Monster Madness! 5 Quick Questions With Godzilla Writer Nola Pfau
The author of Godzilla Rivals: Jet Jaguar vs. Megalon spills the proverbial beans!
I first met Nola Pfau thanks to WWAC, the website where I started and built my professional writing career with the help of fantastic editors like Nola. Under her leadership as EIC, WWAC won three Eisners and now Nola is the newest WWAC alum to jump into the world of licensed comics.
As the writer behind the newest Godzilla Rivals issue, Nola weaves in big monster action with humans that you actually care about in a moving and awe-inspiring yarn. Of course Nola isn’t alone, working alongside the fantastic artist Megan Huang and the talented letterer Nathan Widick — who also did incredible work on my Rivals issue — adding another great comic to the eclectic Rivals lineup.
So, I was extremely excited to get to ask them 5 Quick Questions about their comic, their process, Godzilla, and, of course, snacks!
I'm so excited to read your issue of Godzilla Rivals. Do you have any fond memories of Godzilla that helped shape the way you approached the story?
You know, it's funny, I actually had very little experience with Godzilla until recently! It was always something I was aware of, but I didn't really grow up with movie buffs or anything. I kind of come at my appreciation for them sideways; I've always been a big fan of working with things in miniature scale, and a lot of the practical tricks the old movies use are the same. I started mainlining the movies just a couple of years ago, and then did the usual hyperfocus thing of reading every article or wiki page I could find.
What was the biggest challenge in bringing this wild adventure to the page?
Figuring out the structure of it, the pacing! I think I had a solid couple of months where I had about fifteen pages written and had no idea what I was going to do with the other twenty-five. I mean, giant monsters, you know some of that is going to be fights, but how much? How do we build it? Where do we lay in the tension, the stakes? What do we do with the fight to make it unique, interesting?
How did it feel getting the pages back from Megan Huang? That's always my favorite part of making comics.
Oh god, it's the BEST. Megan is such a fun, expressive artist. There's a huge splash page she does just after the midway point of the story and the colors she laid down are absolutely wild. I remember when the art was first sent to me, Megan herself had only given me a couple of small teases, so I got to see the entire comic's art at once, unlettered. I absolutely had my script and the pages up next to each other, and I was just reading my own dialogue and marvelling at the art. It was an amazing experience.
I really want to shout out our letterer too, Nathan Widick. I have some pretty strong opinions about good lettering, and he knocked it out of the park. The way he played with sound effects! When you're scripting a lot of like...rumbling or crunching, it starts to feel weird, you know? But he took all of that and he made it really feel like it belonged in the story, like it was natural.
Do you have any other comics projects that you're working on at the moment?
I have The One, you know? That one special personal project you always spend too long noodling with. But nothing else at the moment, I'm actually really eager for some other opportunities, so editors, get at me!
I joked online that I really hope a lot of people love this issue because I'd like to do a Jet Jaguar mini or something.
If someone wants to eat a snack while reading your issue, what should it be?
Oh wow, I have no idea! I'm a salty/crunchy kinda gal, you know? Gimme pretzels or chips, something like that. I guess that makes sense for the story too, there's a lot of crunching. Maybe those little pretzel rods, you can pretend they're mini skyscrapers as you snap 'em.
Godzilla Rivals: Jet Jaguar vs. Megalon hits shelves on Dec 20!
Great interview!