random godzilla post

Tags

action figure, auctions, bandai, figure, figurine, Godzilla, gojira

Alright, so it’s not really random. Being random is just cool these days, and you know we try very, very hard to fit in and be normal.

We sacrificed a Bandai Godzilla figure to the gods of shipping this week, part of our project to preserve our glorious eBay Top Rated Seller Status. Hey, we had to go through hell to earn it, so why not try to meet the minimum sales goals one more year? Why not stuff the radioactive lizard overlord right into the sacred eBay fires? Godzilla always rises again from the monstrous depths that spawned him (or her, as the case may be.) GOJIRA! It turned out to be a good move. Gojira sold in 48 hours, edging us ever closer to our 100th sale in 12 months.

 

 

Godzilla 1977 Toho Shogun Warrior

Tags

Godzilla

Toho’s highly collectible, vintage Godzilla towers over other toys and fires his radioactive fist at the touch of a button! This rare Godzilla model, part of Toho/Mattel’s 1977 ‘Shogun Warriors’ series, is just as much fun now as the year he awoke from his atomic slumber to destroy a city near you!

Godzilla’s shooting fist doesn’t just ‘work.’ It powerfully fires into the air and lands nearly 4 feet away, consistently! Godzilla’s arms are firmly in place and can easily hold a ‘raised arms’ pose. His tail rotates firmly but freely, as do both his hands.

 
We sold this Godzilla on eBay, for just a little less than our purchase price four years ago – a small price to pay to own our favorite childhood toy for a few years more. We thought you might like to see the pictures we took of Godzilla for our eBay listing.

 

Four feet! Can easily wipe out other toys from a distance.

The Glorious Ascension of Godzilla!

Tags

Beta-Beast, Doug Moench, Essential Godzilla, Godzilla, Herb Trimpe, Star Sinister

Doug Moench and Herb Trimpe present a Godzilla tale that involves not one but TWO scenes of glorious ascension for our beloved mutant reptile. Yes, they involve spaceships and aliens. But, surely no religious zealot ever thrilled to the Ascension of their icons any more than we thrilled to see Godzilla lifted into the psychedelic skies. Of course, no heaven awaits our fire-breathing hero – only giant monster battles in space, fueled by rage and an animalistic need for territorial dominion! Go, Go, Godzilla!

Collector’s Guide:
– From Godzilla #12; Marvel, 1978.
– Reprinted in black and white in Essential Godzilla TPB #1
 

Now unleash the Beta Beast!

Godzilla Meets Devil Dinosaur!

Tags

Devil Dinosaur, dinosaur, Doug Moench, Godzilla, Herb Trimpe, Jack Abel, Jack Kirby, Moon Boy, Rob Takiguchi, time travel

Today, we reprint our guest post from Diversions of the Groovy Kind in April, 2012.

In Godzilla #22, Godzilla joins forces with Jack Kirby’s Devil Dinosaur and his pal Moon Boy. In the previous issue, Devil and Godzilla met, tussled, and became friends. This issue, dated May 1979, hit the stands five months after the end of Devil Dinosaur’s short-lived series. Author Doug Moench clearly needed more Devil Dinosaur – and who doesn’t?

Collector’s Guide:
– From Godzilla #22; Marvel, 1979.
– Reprinted in black and white in Essential Godzilla TPB #1

You may ask, “How are Godzilla and Devil Dinosaur the same size? Isn’t Godzilla ‘up from the depths, thirty stories high’ as the cartoon theme song says?” Right you are! This story takes place during a plotline where the King of the Monsters got hit with a shrinker-izer to whittle him down to more manageable size. At one point, he was small enough to go toe-to-toe with a vicious sewer rat!

You’ll notice the effects begin to wear off in this tale. There go the property values! Plus, the device which threw Godzilla back in time to meet Devil begins to backfire. You no doubt recognize that glowing white square… It’s Dr. Doom’s time machine! What would the Bronze Age be without that thing?

 
Artists Herb Trimpe and Jack Abel craft a double-splash for pages 2-3 that echoes Jack Kirby. Moench also throws in some lesser-known parts of Devil’s world, like the old hag and the pits from Devil Dinosaur #9. These are the same pits that took Devil through time in his own final issue!

For escapist fiction, it just doesn’t get any cooler than seeing Devil Dinosaur and Godzilla cutting loose in a whirlwind of dinosaur battles. On a more analytical note, Moench contrasts the worlds of two boys. Rob Takiguchi, in 1979, has a soft spot for Godzilla. The boy always takes the monster’s side. He feels we haven’t taken the time to really understand Godzilla. But, the adults in Rob’s life constantly undermine this potential friendship. They trap Godzilla, shoot him, send him back in time – always some sinister grown-up plan! Rob lives in a state of sadness and rebellion as he struggles to build a rapport with Godzilla. The adults treat Rob like a schmuck, perpetually disregarding his feelings.

