Though we’ve had to wait for much more from Guillermo del Toro’s monster mash-up action epic Pacific Rim, this weekend’s New York Comic-Con has given the ever-busy director/producer a chance to put out a couple new nuggets. First up is a cool, retro poster that you can see in the gallery below.

Possibly more exciting still is word that del Toro has been gathering a team to craft a comic-book adaptation for the film, which he hopes will be much more than just your bog-standard tie-in.

A long-time collector of comics himself, del Toro has an idea that his Pacific Rim title should be more than a way to add to the movie’s PR. “We are not doing just a spinoff, it’s not an ancillary market decision to go to the comic. I created one that allows us to set up and expand and explore things that are spoken of in the movies, but this is another kind of creative important endeavour,” he tells the LA Times.

“One of the things that we did in the movie that I intend to continue/create in the comic book was to convey that this is a real world with real mechanics and real people fixing valves and machines. It’s a livelihood.”

The initial story will set the scene for why humanity is battling gigantic creatures. “The idea was to set up the creation of the world that is in Pacific Rim, sort of give the stories and the drama and the science that occurs after the first kaiju makes land in 2013, and what happens when that occurrence is repeated over and over again until we realize that it’s not a single occurrence or a series of occurrences, but a full-on invasion.”

And you’ll likely be less than shocked to learn that despite a multitude of projects in the works, he still intends to be hands-on with the comic. “I try to get involved as much as possible. The first decision that is needed from me is to hire the right artist, the right colourist, and the right writer for the books. That’s the part that I think is most important. It’s like directing in the comics... In Pacific Rim, I expect to approve the layout, the pencils, the inking, the colouring, the cover, the script... everything.”

For more from GDT, head to the LA Times.

With Charlie Hunnam, Ron Perlman, Idris Elba, Charlie Day, Rinko Kikuchi and Clifton Collins Jr. among the cast, Pacific Rim will finally land here on July 12. While you wait, we have a handy primer on the monster movies to watch before you see it.