Godzilla (42/454) - Godzilla vs Biollante Japanese B2 poster (1989)

I am a huge fan of artist Noriyoshi Ohrai's advance poster art for the Heisei era films. While I don't yet have any of those originals in my collection, I do have the Japanese release poster for Godzilla vs Biollante (measuring 20 1/4" x 28 5/8").

Is it any wonder why Biollante is one of my favorite kaiju?

Check back on Sunday for our special Godzilla Birthday post!

I Am Legend (43/54) - 1975: Occhi Bianchi Sul Planeta Terra Italian Photobusta Set (1971)

The Italian title for The Omega Man was 1975: Occhi Bianchi Sul Planeta Terra (1975: White Eyes on Planet Earth) — obviously taking a cue from the contacts worn by the actors portraying 'The Family' in the film. 

In Italy, the 'photobusta' is similar to the American lobby card, only much larger (~18x26). Released in sets of 8 (and occasionally more) images, and often, despite the films being advertised being shot in color, using colorized black and white photos. 

Of course an inadvertent result of this colorization is the suggestion that Matthias is wearing a bright red cloak, like the bedspread above!

Photobustas often contain multiple images — in the case of some films (including The Omega Man), multiple images are spliced together in such a way that is not obvious to someone who hasn't seen the original stills.

Check back next week for another item from the I Am Legend Archive!

Creature from the Black Lagoon (42/54) - Leonardo as Creature from the Black Lagoon (2023)

Way back in 1994, Playmates, the action figure license holder for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles released as series of Turtles as Universal Monsters, including Leonardo as the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

In 2023, NECA did their version of Leonardo as the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and they did a pretty amazing job with it. 

Not only is it a highly articulated figure, but he has multiple hands, and character appropriate accessories, including Creature-inspired Ninja weapons!

As with their actual Creature figures, NECA did a fine job on the packaging as well. It was a no-brainer to add this crossover character to our Creature collection!

Be here next week for another item from my Creature collection!

Godzilla (41/54) - Kenpachiro Satsuma Autographed Photo (2014)

As I mentioned previously, in 2014 I had the pleasure of meeting two Godzilla actors at Monsterpalooza in Burbank, including the man inside my favorite Godzilla suit from 1984-1995, Kenpachiro Satsuma.

As with the original Godzilla suit actor Haruo Nakajima, I was pleased to be able to get a photo signed in which he was featured outside of the suit.

Satsuma starred opposite the original Godzilla suit actor in the following Showa era Godzilla films: 

• Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) as Hedorah
• Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972) as Gigan
• Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973) as Gigan

He would then assume the role as the King of the Monsters throughout the Heisei era in:

• The Return of Godzilla (1984)
• Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)
• Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)
• Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992) 
• Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)
• Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994)
• Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995) 

Though the baton was passed to Tsutomu Kitagawa for the Millennium era, Satsuma will always be the actor who portrayed the role in my favorite era of Godzilla films. 

Kenpachiro Satsuma passed away last December at the age of 76.

Check back next week for another item from my Godzilla collection!

I Am Legend (42/54) - Chikyu Saigo No Otoko (Last Man On Earth), Hayakawa (1971)

In 1971, coinciding with the release of The Omega Man, Japanese publisher of I Am Legend, Hayakawa, released Chikyu Saigo No Otoko (Last Man On Earth) with a photo cover featuring Charlton Heston. It's interesting to note that the cover photo is credited to Warner Brothers Pictures from "The Last Man On Earth" and "Humanity SOS."

The cover and title page actually reference "Humanity SOS" in addition to The Last Man On Earth and (Old title Vampire). The book is a revision of the 1958 Hayakawa edition, once again translated by Tanaka Koji (the last line of the novel being, "I am now a legendary monster."). 

This edition also contains an original afterword by the translator discussing the history of vampires, referencing both Bram Stoker's Dracula and the penny-dreadful Varney the Vampire, as well as Universal's film starring Bela Lugosi, Hammer's Dracula with Christopher Lee, and Roger Vadim's Blood and Roses (which is described as a bizarre vampire movie, and an enjoyable film with beautiful colors). He goes on to describe the novel as, "compilation of all that vampire knowledge, and by reading it you will be able to master most of the vampire science." He also adds, "...it's not just a culmination, there's a cynical irony, with a comical and terrifying end implied by the title, I Am Legend." 

