I Am Legend (19/54) - Original John Stewart illustrations from Ich Bin Legende, Heyne Books (1982)

There have been certain editions of I Am Legend that I have been aware of but unable to source for a number of years. One such edition was the second German translation from 1982, featuring a unique, if inappropriate, cover by Michael Hasted.

Originally published by Heyne Books in 1963 (and subsequently reprinted in 1970) under the title Ich Der Letzte Mensch (I, The Last Man), when translated by Werner Gronwald the date of the story was shifted from 1976 to 1986. In 1982, a new translation was created by Lore Strassl, under the more direct translation of the title, Ich Bin Legende. It's interesting to note that this edition references the prior German edition as an abridged version (which is not referenced anywhere in 1963 release), although both books contain 21 chapters and would appear to be complete. Strassl set the dates back to those from the original novel (1976), and one other notable difference between the two translations for the final line — Ich bin eine legende (I am a legend) in the former, and ich bin legende (I am legend) in the latter. The lack of the article was clearly a deliberate choice of Matheson, and therefore a more accurate translation.

When I finally procured a copy of this elusive edition through abebooks, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it also featured 12 interior illustrations by artist John Stewart, a British artist who provided illustrations to numerous science fiction novels published by Heyne Books. 

In 2019, a lot of five of the twelve illustrations Stewart created for the book went up for auction, and thankfully, I was able to acquire them. I'd love to find the remaining seven pieces to complete the collection, but am happy to have any examples of original published I Am Legend artwork in the archive.

It's particularly cool that in addition to signing and dating each piece, Stewart annotated the reverse of each piece with the number in sequence, the book title and author, and best of all, the quoted line from the book which he was illustrating (along with a chapter/page reference).

Now, if you're anything like me, the first thing you wanted to do after seeing the artist annotations was confirm which edition of the book he had used for reference. I didn't know at the time that Stewart was British, or I would have likely started checking my Corgi editions. It didn't take long to determine that the quotes were all present on the pages mentioned in the Bantam paperback edition. In retrospect, given my recent discovery about that book's availability in the UK, it makes perfect sense why he would have used what was otherwise assumed to be a US paperback of the novel as his reference.

For the record, following this 1982 edition, the book would remain out of print in Germany until 2008(!); that edition being only the fourth time the book has been published in Germany (with no subsequent editions to date). And unlike nearly every other country that released the book in the wake of the 2007 film adaptation with a Will Smith image on the cover, Heyne instead chose to use the manipulated James Thiesen artwork, with initial copies featuring a hype sticker noting, "now in the cinema." 

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

Creature from the Black Lagoon (19/54) - NECA San Diego ComicCon Exclusive 7" Glow-in-the-Dark Creature (2023)

Last summer, NECA released a 7" Creature on a retro Remco-styled cardback as a San Diego ComicCon Exclusive. I pre-ordered it blindly, before I even knew what the figure or packaging would look like, and upon receipt, I kicked myself for not ordering two. I'd love to free this guy from his blister-packed prison to pose him in all his glowing glory, but the re-use of the Remco card art was a brilliant touch, and I wouldn't feel right removing him from the card so long as this is my only example. 

Kudos to NECA for going with the Remco cardback design as well (which I was never a big fan of on the Remco figures, but I feel is perfectly appropriate to mimic here).

Look at that luxurious glow effect in action!

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

Godzilla (18/54) - Bandai Clear Meltdown Godzilla (1996)

Following in the wake of the Bandai Theater Exclusive Meltdown Godzilla, in 1996 Bandai released this Clear Meltdown version. Molded in clear vinyl, with some paint applications inside and some outside, it has a very cool and unique look. 

Picking up the theater exclusive version was basically like getting bitten by the Godzilla bug all over again, and I continued to pick up cool looking vinyl figures as I heard about them, this one included. Sadly, one version I didn't hear about at the time, a Glitter Godzilla (the same figure in his normal coloring, only with gold speckles resembling glitter) got by me, and they are extremely expensive on the secondary market. Maybe someday I'll find one at a song and be able to complete my 1995 Godzilla collection!

Be sure to come back next week to check out yet another item from my Godzilla collection!
 

I Am Legend (18/54) - Bantam J2744 (1964)

Before The Last Man On Earth was released in 1964, I Am Legend had only been available in the United States from Gold Medal (the first edition ten years earlier in 1954, and a 'Second Big Printing!' in 1957). By 1964, Bantam (who had published paperback editions of Matheson's first short story collections in the 1950s) had obtained the rights and published their own edition in March. It would be their one and only edition of the novel, and it arrived within striking distance of the release of the Vincent Price film. Though there's no specific mention of a film release, if there's any doubt that it's unofficially a tie-in, one need only flip the book over and read the back cover copy. 

