Creature from the Black Lagoon (54/54) - VHS promo 6' cardboard stand-up (1991)

For the farewell entry for Creature from the Black Lagoon in this series AND the blog, I obviously wanted to pick out something special. 

If memory serves, Vonna procured this promotional standee for me 30-some odd years ago, so he lived at the old house before migrating to the Home of The Slaughtered Lamb Cinema in 2007, where he's taken up residence adjacent to the Creature-case in Theater B. 

Having him out of his normal location for these photos got me thinking he might be due a relocation to Theater A, the one place where we can still watch the VHS tape that he's promoting! 

That does it for my 54th year, and the I AM 54 blog! Whether you followed along as each new post went live, or if you discovered it long after the fact, I hope you enjoy reviewing all of the items shared from my I Am Legend, Godzilla, and Creature from the Black Lagoon collections!

Godzilla (54/54) - Super7 Toho Ultimates 1200°C Godzilla (2023)

This is it! For the final entry for Godzilla in this series, I wanted to pick out something special. When Super7 released their Toho Ultimates Wave with Destoroyah, they paired him with what I thought was the ultimate never-to-be-replicated-in-a-figure version of Godzilla: his (SPOILER ALERT) climactic meltdown from the finale of Godzilla vs Destoroyah!

Yes, his skin melting away, revealing his bones underneath, is from the climactic emotional scene from the film.

And while gruesome, this final form of Godzilla from one of my favorite films was once again a must-have. 

Check back on Friday for our final Creature from the Black Lagoon post. Whether you followed the blog as each new post was made, or if you discovered it after the fact, I hope you will enjoy reviewing the items shared from my collections!

I Am Legend (54/54) - PC copy of the letterpress Suntup Lettered Edition (2020)

For this final entry for I Am Legend in this series, I wanted to pick out something special to highlight. 

While not the most important copy of I Am Legend in the archive, this is definitely the most expensive, and as a result, was looking to be the only publicly offered version of the book that the Archive would have to forego owning. For better or worse, all 26 copies had been spoken for (at a $3500 listing price!) before I could even given it consideration...

From the Suntup Press website:

The Lettered edition is limited to 26 copies and is a full goatskin binding featuring a handcrafted wooden stake affixed to the cover which is laser engraved with the title. The spine is foil stamped, and endsheets are hand marbled on acid free Fabriano Ingres. The edition is printed letterpress on Hahnemühle Biblio mouldmade paper featuring a deckled fore edge. Title, chapter and section pages are printed with an additional spot color, and the edition is housed in a quarter leather clamshell enclosure with a marbled paper cover.

It certainly is a beautiful book, very nicely designed, and all the more unique due to the laser-etched 'stake' mounted on the front of the leatherbound cover. 

So you might be wondering, how did I come to own the copy you see here — it was through a surprising twist of fate. I happened to see a listing in a Facebook group for a PC (Publisher's/Presentation Copy) of the lettered edition, and it was offered well below the lettered editions retail price. While not inexpensive, it was likely the most affordable copy I would ever find, and so for the sake of the archive, I pulled the trigger. 

While it would have been nice if this edition been able to include a Matheson signature (the author passed in 2013, but existing signatures are sometimes incorporated to allow for posthumous signed editions), the fact that it was printed letterpress makes it a unique piece of art.

A number of premiums shipped with the book, including an Art print, bookmark, and in this specific case, a note from the publisher thanking the recipient for their support of the press. 

Here's one last look at the hand-marbled endpapers (and traycase wrap).

Check back Wednesday for our final Godzilla post, and Friday for our final Creature from the Black Lagoon post. Whether you followed the blog as each new post was made, or if you discovered it after the fact, I hope you will enjoy reviewing the items shared from my collections!

Creature from the Black Lagoon (53/54) - Sideshow 12" Figure (2003)

Sideshow delivered one of the best large-scale Creatures to date in 2003 with this sixth-scale Creature. The articulated body with rubbery skin allowed for a nice reproduction of the Creature costume.

There have been additional figures in this scale since 2003, and arguably even nicer sculpts, but given the comparative price points at the time of release, this Sideshow Creature remains one of the best values for the cost. 

We're in the final month of I Am 54, but hang in there as we wind down our celebration of the 70th anniversaries of I Am Legend, Godzilla, and The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Check back next week for the final item from my Creature collection in this series!

Godzilla (53/54) - Novel Series by Mark Cerasini (1996-1998)

In the late 90s, Godzilla got his own fiction book series written by Mark Cerasini and published by Random House. Before you ask — nope! — I haven't read them. But despite their every-growing value on the secondary market, I continue to hold onto my set, in large part due to the great cover art by Bob Eggleton. 

Mark Cerasini wrote five Godzilla novels, however only the first four were published. These include Godzilla Returns (1996):

Godzilla 2000 (1997), which anticipated the title of the first film in the Millennium series:

Godzilla at World's End (1988):

And Godzilla vs The Robot Monsters (1998):

The planned 5th book in the series, Godzilla and the Lost Continent, was scheduled for November 1998, but never published. According to Wikipedia, Cerasini gave an interview explaining that the failure of the 1998 U.S. film killed the book series. A brief excerpt was included in the back of Godzilla vs The Robot Monsters.

And here's the Eggleton painting for the cover of Godzilla and the Lost Continent, which hints at the big G burning up, Destoroyah-style!

We're in the final month of I Am 54, but hang in there as we wind down our celebration of the 70th anniversaries of I Am Legend, Godzilla, and The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Check back next week for the final item from my Godzilla collection in this series!

I Am Legend (53/54) - A full length play in two acts by John Mattera and Geoffrey Cunningham (late 1990s)

As has been evidenced in great detail over the past 12 months, the I Am Legend Archive is not limited to just the library of editions of the book from around the world.

Whenever I come across a unique associational item, I'm compelled to pick it up. So when I saw a listing for a play adaptation of the novel on eBay, I didn't hesitate acquiring it, operating under the assumption that it was an unsanctioned adaptation.

Had I gone to greater lengths researching it as internet resources became more readily available, I would have found several references to co-author John Mattera mentioning he "had the privilege of working with Richard Matheson on producing a stage version of I Am Legend." Now, as far as I know, this play has never been produced. I have been unable to find any evidence to support that it ever was, and it was not mentioned among Matheson's play adaptations in The Richard Matheson Companion. 

Needless to say, the fact that the play appears to have been written with the approval (if not active participation) of Richard Matheson, makes this script all the more important to the Archive. Unfortunately, by the time I found all this out, John Mattera had passed away.

It's interesting to note the number of principal performers specified (6 women and 3 men), given the nature of the story. But clearly, there was more to the play than just Robert, Ben and Ruth; flashbacks would come into play including Virginia, Kathy, Freda Cortman — and in a deviation from the novel, the inclusion of a Cortman daughter, Mandy. The dog, however, is optional?

I have included the first few pages below to share how things are established. Rest assured, the entirety of the script isn't just Ben Cortman shouting, "COME OUT, NEVILLE!"

We're in the final month of I Am 54, but hang in there as we wind down our celebration of the 70th anniversaries of I Am Legend, Godzilla, and The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Check back next week for the final item from the I Am Legend Archive in this series!