The Things I See (continued...even still)

Time again to clean out the old hard drive, and share some of the things that I run across during the year...in no particular order:

This is from the inner sleeve of a random record from the 80's.  Remember when people actually thought this (or more specifically, when record companies actually worried about this)? Now we know that it was never an issue at all; it was streaming that killed music.

Somebody had one job, and failed miserably.

Here is half of a Millennium Falcon from a flea market--where they thought they would get 50 bucks, mind you--with a Hobbit bound to it with plastic and packing tape.  Sigh.

Instead let's look at the comics...oh my, some kid was bored back in the day!

Speaking of comics, here is a random vintage panel that I want a T-shirt of.  I think it was a Charlton comic, and I should have paid better attention.

This probably came from the same comic.  "FUN AT PARTIES...SOLVES RIDDLES...EVEN TELLS FORTUNES." Somehow I think not.  "TRAIN IT TO DO YOUR BIDDING." Just try me.

Ah yes, the "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" era. "WELCOME SPACE BROTHERS"...to our frisbee golf course.

This is one of those covers that you've probably seen somewhere, but I actually found this for a couple of bucks, and it cracks me up.

An ant, and his tiny air hockey table.

Again, somebody had one job.  Just one job...

When you are two years old, and you get called into work, you have to take the Power Wheels...in the rain, even. That, my friends, is dedication!

Okay, we need to talk about this.  This is from some random, generic late 70's magazine trying to cash in on Star Wars mania, and all of the included paintings are direct copies of publicity photos...only, they took the Han Solo in Stormtrooper pose and decided they couldn't get Harrison Ford's likeness right, and, with deadline looming, instead just made it where they BLEW THE STORMTROOPER'S HEAD CLEAN OFF AND MADE IT EXPLODE.  What in the world? Is there a person somewhere right now in therapy because they received this as a child? I am traumatized right now!

The Top Ten Rarest American Godzilla Comics

 

In 2026, there will have been 50 years of American Godzilla comics, which is hard to believe.  The list of unique titles is hovering at around 300 different ones as I type this (mostly because their publication has been kicked into ultra-overdrive in the last couple of years by a certain parent company).  Therefore, I thought it would be a good time to examine the very rarest & most obscure titles that exist.

This list will not look at variant covers, or we would be here all day.  Also, remember the old chestnut of "just because it's rare, doesn't mean it's super-valuable," although some of these are definitely exemptions to that rule.

Also, we will go in chronological order, because it makes better sense, since this isn't a price guide.  Don't forget as well that we have a complete guide to Godzilla comics maintained at this page, which is an ongoing, "living document" of a PDF that is a real pain to keep current these days.  But it's the only place on the entire Internet that all of this information is together.  

1) GODZILLA vs. MEGALON THEATRICAL COMIC (Cinema Shares International, 1976)

And what better place to start, than at the beginning? This 8.5 x 11 inch pulp comic was purchased by the thousands by participating theatre-owners and handed out at showings.  Not many were saved, though, and with the distinction of being the very first U.S. Godzilla comic, prices have skyrocketed over the last several years.  I hate that term "key," because everything becomes a "key," but this is the keyest key that there is.  You can see scans of the whole thing at our post here!

2) GODZILLA #1/#2/#3 [35-cent edition]

(Marvel, 1977)

Another first--the first variant covers, although it wasn't on purpose.  At the time that Marvel launched their incredibly-fun GODZILLA title, comic cover prices were about to be increased, from 30 to 35 cents.  As a test in certain areas, they went ahead and printed 35-cent versions of titles that were currently 30 cents everywhere else (the extremely-rare first issue of STAR WARS is a good example).  As a result, the first 3 issues of GODZILLA have 35-cent variants, and are all quite expensive.  Starting with #4's November 1977 issue, all titles were 35 cents.  If you are ever scrolling by auctions for the ubiquitous 1st issue, you might want to pause and double-check the cover price, because sometimes sellers might not know what they have!

3) DARK HORSE PREVIEW BOOK (Dark Horse, 1992)

Many collectors don't even know about this super-rare item that Dark Horse sent to retailers in 1992 (it's just a little bigger than 8.5 x 11 inches, because of the cover).  It contained 4-page, black-and-white previews of their current offerings, including Godzilla, although they had barely gotten off the ground with the big G.  You can see the relevant parts in this post!

4) SCREEN MONSTERS #4 [Trading Card Edition] 
(Zone Productions, 1993)

Here is another one that lots of people don't know about, and it came out simultaneously in two versions, the plain and the "Limited Trading Card Edition," which raised the price by four dollars and included a strip of four trading cards, making it a source for a rare Godzilla comic AND very rare Godzilla trading cards at the same time. You can see the cards at this post!