Check back next week for another item from the I Am Legend Archive!

Creature from the Black Lagoon (41/54) - Pop (2024)

I don't collect Funko Pops. I see them as a collecting fad whose bubble will eventually burst, leaving tens of thousands of big-headed plastic bodies at the bottom of landfills around the globe. But, I will give them credit — they've managed to negotiate just about every license imaginable, and for every 1000 Pop characters that I have no interest in, they'll drop one that I am compelled to provide a home to (even if only temporarily). 

Funko did their first Creature quite a few years ago, and have released a handful of glow or color variants since then. Just in time for Halloween 2024 comes this latest colorful rendition that I decided was worthy of becoming part of the Creature collection. 

He'll have plenty of company with the other Creatures around, but he won't be joined by his Universal Monster Pop Brethren. As far as I'm concerned, they're all 'next stop — landfill!'

Check back next week for another item from my Creature collection. 

Godzilla (40/54) - Bandai Godzilla Store Exclusive Minilla (2024)

Regular readers are well aware that my favorite Showa Era Godzilla film is the universally reviled 1969 feature, Godzilla's Revenge (ゴジラ・ミニラ・ガバラ オール怪獣大進撃 / Gojira Minira Gabara Ōru Kaijū Dai-shingeki / Godzilla, Minilla, and Gabara: All Monsters Attack). 

For years, I have gone without a representation of Minilla, the Son of Godzilla, in my collection. I rectified that this year with this newly released Godzilla store exclusive figure. 

While technically a Son of Godzilla (1967) release from Bandai's Movie Monster Series, it's all the same in my book. Glad to finally have a the favorite Son of the Showa Era in the collection.

Be here next week for another item from my Godzilla collection!

I Am Legend (41/54) - The Omega Man Berkley Medallion Tie-In (1971)

 

In August of 1971, seven years after the release of the Bantam paperback, Berkley Medallion released a movie tie-in to The Omega Man. Despite the significant deviation from the source material, the original novel was reprinted, as opposed to a novelization of the film's screenplay (decades later, I discovered that an adaptation of the screenplay was published in the pages of Screen Stories magazine).

Featuring a wonderful cover painting by the legendary Mort Kunstler (another that I would absolutely love to add to the archive) of Neville, Matthias and the torch-wielding Family, the tie-in would prove to be quite successful, with a second printing issued in November 1971 — the first time for the novel in the US since Gold Medal released their 'Second Big Printing!' in 1957.

A Canadian printing was simultaneously released in August of 1971.

For the next 20 years, I only ever encountered first and second printings of the tie-in, and assumed that was the extent of the print run.

In April of 2016, I received a package from Kelly Laymon containing several Richard Matheson books from her Dad's colection. Richard Laymon was a dear fried who we had the honor of publishing twice — A Good Secret Place and A Writer's Tale — before his sudden passing in 2001. They knew I was a huge Matheson fan, and that I would appreciate these books from Dick's collection. What made it an even more special gift was that among the books was a copy of tie-in to The Omega Man — a fourth printing! 

Armed with the new awareness that there were (at least) two more printings than I had never encountered, I immediately set out on a search to find a third printing, which I eventually did. 

And low and behold, during that search, I found a copy that didn't match the others that I had accumulated. Sure, to the untrained eye, it appears almost identical. 

Until you compare the two side-by-side. Note the red Medallion is shifted from the left to the right, and the text that ran along the spine has been moved to the top of the book. Additionally, for the fifth printing, the ISBN and the price changed (an increase from 75¢ to 95¢).

Is there a sixth printing out there, waiting to be discovered? Based on my research (and the ease at which the latest printings can be spotted from the cover alone), I think the fifth was the final release until Berkley reissued the book in 1979. But I have long since learned to never say never!

Be sure to check back next week for another item from the I Am Legend Archive!

Creature from the Black Lagoon (40/54) - NECA Universal Monsters 7" Black & White Creature (2023)

Complementing last week's post, this week we look at NECA's black and white variation of the Creature.

Though I'm not a fan 

Once again they use poster art for the packaging, but it's one of the lesser Creature poster paintings. I would have recommended the 3D re-release poster from 1972.

The Creature comes with the same accessories as the color version, all in grayscale this time out.

 Check back next week for another item from my Creature collection!