‘Behemoth’ Review: Survival Starts After You’re Swallowed

I’ve watched more kaiju movies than I could probably count, Godzilla especially has been a constant for me for years, and there’s something oddly comforting about the genre’s rhythms: city gets stomped, humans scramble, a giant creature wins or loses depending on how the runtime’s going. So it takes something genuinely different to surprise me in this space anymore. I just finished Behemoth, and it did exactly that. I had such a blast with this mini-series.

Kaiju Movies Come to Comics

Behemoth was written by Grant Sputore and Ryan Engle, and illustrated by Jay Martin. If those names sound familiar, it might be because Sputore directed I Am Mother and is now attached to direct the upcoming Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, while Engle wrote Beast and Rampage. So it’s safe to say these guys know their monsters. Sputore has actually talked about being a lifelong kaiju fan who spent years imagining giant monsters rampaging through whatever city he happened to be in, and at some point he landed on the question that basically became this comic’s whole pitch: after seventy years of giant monster movies, why has nobody told the story from inside the thing that got swallowed? That’s a genuinely great hook, and it shows how much thought went into this before a single page got drawn.

Jay Martin, who also handles the colors here and has previous credits on Lost Boy and Yellow, brings the whole thing to life with a clean, cinematic style that fits the survival horror tone so well. Letterer Frank Cvetkovic, known for his work on The Writer, rounds out a small but clearly well-matched team.

What Is Behemoth About?

A kaiju attacks Lower Manhattan and swallows a bus whole. Among the passengers is Sara, an aspiring chef running a Cubanos food truck on the side while working at a fulfillment center to make ends meet, all while hoping to finally get her shot in an upcoming Food Truck Battle competition. When she wakes up inside the beast with a few other survivors, the fight to escape begins. But inside this monster, it’s not just dark and slimy. It’s a whole ecosystem filled with deadly creatures, strange survivors, and some gut-wrenching decisions. And with the outside world planning to nuke the creature, time is running out.

A Different Kind of Kaiju Story

This is exactly the angle that got me. I love watching a kaiju level a city as much as anyone, but Behemoth flips the whole genre inside out, literally, by trapping its characters inside the monster instead of running from it on the street below. That single choice changes everything about how the story gets to unfold, it’s less about spectacle and more about survival horror in a setting nobody’s really explored before, and it made me appreciate the kaiju genre in a way I hadn’t expected going in.

A Fun Ride From Start to Finish

The main character, Sara, is easy to follow and like. The art is beautiful, especially the scenes of the monster flooding the city. Inside the creature, things get even more intense, with spiders, eggs, and weird monsters. We loved the creature design. The characters keep the pace going, and there’s a fun mix of languages too; a Japanese woman only speaks Japanese, and a French guy on the radio shows up with survival tips and a dark secret. We liked each issue more than the last. The ending was maybe a tiny bit rushed, but still extremely satisfying and wrapped the story well.

Final Thoughts

Behemoth is one of those short series that’s just pure monster fun with killer art and nasty surprises, I’d absolutely recommend it! The trade paperback will be out on September 16, 2025, and you should totally pick it up.

More Dark Horse BOOKS Worth Reading

If Behemoth worked for you, we’ve covered a few other Dark Horse titles worth checking out. Summer Shadows trades kaiju for vampires in a sun-drenched Greek mystery about an ex-boyfriend’s disappearance. Christopher Chaos follows a teenage mad scientist whose life gets upended when the cute boy at school turns out to be a deadly creature. And Where Monsters Lie: Cul-de-Sac imagines a gated community where slasher-movie monsters go to unwind between kill sprees.

FAQ

Is Behemoth worth reading? Yes, especially if you’re a kaiju fan looking for a genuinely fresh angle on the genre.

Do you need to read anything before Behemoth? No. It’s a standalone four-issue miniseries with no required reading beforehand.

Who is writing and drawing Behemoth? Grant Sputore and Ryan Engle co-write the series, with art and colors by Jay Martin and letters by Frank Cvetkovic.

Is Behemoth a one-shot, miniseries, or ongoing series? It’s a four-issue miniseries, running from January to May 2025.

When is the trade paperback out? The collected edition is out September 16, 2025.