5) DARK HORSE INSIDER #42 (Dark Horse, June 1995)

Nobody thinks about it at the time, but these sorts of free, promotional comics that you can pick up at your local comic shop can later become quite scarce, because they are usually thrown away!

6) NEGATIVE BURN #18 (Caliber Press, Jan. 1995) / ART ADAMS' CREATURE FEATURES (Dark Horse TPB, Aug. 1996)

Flying under the radar, the NEGATIVE BURN issue includes a 4-page, black-and-white feature entitled "Trampling Tokyo," which features Adams illustrating lyrics written by Alan Moore! This feature was reprinted in full color in the CREATURE FEATURES trade paperback the following year (which includes more Godzilla content, too).

7) GODZILLA: THE IDW ERA (IDW, May 2014)

This cash-grab issue was meant to be a behind-the-scenes look at the prolific run that started in 2011, but sales were very poor, and most fans stayed away.  As such, if somebody figures this out someday, prices for this title will probably go up. 

8) SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP #22 (DC Comics, Mar. 2017)

The issue is a team-up with Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles, but the artists sneaked the Hanna-Barbera Godzilla into one big panel, along with two of the monsters from the Saturday morning GODZILLA cartoon! File under: "the most obscure Godzilla cameo of all time"?

9) LEGENDS OF THE MONSTERVERSE OMNIBUS (Legendary Comics, hardcover, 2024)

These are the sorts of things that fall through the cracks: this volume reprints all of the tie-in graphic novels for the various modern Kong and Godzilla movies, but it adds one new story found nowhere else, called "Godzilla: Fight Or Flight." 

10) GODZILLA vs. CTHULHU: A DEATH MAY DIE STORY (CMON Games/Guillotine Press, 2024)

Distributed only at San Diego Comic Con (in July of 2024), this full-sized comic was produced in very limited numbers, and buying the Godzilla miniature for the "Death May Die" game was the only way to get it.  I haven't even read it yet, as I just got my copy (which prompted this Top 10 list, by the way), but I do predict that going forward, this will remain one of the most valuable Godzilla comics, price-wise.

I hope you've enjoyed this look at the very rare, and in some cases, ridiculously obscure.  The growing list of Godzilla comics shows no signs of stopping, and it is currently being spammed hard: in this year alone, Toho is allowing Godzilla comics printed by IDW, Marvel, and DC, even all at the same time in some cases.....it is nuts.  If IDW was to finally go bankrupt, I would not be surprised at all to see Toho--who is diversifying quite a bit these days--just print their own.  Godzilla comics are not going anywhere!

SHOGUN WARRIORS Promotional Iron-On with Godzilla & Rodan (Fall 1979)

 

While catching up on my reading, I came across this full-page ad in a Marvel Comic dated November, 1979.  The artwork (incidentally, done by Herb Trimpe) shows something that had never gotten my complete attention before, for some reason...here is a bigger look:

By sending in proofs of purchase from Shogun Warrior items, fans would receive this awesome 5" x 7" iron-on transfer, including Godzilla and Rodan! Which got me to thinking...did it exist? Did anyone ever order it? And if so, are there any unused, anywhere?!?! (This is an item that will have to be added to our Vintage Godzilla Guide for U.S. items, for sure.)

For those who weren't there, unlike today, where we just buy a T-shirt with anything we want on it, in the 1970's, you bought the IRON-ON and applied it to the T-shirt of your choice! The idea was the same, but you--or your mom--did all the work. 

Wouldn't it have been awesome to walk around sporting that shirt, and be the coolest guy you knew? 

Never let it be said that we don't take care of you around here.  The image has been scanned at 600 dpi, and painstaking trimmed out of the ad, so all you have to do is add it on the website of your choice. Which is exactly what I am going to do! Enjoy!

PLEASE NOTE: T-shirt sites will often need a PNG of a certain size, which I have added to my Google Drive here.

Dark Horse Preview Book (Dark Horse Comics, 1992)

 

In 1992, Dark Horse sent out a preview book to retailers, and inadvertently created one of the rarest Godzilla comics that exists.  It's virtually unknown on many lists and databases, but here is the lowdown.

