Gurral doing what he does best — smashing puny kaiju.
Gurral the Smasher is an indie kaiju webcomic written by Richard Mullenhour — aka OgreTusk — and illustrated by Frost Llamzon. It began on September 7, 2015 and has had several completed issues in the years since, including a number of cameos and guest appearances from other members of the kaiju fandom.
Created to be the ultimate gladiator by the hedonistic and greedy Arena Lords, Gurral was born weak and defenceless due to a flaw in the genetic experiments that created him. Enslaved and forced to mine impervium — the hardest known mineral in the galaxy, Gurral developed an addiction to the dust and began secretly consuming it. The mineral had a mutagenic effect on his body, causing him to grow into a bulky fifty-meter-tall behemoth and giving him an impervium-infused ossified exoskeleton. When his addiction was discovered, Gurral was sent to the arena but refused to fight, quickly going into withdrawal and being defeated. Not wanting to let such a formidable contender go to waste, the Arena Lords bribed Gurral by offering to pay him in impervium dust should he win his fights. Thus, Gurral became known as the Smasher, fighting other giant monsters for the entertainment of the masses and the satiation of his addiction.
The webcomic can be found here
. Gurral has also appeared in the failed Colossal Kaiju Combat! project, the Daikaiju Daikessen: Versus/Rogue indie kaiju game, and Atomic Rex: Challenge of Gurral (2021) and Gurral: Clash with Chimera (2022) — a pair of crossover novel with Atomic Rex. Gurral also encountered Sleipnir: Equine Invader from Jupiter in the 2021 crossover Gurral VS Sleipnir.
Gurral the Smasher contains examples of the following tropes:
- Addled Addict: Gurral is addicted to Impervium dust, which he either consumes raw or uses as seasoning for his food, and without it he goes into severe agonizing withdrawal. The Arena Lords use this to blackmail him into fighting for them in their gladiator arena, but he later circumvents this by seizing control of the Impervium mine.
- An Arm and a Leg: In the final issue of Season 1, Gurral sacrifices his left hand to deal a killing blow to Powerball, though the Scientist builds a cybernetic prosthetic incorporating Gurral's impervium-laced bones and Powerball's pineal gland — letting him charge his cyborg hand with energy to increase the destructive force of his punches.
- Behemoth Battle: Each issue features one or more kaiju battling, with the focus initially being on Gurral's gladiatorial matches before he goes AWOL and starts fighting both on behalf of Project Prometheus and against the Arena Lords' forces sent to reclaim him.
- The Berserker: Lacking any ranged attacks, Gurral fights exclusively with hand-to-hand combat and can go into a controlled berserk state — usually when someone gets between him and his Dust — to power through tough fights.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies:
- Legs, the antagonist of "Gurral vs. Legs" is a giant spider-monster.
- The issue "Feeding Time" deals with Gurral, the Tannerbeast, and Nibbles having to take care of a hive of insectoid planimal aliens that came to Earth on a meteor.
- Bioweapon Beast: Gurral and several of the other characters were bioengineered by the Arena Lords to be combatants in their gladiator arena, with the failed experiments being sent to mine impervium. Gurral in particular was created with the genes of a Deitron Scale-Imp (a horned scaly primate-like creature) and a Seitus Lordfisher (a mollusk-like creature), with the intent for him to be both heavily armoured and flexible. However, the two genomes proved incompatible and Gurral was initially emaciated and completely unarmoured until he started eating Impervium.
- Boxed Crook: Project Prometheus is tasked with capturing recruiting kaiju into an army, with hostile kaiju either being bribed into fighting to protect the Earth or put down if they can't be reformed. The Fiery Salamander kaiju Flame-Tongue is one of the Arena Lords' gladiators sent to recapture Gurral, and joins Project Prometheus only to be killed by Powerball.
