1/19/24

(Another) GODZILLA 1985 Ad Slick Set (American Screen Accessories, 1985)

 

Here is a second set of ad slicks for GODZILLA 1985, comprising 5 pages measuring 11 x 14 inches.

Comparing these to the previous set that we looked at a few years ago, one thing jumps out right away:  while that set had a light-colored background behind Godzilla, this set has a dark one, making for a solidly black ad with white text.

This gave the newspaper personnel a choice, I suppose...the dark one is more striking, but in smaller sizes it might have looked like a big smudge on the page.  What do you think?

And speaking of, some of the most interesting ads are usually the smaller ones:

1/16/24

The Kaiju Art of Ray Fromme!

 

We don't do any paid endorsements around here, and the blog isn't even monetized.  While we don't receive any money, great kaiju artists should, and here is one you should know about. I had the privilege of meeting Ray Fromme at a convention a few months ago, and have been meaning to post about his excellent kaiju artwork ever since! 

Ray is a gifted and prolific artist, as well as a true fan who can talk about any era of Godzilla that you bring up, not to mention other great tokusatsu franchises! I don't feel comfortable copy-and-pasting examples of prints that are for sale, so you are encouraged to go to this LinkTree site, which lists out his stores, social media, and whatnot, including prints, originals, T-shirts, and more.


I will however show you a print that I bought and framed! What can I say? It spoke to me.  Check out his work, won't you?

1/11/24

SHOCK AROUND THE CLOCK 2! Megalon & Godzilla On Monster Island (c.1979)

 

Here is a 9 x 12 inch advertising piece, printed on glossy purple cardstock, very prominently titled SHOCK AROUND THE CLOCK 2! This was a Cinema Shares movie package that was to be sold to potential television station clients, including 7 movies.  And there are some real stinkers.

For our purposes here, though, both GODZILLA vs. MEGALON and GODZILLA ON MONSTER ISLAND are included! If you can get past the giant Jack Elam face, here are the descriptions you can read:



By  my calculations, none of the other films listed are later than 1978.

But wait, there's more--if you are wondering what further SHOCK AROUND THE CLOCK movie packages might have looked like, here are some sloppy photos that I saved from an Ebay auction, showing 1, 3, 5, and at least two more, one completely un-numbered, which is strange:

Puma Man!


THE CANTINA COMPENDIUM (5th edition, 2024) - Including Several Updates, now available!

 

I swore up and down I wasn't going to do it, but in the last four years, I'd collected a small handful of items that really needed to be added to the book.  Also, right before Christmas, two important items came out that yielded a few more tidbits.  They are so enjoyable and well-done that I need to mention them here:

A DISTURBANCE IN THE FORCE -  HOW AND WHY THE STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL HAPPENED (Steve Kozak)
I'm not going to fully review this here, but it's a great read--scholarly, fun, and fair, where you might expect it to simply just be negative (which would be easy to do).  It's simply great.

A DISTURBANCE IN THE FORCE -  HOW AND WHY THE STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL HAPPENED (Jeremy Coon & Steve Kozak)
And whattayaknow, there is an accompanying documentary! This is also lots of fun.  Some of the same interviews are contained in the documentary, but in longer form.  This movie is also very fair, and spends a lot of the first third setting up the context, for those who missed the insane 1970's. I was afraid it would be some sort of VH-1 "talking heads" compilation of comedians dunking on the Special...maybe even without access to real clips, but I was completely wrong, and it was much, much more than that! Recommended.

These can be found in the usual places of course, and as always, I get nothing from touting them here.

Anyway, if you've enjoyed earlier editions of the CANTINA COMPENDIUM, you're going to want to replace them with this new edition:

LINK: The Cantina Compendium (5th edition, PDF)

Here is the old post explaining all of the details of the book, with plenty of screenshots to show you what you're getting into. Enjoy!

1/2/24

GODZILLA vs. MEGALON Theatre Ad Slick (Donald L. Velde, Inc., 1976)

 


There's not much to this one, but here is an ad slick of modified small ads that appear to be custom-made for "SBC Management Corporation and affiliated theatres."  It measures 8.5 x 11 inches, and was issued on April 20, 1976.  The ads were even assigned designations with SBC in the name. Comparing these to the pressbook, you can see which ones were altered to make these.

This theatre group just, apparently, needed ovals!

Speaking of MEGALON, when I was recently updating our Godzilla Home Video Guide, I set aside all of the MEGALON releases on VHS to make a group photo...even I was surprised!