The book itself is unique; it's black and white with pages that are 8.5 x 11-inches, but the oversized outer cover adds an 1/8 of an inch all the way around, meaning it won't fit into any standard magazine bags.  Inside are 4-page previews of all of their titles for 1992, meaning the Arthur Adams GODZILLA COLOR SPECIAL for our purposes here, because that's the only Godzilla item Dark Horse made that year (other than a pin-up in a comic distributed at San Diego Comic Con that year, which we will see in a moment).

Apologies for the photos; the weird binding makes it so that it would have to be destroyed to get decent scans of, so this was unfortunately the only way:

The artwork above was used as the cover to the GODZILLA COLOR SPECIAL that year.

And here is the pin-up that ended up in SAN DIEGO COMIC CON COMICS #1 (which I believe was given out for free at that show, even).

Is anything FREE at a Comic Con? Ever?

This preview book is an interesting footnote in the Dark Horse Godzilla output, which lasted from 1987 to 1999! To see a checklist of all of it, consult our Chronological American Godzilla Comics page.  A PDF guide showing every cover is in the works as we speak, so stay tuned!

The Things That I See: Godzilla Miscellaneous Edition

Today, let's address a handful of random, Godzilla-related things that have piled up, but don't really have a place of their own.  Hopefully, this won't be too boring or disjointed:

First off, since the best coverage you can find regarding the famous Mattel Shogun Godzilla is off-site, it became obvious that the instructions aren't included anywhere here, so let's quickly rectify that:

NOTE: For full images of all variations of the instruction sheet, go to this post.

Secondly, after years of searching, I finally obtained what turned out to be a crisp, vibrant copy of the advance movie poster for GIGANTIS, THE FIRE MONSTER.  Since Toho has pretty much obliterated this American version (you'd have to go all the way back to the VHS release to find a print with the GIGANTIS title card), it doesn't get talked about a lot, but it should:

I mean, it's the first sequel, the first film to pit Godzilla against another monster (and therefore the first Angilas/Anguirus), and also the only vintage American Godzilla film to have an advance poster.  While advance posters were nothing new, even in monster movies, I've always thought that it showed Warner Bros. was putting some extra money/attention behind the film, although you could argue the opposite, since it ended up in a double-feature release with TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE.  I will say, I was unprepared for how vibrant the color is on this poster; it's almost day-glo like a highlighter.  Pretty snazzy for 1959.

Let's pause for a moment, and test your Godzilla knowledge, with this 1978 comic book ad.  Or not.

Lastly, here's a discovery that surprised me.  Remember how the first official version of the GODZILLA vs. MEGALON DVD had lots of extra (unapproved) material, and was then withdrawn? Well, don't fall for E-bay prices, you can actually still obtain the pulled version.  It seems Tokyo Shock is alive and well, and selling their leftover stock on Amazon (under the name Cinema Scape).  You can buy a bundle that includes sealed copies of the blu-ray as well as the withdrawn version, together.  And it's the real deal.  What's uber-strange though, is the label under the shrink-wrap:

My guess is that they had to label their stock when the hammer came down, to keep it straight when a bare-bones version was demanded, but even so, it was surprising to see this label.  Keep in mind that only the DVD ever included the forbidden extras, but who wouldn't want the blu-ray anyhow? Unfortunately, while the recalled version is an important Godzilla collectible, the (video) extras aren't so hot.  I never understood Toho pulling the DESTROY ALL MONSTERS disc, but in viewing the MEGALON ones again, you can see why it was done.  The extras are obviously from a VHS tape of various film sources (including Super 8), and there is a 7+ minute stretch of trailers that are so bad, they had to be window-boxed (shown in a small television graphic that limits it to maybe 25% of your screen) to be viewable.  Oh well.  We would still recommend buying it, while you still can! One of these days it'll be crazy expensive. A sealed 1983 VHS copy of KING OF THE MONSTERS ended for over a thousand bucks this weekend, so you never know!

Batman Theme Collection (Leaping Fox, 2022 upgrade!)

 

It's a frustrating part of life, but sometimes, to really finish a project, you just have to let a little time pass. I've had some requests recently to re-upload this project, and it just so happened that I'd been gathering missing files slowly, over time.  I decided to track down the last few tracks I knew of, and (gasp!) even buy some of the missing original records! Once everything was in and converted, I was able to finally put this one to bed, with SIXTY-THREE versions of the 1966 Batman theme, brand-new artwork, and a smile of accomplishment.  If you downloaded the original project, delete it, and enjoy! Also, Happy Halloween!

