Ian Thorne’s Godzilla

Godzilla was published in 1977 by Crestwood House (Macmillan Publishing Company) during the late 70s great Godzilla toy boom. This book was among the few resources that fans had at that time. There were popular monster and sci-fi magazines, but this was the only book I can remember. Sadly, since its publication, there has not been as many books published in English as one would expect over six decades after Godzilla’s movie debut. Godzilla was part of Crestwood’s Monster Series that included title on Hollywood’s favorite monsters: The Invisible Man, The Deadly Mantis, It Came from Outer Space, The Phantom of the Opera, Frankenstein, The Mummy, Dracula, The Blob, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, King Kong and more. The series began with six titles: Dracula, Frankenstein, Godzilla, King Kong, Mad Scientists, and The Wolf Man. The publisher intended the series to be grade-school library books designed to promote the love of reading among students and young people. The set was called the “Monster Reading Center” and arrived in a box containing the six books in softcover. A teacher’s guide and audio cassettes for each book were also included (Source: Sicko-Psychotic). These monsters frequented my television set on Saturday afternoons during the 70s and 80s. The strong black-and-white cover photography and the use of spot orange on the book titles and back covers made them readily identifiable and unforgettable. Godzilla was printed in both hardcover (7.75 x 0.25 x 9.25 inches; ISBN 0-913940-68-2) and softcover.

Godzilla presents a short summary of the origin of Toho’s famous kaiju along with brief synopses of his Showa films. The book also introduces Toho classic movie monsters Rodan, Varan, Mothra and more. Godzilla is 47 pages and packed with black-and-white promotion photography and productions stills on every spread. My favorite was not a photograph, but rather a diagram of the making of a Godzilla movie (p 44). The closing pages spotlight Toho’s late great SPFX director Eiji Tsuburaya and his role in making Godzilla coming to life. I credit this book along with other publications for my lasting appreciation for and deep connection to the Father of Godzilla. Godzilla is very much a product of its times. Occasionally there are errors popularized at that time. They were the result of the limited availability of Japanese resources and of poorly edited and dubbed films for English-speaking and North American audiences. There are two glaring mistakes that persisted for many years long after its publication. The first is the popular misconception that Godzilla is green rather than charcoal grey and black. Godzilla had been colored in green for toys, illustrations, comics, cartoons and more. The second is that King Kong vs Godzilla had two different endings and outcomes presenting Godzilla as victor for Japanese audiences and Kong as winner for American audiences. Obviously, this is not the case. The book was not the only print publication propagating this common error. Unfortunately, I held and parroted the error for many years as a result. Overall this book is a remarkable work of its time. It has stood the test of time as a piece of great nostalgia. Godzilla has been highly sought after by collectors taking a place of pride among other collectible items. It has always been greatly appreciated by fans who grew up with it on their library shelves. Godzilla was all we had and it made our school days more enjoyable. Check it out below!