monsters. It’s like Oz or Orange Is the New Black, only the prisoners in this case are monsters straight from your favorite Godzilla movies.” - Boing Boing

“Kaijumax does more to humanize real-life convicts than any recent piece of popular culture. Improbably, this absurd series is one of the most socially relevant and psychologically rich comics on the shelf.” - Salon.com

“Kaijumax lures you in with its incredible range of sci-fi creations powered by Zander’s encyclopedic knowledge of the genre. Cannon then tramples you with so much raw emotion that you’ll be thinking about this comic, and by extension the nature of prison, for days to come.” - The Observer

“This book is smart, gut-bustingly funny, delightfully bizarre, and at times surprisingly moving. ” - Syfy Wire

“Cannon has mined maximum awesomeness—including legit commentary on prison conditions, racial profiling and police brutality—out of one of the craziest concepts on stands today.” - Paste

“Zander Cannon’s smart prison satire may have started as a joke concept—Oz with goofy, rubber-suit-looking Kaiju monsters—but has turned out to be a surprisingly emotional read... Kaiju and obscure monster film aficionados will delight at the many references in this series, but anyone who appreciates a good prison drama will appreciate how well Cannon translates it to this unexpected setting.” - Mental Floss

“I just read through Zander Cannon's Kaijumax and I thought it was great, so it MUST be great. I respect my opinion.” - Jhonen Vasquez, creator of Invader ZIM

“KAIJUMAX is the big, bold, brilliant fun that manages somehow to be even more warped and wonderful than you'd hoped.” - Matt Fraction (Sex Criminals, Hawkeye)

“Kaijumax is brilliant. This book about giant monsters imprisoned by space superheroes is really about all the things that make us human.” - Ed Brubaker (The Fade Out, Captain America)

“This is fantastic stuff.” - Alan Moore (Watchmen, V for Vendetta)

“The cartoony art is the ultimate sucker punch: Some of the creatures are cute and start to tug at your sympathies—despite their...

Marketing Plan

- Featured in the New York Times 2016 Holiday Gift Guide.

Available Editions

EDITION	Other Format
ISBN	9781620102701
PRICE	CA$12.49 (CAD)

Available on NetGalley

Download (PDF)

Additional Information

Average rating from 15 members

See all member reviews

Featured Reviews

Tracy D, Reviewer

My Recommendation

Kaijumax Season One is awesome sauce!  Great gags, both written and visual. Lots of attention paid to the details. For example, several Godzilla-like creatures working out in a "gym" of skyscrapers to practice tearing them down. Another creature comes in saying "sup, lizzas? Can I rotate in?"  Dash paced and quick witted in a dead pool sort of way. Bring on Season two!

My Recommendation

Was this review helpful?

Ryan A. F, Librarian

My Recommendation

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.

My Recommendation

Was this review helpful?

Chad H, Reviewer

My Recommendation

This is a genius concept. A mashup of Godzilla and prison shows like Oz or Orange Is the New Black. Kaijumax is an island where Kaiju (giant monsters like Godzilla) are captured and sentenced to. It's full of clever ideas like using waterfalls as a shower room, a weightlifting room where the monsters lift skyscrapers, using the hulls of ships as shivs, Ultraman as the guards, prisoners getting high off uranium and smog. 



There's so many concepts here that just made me straight out laugh. But there's also this weird juxtapose, because Zander Cannon takes this shit seriously. It gets incredibly dark in places, like kaiju on kaiju rape dark. The artwork is not as defined as I've seen from Cannon in the past. He's opted for a simpler, cartoonier style in the book, full of bright colors. 

I'll leave you with my favorite moment in the book, when a guard comes up to two monsters who are about to fight. One of the monsters replies to the guard, "We just redking around, no reason to go five lion on us." That right there sums up the warped genius of this book.

My Recommendation

Was this review helpful?

Cassandra S, Reviewer

My Recommendation

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.

My Recommendation

Was this review helpful?

We Help Books Succeed.