We should really talk about some of these versions, though.  One that stands out to me is the "Boston Pops Orchestra with Arthur Fiedler."  The person that arranged that, as well as recorded it, obviously absolutely hated the Batman Theme.  This single was released as a promo-only 45, and when you hear it, you will know why.  It's also recorded super hot, at a near-blaring level of semi-atonal cacophony that you have to hear to believe.  It's not on any of their albums, Amazon, or YouTube for that matter...imagine that!

LINK:  Batman Theme Collection 2022 Upgrade

Godspeed, Neal Adams

 

This of course is not a news blog, but I was saddened to hear about the death of Neal Adams on April 28th.  The medium of comics cannot bear to lose any more of its luminaries, because the list of those that remain is extremely, painfully short.  And luminary he was.

I was fortunate enough to meet Mr. Adams (and his lovely wife) in 2016, and although he had a reputation as a bit of a curmudgeon, he was completely affable and charming, and honestly too big for the show he graciously attended.  

I chose the comic above for him to sign, and after I handed it to him, he joked "What is this? I haven't seen this before..." After he had signed it, he produced a large holographic sticker, which was the Certificate of Authenticity, and told me he would have to apply it to the back cover of the comic.  I told him, respectfully, he could do whatever he wanted to do!  Like I am going to meet Neal Adams, and then flip out over a sticker that only serves to authenticate his signature in the first place.  I imagine somebody did, though, and I hope he let them have it...and I'm sure he did!

SUNDAY MORNING WITH THE COMICS (Reprise, 1966)

 

Let's get started on what will be a large group of exclusive offerings that can be found nowhere else but this blog! Well, as far as I can tell, but I assure you, there are some genuine rarities coming up, including some audio, some Godzilla-related items otherwise thought lost to time, and probably some goofy crap that may leave you wondering what's going on or where the exit is.

This first item is a super-rare LP from 1966 that eluded me for years and seems to be nowhere...but it's here now.  Once I obtained it, I realized why it's so rare:  quite simply, it's not very good! It has a real problem of not knowing what to be.  It looks like it began as a tribute to what we now call OTR (Old-Time Radio), then quickly jumped on the Superhero bandwagon as the cover shows you (seeing the year of 1966 should have been your first clue), and then somehow decided to attempt to be satire...or parody...or comedy...or something. 

It's a little hard to be comedic when you are trying to capture the young BATMAN television audience, and at the same time alluding to defunct oddities like whatever "Jack Armstrong, All-American Boy" is, AND mixing those misguided tributes with original "satirical" creations that aren't funny at all ("Captain Gorgeous" and "Wonder Mother" for starters).  I mean, "Wonder Mother" could almost be a straight Wonder Woman feature, but sounds like at the last minute, somebody decided to make it "funny."  Don't tell me they chickened out of featuring DC characters, because Batman and Superman are right there in the track listing...except while the Batman theme is a solid, and very rare version (don't worry, it's already been added to our collection of Batman TV Themes), they took the great Sammy Timberg Fleischer Superman theme and used it for a weak pantomime bit about a super weakling called "Pantywaist" that was already not funny even by 1966 standards.

The schizophrenia continues, because even though the track is listed as "The Green Hornet," it's in reality a send-up titled "The Green Hairnet" [groan].  Which is followed by a completely straight-faced tribute to Little Orphan Annie.  And it continues from there.  It's like three different potential albums collided in a hurricane, and left us with this one.

Besides the Batman theme, this LP does have a few other good things going for it.  I should point out that the music was competently provided by the Jimmy Bowen Orchestra and Chorus, and that there are some familiar voices to enjoy, such as the great Gary Owens and the great Bob Arbogast.  So, enjoy this tribute to the golden age of radio...I mean, this pastiche of colorful superhero camp...wait, no, I mean, this collection of original hilarious satirical creations.  I give up.

LINK:  Sunday Morning With the Comics (1966)

GODZILLA vs. HEDORAH 50th Anniversary

 

Hard to believe, but this year marks the 50th Anniversary of GODZILLA vs. HEDORAH, and therefore the title monster enemy, who's become one of my favorites over the years.  (In fact, it's July 24 to be precise!) I didn't even realize it until I saw this image on the cover of the latest IDW comic:

This is not one of those sites who shills, nor gets free stuff from manufacturers, but for the sake of completeness we should mention that IDW has just begun a new series of quarterly one-shots called GODZILLA RIVALS, the first of which features Hedorah himself, and while I hate alternate covers, there are two and both feature some excellent artwork!

Besides calling attention to this milestone, and while we are at it, here are two appearances of the old Smog Monster himself on official album covers that you might not have known about!