The cover art is by Sandy Kossin (whose signature is clipped on the front, yet intact on the back), and rendered in black and white. Coincidence, or one more nod to the film that would be in theaters shortly after the book's release. 

The Bantam paperback was the second copy (after the SF Book Club hardcover) and first paperback of I Am Legend that I would own; the foundation of what would evolve into the I Am Legend Archive. Oddly enough, like my first hardcover, it was also procured at a Flea Market (at the Ashby Bart Station in Berkeley), and also only 25 cents! 

Like the Gold Medal first printing, I have a copy of the Bantam paperback inscribed to me by Richard Matheson, obtained at the Los Angeles Vintage Paperback show that Peter and I have attended for the better part of the past 30 years.

And now for the bonus portion of this post. 

I was quite surprised to stumble across this unique variation of the Bantam paperback on eBay in the UK, with a "2/6" price sticker that didn't appear to be a second-hand label. Could the Bantam paperback have had some sort of distribution in the UK? Needless to say, I jumped on it. I have since seen another copy online with an identical label, further convincing me that this had to be some sort of authorized import.

I knew that I Am Legend had been published in the UK by Corgi Books from 1956 through 1977, as I had acquired each of the Corgi editions (dating from 1956, 1960, 1962, 1971, and 1977). As I was initially collecting them, I never gave much consideration to the 9-year gap between the third and fourth Corgi editions. It was only after I stumbled across the UK-stickered 1964 Bantam paperback that I realized it seemed to fill that gap in the UK publication history. And the price point matches that of the 1960 and 1962 Corgi editions — also "2/6." I was inspired to do a little internet searching, which led me to discover that Corgi was founded in 1950 as the UK arm of Bantam Books, Inc. So too much data for it all to be coincidental, right? It leads me to believe that the Bantam paperback was also available to UK readers in the time between the third and fourth Corgi paperbacks. 

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

Creature from the Black Lagoon (18/54) - Universal Studios Monsters Waterball (1990)

Waterball? Okay, to be fair, it's not reasonable to expect to find snow around the Black Lagoon in the Amazon, so we'll cut them some slack. I've had this cool piece since it's release in the early '90s, and while it has unfortunately lost some water volume (which is not easily replaceable), the Creature himself not at risk of suffering the ill effects of being out of water for too long. 

As for what those little white floaties are supposed to represent, your guess is as good as mine. It might have been a nice touch for them to have been molded in a rudimentary fish shape, but who picked this up to look at the floaties, anyway?

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

Godzilla (17/54) - Bandai Chogokin GD-98 Mechagodzilla 1975 (2006)

I always thought the concept of a mechanical Godzilla was cool, even if I didn't buy that this design could fit inside a skin that for all sakes and purposes looked like the Godzilla we know and love from the outside. This particular example of the character is in fact Mechagodzilla 2, from the 1975 film Terror of Mechagodzilla.

The Showa-era (1954-1975) version of Mechagodzilla is my second favorite design for the character. The Heisei era Mechagodzilla became too rounded for my tastes, but the Millennium-era Mechagodzilla returned to his roots, and in my opinion, enhanced the original design to make it look even cooler. You'll see some examples of that one in the weeks ahead! (And we won't even discuss the Legendary Films poor attempt at Mechagodzilla.) 

I don't remember when exactly I picked this figure up, but it was a throwback to the Japanese Godzilla toys that I saw here and there, but never owned. And as with a lot of things in the collection, the price of these has shot up considerably in the years since their original release, so I'm glad I grabbed it when I did!

As you can see from the box art, there's a lot going on with this figure, from swappable parts (such as post-fired rocket-finger hands, a flight-mode head, and a block-knocked-off laser-emitting brain/stump!). On top of all that, he's very nicely articulated.

Proudly displaying his MG2 designation right on his sleeve!

Watch out — he's locked and loaded, including this high-voltage electromagnetic beam emitting port that opens up in his chest!

In addition to the head being removable, clicking a spine on his back spins his head around (if this makes no sense to you, it might be time for you to revisit Terror of Mechagodzilla!). Check out that crazy head-spinning action below!

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

I Am Legend (17/54) - Mundo de Vampiros (1958)

1958 saw the first Portuguese translation of I Am Legend — Mundo de Vampiros (World of Vampires) which was published in Brazil.

What makes this particularly copy unique is that it's one of a handful of editions in the Archive that came from the collection of the author (one of the complimentary copies received upon publication). These books were sold through a bookstore in Burbank in the late '90s, and were hand-signed by Richard Matheson. For me, the autograph is a welcome but unnecessary bonus, as I was thrilled to fill a number of key foreign language edition holes in my collection from the author's personal stash!

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