Kaiju Dayz is an indie giant monster sitcom comic written by Robert Livingston and illustrated by Brittany M. Inspired by Kaijumax and Dinosaurs, Kaiju Dayz was initially planned to be a cartoon series but transitioned into online short comics that became the foundation for a full-blown series. Funded by Kickstarter and published by GenComix, the first issue was released on December 4th, 2023.
Big Mama has it tough. After all, it ain't easy being a widowed single mother to two rambunctious teenagers in a kaiju-eat-kaiju world... oh, did we mention that Big Mama is a kaiju, as are her kids, her friends... and pretty much everyone else. While her rebellious headstrong daughter Pestania and golden child Junior learn the ropes of city smashing, Big Mama's best friend Preytara tries to help her get over the tragic passing of her beloved mate Akumara by inviting her to a kaiju speed-dating event.
Official Website: https://kaijudayz.com
Official Twitter/X page: https://twitter.com/KaijuDayz
Kaiju Dayz contains examples of the following tropes:
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: Preytara is a giant mantis while the Genki twins are giant moths, and a giant snail kaiju appears as well.
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: Pestania is hotheaded and overconfident, resenting Big Mama's stern parenting and seeking to prove she's just as—if not more—capable than her brother Junior, the family's golden child. Her punk aesthetic is helped by her sporting a mohawk and spikes evocative of studs.
- Breath Weapon: Big Mama and her son Junior can breath streams of flame, with the former's being orange and the latter's blue.
- The Cameo: One of the kaiju at the mixer is Electrogor from Kaiju Max.
- Covered with Scars: Big Mama is covered in scars—souvenirs from her career as a professional rampager.
- Crossover:
- One of the short comics published on Twitter/X involved Junior and Pestania meeting Godzilla himself—though Big Mama isn't impressed and disparages him as a sellout.
- Big Mama appears as a guest character in the scapped kaiju fighting game Daikaiju Daikessen, which also features other indie kaiju such as Nagoraiar from Nagoraiar: Against the Terror of the Moon, Gurral from Gurral the Smasher, Atomic Rex from the Atomic Rex novels, and several would-be Colossal Kaiju Combat! alumni.
- Extreme Omnivore: Big Mama and the other kaiju treat tanks and other vehicles as snacks.
- Genre Mashup: Kaiju Dayz is a family dramady sitcom starring giant monsters.
- Honorary Uncle: Preytara the giant mantis is an honorary aunt to Junior and Pestania, spoiling them whenever Big Mama is tough on them.
- Mama Bear: Big Mama is very protective over her kids, and when they get in over their heads fighting a hero with a reputation for killing kaiju she drops everything and rushes over to save them.
- Ms. Fanservice: Debuting on the comics' Twitter, Eviscerix, who was created to be the vanguard of an alien invasion, is fangirled over by masochistic humans for her Impossible Hourglass Figure—usually retaliating by blasting them out of annoyance.
- Not Zilla:
- Big Mama is a bipedal reptilian kaiju capable of breathing flames, though her full head of Supernatural Floating Hair sets her apart from the crowd.
- Zillgar, an aggressive reptilian kaiju who picks a fight with Big Mama by trying to steal her drink. They hit it off, but his callousness towards the possability of her kids being killed by Vassal the Righteous leads to her maiming him before storming off to save her kids.
- Oh, Crap!: When Junior discovers that the monster-slaying knight-themed hero Vassal the Righteous has been summoned to take care of him and Pestania, he panics and tries to get his sister to go before it's too late.
- Parents as People: Big Mama is a widowed single mother who cares for her children but is tough on her headstrong daughter Pestania, who is overconfident in her abilities — understandable since kaiju make a living smashing cities and the slightest mistake could spell severe injury or even death.
- Retired Badass: Big Mama is a powerful kaiju whose rampages were legendary, but she more or less retired to raise her kids, training them to succeed her in the family business of city-smashing.
- Romantic Wingman: Preytara and the Genki twins want to help Big Mama get over the loss of her mate and find new love, though Big Mama is not interested and threatens to stuff the latters' fliers for a kaiju mixer where the sun don't shine.
- Shout-Out:
- Slaying Mantis: Preytara is a giant preying mantis who—far from being vicious—is Big Mama's best friend and an honorary aunt to her kids, trying to act as a wingman to help Big Mama get over the death of her mate.
- Speed Dating: Preytara talks Big Mama into going to a mixer for kaiju organized by the Genki Twins, albeit only with the promise of free food, as Big Mama has not gotten over the death of her mate a decade prior and is not interested in finding a replacement. While Big Mama eventually hits it off with Zillgar, his callousness towards the possibiltiy of her kids being killed leads to her implicitly killing—or at least severely injuring—him.
- Supernatural Floating Hair: Big Mama is mostly reptilian in appearance, save for her massive mane of hair that drifts about as though underwater.
