Manga Boy Rides On Cloverfield Monster's Head

If you could control the Cloverfield monster what city would you attack first? That's just one of the pressing questions raised by the Cloverfield manga. Sadly, now that an English translation of the Japanese-language tie-in comic is finally availalble, it doesn't explain all about the monster as we'd hoped. If anything, the extra backstory, about a little boy who seems to become the monster's best friend, just adds to our confusion. Spoilers ahead.

The manga follows two story lines that later converge forming one giant question mark. First, readers meet a little Japanese boy named Kishin who is mercilessly bullied and beaten. The second story takes place off the coast of Japan where a Tagruato ship possibly awakens the Cloverfield monster and becomes its first victim.

Kishin's family history is a bit muddled, but we discover that his beloved mother and distant father are both closely connected to Tagruato and to the monster. So much so, his mother had Tagruato's prized secret, a pod discovered next to the monster on the sea floor, implanted inside Kishin. He is later kidnapped by a crazy group of masked cult members that want to slice him open and use the pod to become gods. Even Kishin's own father wants to take his life. Meanwhile the monster is ripping up Tokyo and shedding his nasty little parasites everywhere.

With everyone clamoring for the death of little Kishin, there only seems to be one way out: ride the Cloverfield monster to safety, of course. Who knew that Kishin had the power to use Cloverfieldy as his personal steed? The final panel of part three, with Kishin standing on the monster's head, proves otherwise. But still leaves this question, if this is the prequel to Cloverfield, what's Kishin got against New York? The final installment is coming out sometime this month. [Dada Is Everyhere via IllusionTV]

2:30 PM on Wed May 7 2008
By Meredith Woerner
3,324 views
22 comments

Comments

Gann at 02:47 PM on 05/07/08
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I would go from major city to major city destroying walmarts and ikeas. He could feast on fast food franchises to keep his caloric intake high. We probably wouldn't make it far though before cardiac arrest.
darcymcgee at 02:59 PM on 05/07/08
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I would build myself an enormous suit of gold with laser weapons in the fingers, just in case my own awesomness wasn't quite enough.
Plague at 02:59 PM on 05/07/08
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The first part was interesting. The 2nd and 3rd parts are a freakin' mess.
Seth L at 03:03 PM on 05/07/08
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Cloverfield Magna can just go sit in a corner until it's thought about what it's done.
Ghede at 03:03 PM on 05/07/08
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Four words: World's Largest Flea Bath. Find a lake, find various chemical factories, grab storage tanks, mix in the lake, hope it doesn't explode, and get him to dive in.

After he has been either been killed or rendered flea-free, I would rent him out for monster movies... or cut up his corpse and sell it to science. Or the worlds largest toxin-tainted monster barbecue.
bigswingdaddy at 03:06 PM on 05/07/08
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@Ghede: Belly on up to Colonel Ghede's Monster-in-a-bucket!

Fat Free and coated in the Elder Recipe of Herbs and Spices.

WARNING:Consuming any of this product may result in slight cases of monsterism.
Smeagol92055 at 03:18 PM on 05/07/08
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@Plague: Yeah, but is ther any part of the whole Cloverfield phenomenon that is NOT a giant mess?
I mean, when you hear someone like J.J. Abrams wants to create a monster flick, at first, you're like, hey, this could rock, but then the inevitable realizatin sets in that he's just going to make the thing one giant confusing puzzle piece in this baffling mythos he's created that spans movies, TV shows, the Interwebs, magazines, books, and Lord alone knows what else, that is so huge that even Abrams himself will never be able to realize its potential in the real world.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why J.J. Abrams should go away for a while. Like, forever.
CantankerousDave at 03:32 PM on 05/07/08
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Yikes, that translation is bad.
Plague at 03:35 PM on 05/07/08
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@Smeagol92055:
Most of it isn't an mess- but your hate for Abrams precludes any real discussion.
I doubt that he had a lot to do with this manga at all.
Unfortunately.
Aethyr at 03:54 PM on 05/07/08
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Connectedness Index: 357

So like, right before the monster tore up New York city, it had a little Japanese boy riding around on its head?

This sounds like canon!
Charlie Jane Anders at 04:13 PM on 05/07/08
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Connectedness Index: 235

@Aethyr: Suddenly everything makes sense.
Dunny0 at 04:29 PM on 05/07/08
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@Charlie Jane Anders: @Aethyr: Maybe he tore up New York because he was looking for the little Japanese boy...

Poor kid probably fell off on the voyage over, and Clovey was just looking for his buddy.

Awwww... Poor misunderstood Clovey was only looking for his friend! Why'd the big, bad Army have to go and attack him! :(
Westender at 04:39 PM on 05/07/08
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@Ghede: Forget killing the fleas! Kill off him and keep the fleas, they're way cooler than his oversized clumsy ass any day.
Daniel Rutter at 04:55 PM on 05/07/08
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if this is the prequel to Cloverfield, what's Kishin got against New York

...and how come nobody in New York knew that Tokyo had been annihilated by a giant monster just the other day?

So it can't actually be a prequel to the movie, or the whole world would already have been on high alert against city-smashing monster attack, unless the movie took place in Giant Monster Movie World where this sort of thing happens all the time but only ever in Japan. Since nobody in the movie has ever heard of a real giant monster, that can't be it.

But if the manga describes how the monster first arises from the sea, then it can't be a sequel to the movie either.

Slick.
Tagruato at 04:57 PM on 05/07/08
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The manga is available in slideshow format:

Episode 1: [www.flickr.com]
Episode 2: [www.flickr.com]
Episode 3: [www.flickr.com]

Also, just in case anyone was curious, the monster is dead. See: [tagruato.blogspot.com]
hageesheart at 08:42 PM on 05/07/08
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@Dunny0: Cloverfield is the friend of all children.
Cantonkid at 10:07 PM on 05/07/08
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@hageesheart: Until they grow up to be named Hud... ;P
Dunny0 at 11:12 PM on 05/07/08
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@hageesheart:
But is he made from turtle meat?
mitchel_stevens at 05:30 AM on 05/08/08
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so it is Gamera. fucking wonderful.
Machete_Bear at 05:56 AM on 05/08/08
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@Dunny0: I think you have him confused with Maturin, though Clover could have come from todash space I suppose...
Seth L at 09:05 AM on 05/08/08
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@Dunny0:

Yes, very neat.
Cannedpasta at 11:29 AM on 05/08/08
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The thing that I still find to be the most interesting about Cloverfield is that it's a baby, and it wasn't angrily attacking, but it was lost and scared. That put a whole new spin on things for me.