Moon Boy has everything Takiguchi could wish for. Although he and Devil often battle nasty adults, Moon Boy’s bond with his reptilian ally is firmly established. The adults may be adversaries, but they have absolutely no authority over him – big difference! Moon Boy knows complete freedom to make his own decisions. Plus, Devil Dinosaur embodies all the good that Rob seeks in Godzilla: strength, loyalty, protection, power, and friendship.

Yes, if we had written our own ending to this tale, it would have been a happy one. Rob would go back in time with Godzilla. Godzilla would stay Devil-sized. The two boys and their reptiles would become fast friends, roaming the Late Cretaceous as they pleased. And, everything would be drenched in rampaging dinosaurs and Kirby Krackle.

A boy can dream, can’t he?

A Monster Only the City Could Spawn!

Tags

Doug Moench, Godzilla, Herb Trimpe, rat, sewer

Of all the battles Doug Moench dreamed up for Godzilla, this vicious struggle with a sewer rat remains our favorite. What’s that? Godzilla’s bigger than a rat? Yes, he is, Martian! But check it out: the super-duper grown-ups nailed the King of the Monsters with a shrinker-izer that made him easier to handle. Doesn’t that sound like the kind of messed up thing an adult would do to your huge green buddy? How is he supposed to annihilate civilization at that size?!?

But we digress… Suffice to say, Godzilla doesn’t take any crap from this rat – although there’s plenty of it floating in the water! Yuck! Let’s check out the way Herb Trimpe draws this slimy saga of savage sewage supremacy.

Collector’s Guide:
– From Godzilla #18; Marvel, 1979.
– Reprinted in Essential Godzilla TPB #1

For a review of Marvel’s Godzilla series, visit Longbox Graveyard!

Godzilla: King of the Monsters – First Issue!

Tags

Doug Moench, Essential Godzilla, first issue, Godzilla, Godzilla King of the Monsters, Herb Trimpe, marvel godzilla, monsters

The slumbering leviathan known as Godzilla awakes and rises from the sea off the shores of Alaska. This reptilian titan left Japan devastated and now makes his way to America. Godzilla swings a tail that can smash mountains to dust. He breathes fires born of the Atomic Age. Is there anything that can stop the monster’s rampage?

Story by Doug Moench.
Art by Herb Trimpe and Jim Mooney.

For a review of Marvel’s Godzilla series, visit Longbox Graveyard!

Collector’s Guide:
– From Godzilla #1; Marvel, 1977.
– Reprinted in Essential Godzilla TPB #1

I Don’t Believe We Should Be Eating the Goddamn Things!

Tags

Ghidora, Godzilla, Indie Comics, John Cassaday, monsters, Mothra, Planetary, planetary omnibus, Rodan, Warren Ellis, Wildstorm

In Planetary #2 we travel to Island Zero. Here we find corpses of famous Japanese movie monsters: Godzilla, Mothra, and Ghidora. As fun as that sounds, things take a turn for the worse when our clinically insane leader forces us at gun-point to snack on the rotting flesh of Godzilla. Barf!

Only Warren Ellis would come up with such a sick idea. His heroes remain bystanders, baffled by the madness. Artists John Cassaday and Laura Martin take us now to the scene of the chow…

Collector’s Guide:
– From Planetary #2; Wildstorm, 1999.
– Reprinted in Planetary TPB #1
– Reprinted in Planetary Hard Cover #1

As of 2014, the entire series is collected in a single Planetary Omnibus!

Godzilla Gallery 2

Tags

Dark Horse Comics, Godzilla, Indie Comics

Get ready for more city-smashing artwork from Dark Horse’s 6-issue Godzilla series in 1988. The artwork has a crisp, dynamic manga feel to it. And, the Godzilla carnage is relentless. Also, it has the giant creepy bugs that infested the Godzilla 1985 movie. It is, without a doubt, our favorite Godzilla comic book series ever published. Nothing like the fresh taste of a nuclear reactor for breakfast!
Collector’s Guide:
– From Godzilla; Dark Horse, 1988.

Godzilla Gallery 1

Tags

Dark Horse Comics, dinosaur, Godzilla, Indie Comics

Someday, they’ll make a Godzilla comic where Godzilla actually wins. Put the right art team on that bad boy and we’ll buy two copies! Until then, we can enjoy our favorite Godzilla series of all time – from Dark Horse. Rock these samples of city-smashing artwork from Dark Horse’s 6-issue Godzilla series in 1988.

Collector’s Guide:
– From Godzilla; Dark Horse, 1988.