Frank Zappa - Sleep Dirt (1979)

Dinosaur Jr. - Sweep It Into Space (2021)

Learn the Secret Powers of the Deadliest Killers in the Orient (Comic Book Ad, 1975)

 

Remember all of the bizarro, too-good-to-be-true items that were advertised in comic books back in the day? You may recall some of the famous ones:  the purported 7-Foot Polaris Submarine, X-Ray Specs, 6-foot Moon Monsters, Sea Monkeys, and heck, even real monkeys.  All of these were offered in the pages of comics.  And, don't forget GRIT, or the promise that I could become rich enough to buy my own Atari games, just by selling seed packets.

The other day, I was enjoying a classic slab of primo 1975 Jack Kirby goodness, when I ran across this full-page ad.  I'd seen it before, but I had never stopped to take it all in.  It's quite a read.  

Try to remember the kung-fu craze that had taken hold of the world and had reached its peak by the early 1970's.  By the time this ad was run, Bruce Lee hadn't even been dead but probably a year and a half; maybe less.  Ninjas would become, for the 1980's, what kung-fu fighters were to the 1970's.  By the time you got to the byline of THE PHYSIO-MENTAL POWERS OF THE NINJA, you had the attention of most kids...although admittedly, this ad was too wordy to have interrupted my comic book reading...and in 1975, I was too little anyway.

So, right away, under the headline, we bandy the term "invisibility" about twice, and we aren't even into the ad proper yet.  But, you have my attention!

Right away, we are launched into a whirlwind of capital letters and incredible claims.  You would expect an ad like this to make lots of cringey mistakes, but despite the hugely-entertaining hyperbole, it really doesn't.  (In lots of American fiction, ninjas are wrongly associated with China, for example, but they don't make that mistake here, and even use the name of the discipline of Ninjutsu correctly.)  All of the secrets discussed here are in a manual they will be glad to sell us--and, we are told that revealing the secrets of Ninjutsu meant "a gruesome death," implying that, well, somebody bit it big time in order for us to have this knowledge.  So, shouldn't we honor that?

Generously, they also make a point to offer discounts to law enforcement agencies...although to this day I have never seen the Ninja Task Force of my local police department...but, you say, that's because they are obviously invisible.  I know.

We are also promised that we will learn "the all important time-lag factor...instrumental to the art of disappearing."  Yes, please!  That would be handy at work.  They also tell us that "NINJA were the deadliest of fighters who were unbeatable in unarmed combat."  (Wikipedia tells me that ninja actually used lots of weapons.) The text then immediately discusses an "incredible array of weapons" (huh?) such as "Stars of Death, or their deadly Retrievable Stone."  "Stars of Death" I think is a breakfast cereal, but this "Retrievable Stone" perplexed me.  From some mild yet lazy Googling, it looks like it is some sort of weight on the end of a rope, probably used for climbing.  

The farther you get in the text, the more subtle bombshells they keep flinging:  "These fighters were unsurpassed in their ability to overcome all of their enemies.  They employed magic and stealth, and--" hang on, how did magic get into this? Somebody's 20-sided die just fell out of their pocket in public.  I mean, you had me at ninja, and now we are talking about magical ninja.  "You can protect yourself and your loved ones against ANY ATTACKER under ANY CONDITIONS.  Even while sleeping."  Wait, what? Suddenly I have questions about somnambulist fisticuffs...in the later bullet points, they mention "The NINJA'S special techniques of invulnerability--Even While Sleeping," so which is it? My takeaway from these factoids is that if you hire a ninja, you should let them sleep at work, like Google does.  After all, you're getting them at their best.

Another random bit that they just drop in is when they promise us the "Closely Guarded Secrets of Atemi-Waza," without even giving us a remote clue as to what that is (I looked it up; Atemi-Waza is a series of body-striking techniques adopted into judo in 1882...what this has to do with ninja stuff at all, I have no idea).

And then we get to the mail-away coupon, and discover that this manual will cost $5.00, with 80 cents postage.  For those of you who don't know, five dollars in 1975 was a week's wages.  You could buy an entire personal computer for five bucks back then.  Of course, I am kidding, but my point is, $5.80 was very steep for what was probably just a pamphlet.  

When you submit the order form, they force you to promise "to use the deadly SECRETS OF NINJUTSU only for defense and that I'll never use it as an aggressor," during which I would have firmly had my fingers crossed the entire time.  If I get this power, I am definitely messing some people up.

Now I come to the point in this discussion where I wish I could find somebody who ordered this "manual," so we could see what it really contained.  Then again, maybe that person became a super hero and is far too busy...then again, maybe that person just used it to disappear!