Prologue:

The Age of Monsters. The Era of Titans. The Never-ending War.* All of these titles have been applied to the years that followed when Godzilla first rose from the sea and lit Tokyo aflame. In the wake of his first attack, countless new monsters have risen up across the globe.*

Very few of these creatures are alike. You have flying ones like Rodan, insectoid creatures like Kamacuras, extraterrestrials like the Taligon, and downright mystical ones like the Torrentula. And then there are those that defy known science more then the others, like Gigan or Hedorah.

One could spend days talking about not only the beasts themselves, but the continental and world-changing events that they have had a heavy role in.

The Mechagodzilla Crisis of 1975. The day when three kaiju attacks occurred over the globes at once, a day where human civilization truly learned that it was not alone in 1977. The G War of 1987. The birth of the Biollante Forest's across the Middle East two years later. The Fall of Tokyo in 1995 that left the city a volcanic quarantine zone. The Oil Breach of 2011. That's just off the top of my head.

This collection could have easily been one huge timeline. It could have been a step by step description of every known attack.

But that has already been done. You can find timelines filled with every last sighting and full scale attack by an individual kaiju. Books have been written on the first battle of the Mechagodzilla Crisis alone.

That's why I've decided to write this after years of graphing footprint data and conducting interviews for Monarch, the North American K-Science division that has risen in prominence these last few years. To differentiate this book from other kaiju based media, I've decided to heavily line it with interviews from individual people. From military personnel to civilians, I've chosen to add a heavy human element, for lack of a better term. Brief timelines and event descriptions will be added as needed to shed light on mentioned material.

So sit back, relax, and you may just learn a thing or two about the amazing world we live in.

-S.G.R., Author and Monarch Agent

*I personally dislike the implication that human species and kaiju are locked in a eternal war. Yes, kaiju attacks can be devastating, but in time our civilizations may be able to adapt to them.

*Godzilla is not the very first kaiju in all of human history. Legends and historical evidence point to the existence of these titanic creatures long before Godzilla first attacked (Mothra, King Caesar, etc.) Nevertheless, Godzilla was the first to be seen and have his existence confirmed in the modern era, and he is also the one most races imagine when they think of kaiju.

Monarch File #1

"We were there in Tokyo on that day in 1954. We filmed away with our cameras from the top of the tallest tower as Gojira came out of the sea and walked through 300,000 volts of electricity. As he stomped his way through waves and waves of missile fire, we kept filming.

When Gojira unleashed his first blast of atomic fire from his maw, we kept filming.

As buildings collapsed and vehicles were flung through the air, we advised our listeners to evacuate.

We stayed.

As the city burned, we kept filming.

As Gojira walked up to the tower and stared at us with his burning eyes, we kept filming.

As he bit into the tower, close enough for us to feel his breath, we kept filming.

As the tower collapsed with us inside, we bid farewell to everyone still listening.

To this day, I don't know how we survived the fall, or why we didn't die of radiation poisoning.

What I do know is that someone has to be out there to let the world know when another monster comes ashore.

And as for Gojira himself, I can't help but pity him.

He was not evil by choice. He and the other monsters are simply too large, too heavy, and too strong. That is their tragedy."

Ishiro Honda, Director and Screenwriter in Toho Co., Ltd. Later Co-Founder of K-Watch. Excerpt from an interview in Osaka, 1963, in the aftermath of Godzilla's reappearance in and battle with the kaiju "Vishnu" in Osaka.