- The Cameo: Several of the earlier issues feature guest appearances from various other Colossal Kaiju Combat participants, such as the Deep Dweller, Nibbles, Rome, and Valok; and other members of the kaiju fandom. Unlike most of the guest-characters, who are one-and-done arena matches for Gurral, the bulldog-faced kaiju Nibbles becomes a recurring side-character. Ascha'Vovina — who was originally created for Colossal Kaiju Combat and has also appeared in Daikaiju Daikessen — makes a guest appearance in Issue #12 as one of Project Prometheus' recruits.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: In Issue #12, Gurral, Flame-Tongue, Rome, and Ascha'Vovina team up to drain Powerball's energy shields. The Arena Lords hijack control of them by replicating Alexandra's psychic powers, intending to capture all the kaiju for their gladiator arena, but only manage to get Powerball's shield down to 50% before it burns Flame-Tongue to a skeleton, badly burns the Tannerbeast, and sends Vovina flying with a powerful energy blast.
- Deal with the Devil: In Issue #11, General Merken agrees to make a deal with the Arena Lords in exchange for their help in capturing the bioelectric salamander-like monster Powerball. This ends up backfiring when the Arena Lords betray him, hoping to reclaim Gurral and capture the other kaiju for their gladitoral arena.
- Explosive Breeder: The reason Project Prometheus urgently tasks Gurral with taking out the insectoid planimal aliens is because — with three queens — they're reproducing faster than Nibbles can prey on them, and if left unchecked will threaten human civilization.
- Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: The Draconic Abomination referred to by Gurral as "Death Breath" — canon name Valok — shows up out of nowhere, attacks Gurral, and escapes through an interdimensional portal at the end of the issue.
- Gladiator Games: The Arena Lords host gladiator tournaments featuring giant monsters, with Gurral being one of their best champions. Later issues have Gurral grow tired of fighting, but realize that due to his Dust addiction the Arena Lords have him in their pocket.
- Gladiator Revolt: Gurral grows tired of being forced to fight for the Arena Lords' amusement, and after learning that the Impervium mine he first toiled in was on Earth he ditches them and agrees to join Project Prometheus — helping them fight malevolent kaiju in exchange for joint ownership of the Impervium mine.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: The government's plan to kill the energy-consuming Powerball was shooting it with an orbital ion cannon... which it absorbed to grow even larger and more powerful. The scientist who created Powerball lampshades how stupid this was.
- Gruesome Goat: The kaiju subdued by Project Prometheus at the beginning of "Collision Course" is based on Baphomet, and thus has a goatlike head and legs.
- The Men in Black: Project Prometheus is a military-backed government agency that monitors monster activity and captures those that pose a threat to human civilization, with Gurral allying himself with them after turning on the Arena Lords. Their liaison with Gurral is a psychic woman named Alexandra, but they also send Agent Dave Smith to recruit a thirtysomething Mad Scientist who created an energy-absorbing salamander-like kaiju called Powerball.
- Modified Clone: One of the Arena Lords' slaves, Lodak, is capable of creating gigantic, monstrous clones of another being if provided with a blood sample. The Arena Lords forced him to create kaiju-ized clones of Gurral's old mining team to subdue him in case he turned on them. Tanner, Gurral's best friend and personal chef, discovered they were clones and had Lodak create one of him, dubbing it the Tannerbeast.
- Monster of the Week: Many of the earlier issues centre around Gurral's tenure as a gladiator, with the Arena Lords pitting him against various other giant monsters. As the narrative develops, the story shifts away from this format to focus on Gurral settling in on Earth, with human characters coming into play.
- The Nicknamer: Gurral tends to give his opponents witty nicknames, having no way of knowing their canon names.
- No Name Given: The name of the the thirtysomething mad scientist who created Powerball has not been revealed.
- The Reveal: "Down to Earth" reveals that the Impervium mine where Gurral was forced to labour as a slave is on Earth.
- Sequel Hook: The final issue of Season 1 ends with the Arena Lords deciding to leave Gurral on Earth, while making it clear they still consider him their property and will continue sending enemies for him to fight at their leisure.
- Sinister Schnoz: The overseer of the Impervium mine was a particularly brutal alien with a love for beatings, and has a long nose bent at a ninety-degree angle.
- Unobtainium: Gurral was originally a slave forced to mine the rare mineral impervium — which as its name suggests is nigh-impervious — by the Arena Lords. Through a quirk of his genetic engineering, Gurral proved not only capable of metabolizing it, but the mineral fused to his bones and caused them to extrude into a nigh-unbreakable partial exoskeleton.
- Wolverine Claws: Gurral has razor-sharp bony spikes on the first joints of his fingers, which serve as organic knuckledusters.
