Godzilla: The Ultimate Illustrated Guide

[KingCornetto]

I was just thinking about this title the other day, and was going to ask. Nope, not good.

Okay, so I checked another site besides Amazon. Books a Million and Wordsworth both now list the release date at September 2022, so it’s likely encountered production issues and is delayed, but maybe not outright cancelled. For now.

[Angilasman]

When I see notices like this it usually tends towards a delay with no new release date at the moment.

[Legion1979]

Toho probably spotted a solitary typo and decided to force the publisher to hold off the release until they could spot check and proofread every inch of the book.

[Angilasman]

It may have been rescheduled, tentatively, to next September - but we have a cover and new title!

[KingCornetto]

That looks real spiffy and I like the new title it seems a bit more prestige then the old one. Just a thought on why it might be delayed; The release of Singular Point. It’s possible that this was done or mostly completed before then but Toho wanted a section on it, so delay.

[mikelcho]

That looks real spiffy and I like the new title it seems a bit more prestige then the old one. Just a thought on why it might be delayed; The release of Singular Point. It’s possible that this was done or mostly completed before then but Toho wanted a section on it, so delay.

I think that's right; if you're going to do something as grandiose and ambitious as this seems like it's going to be, get in everything that's out there.

In short, go big or go home.

[KingCornetto]

I think that's right; if you're going to do something as grandiose and ambitious as this seems like it's going to be, get in everything that's out there.

In short, go big or go home.

I feel this way too. If there’s not at least 5 chapters on Godzookey, I’m just not buying it.

[mikelcho]

I think that's right; if you're going to do something as grandiose and ambitious as this seems like it's going to be, get in everything that's out there.

In short, go big or go home.

I feel this way too. If there’s not at least 5 chapters on Godzooky, I’m just not buying it.

Ah, good one!

But really, this looks like a great volume! I only hope it's also published in the U.S. as well as in Japan.

[KingCornetto]

I think that's right; if you're going to do something as grandiose and ambitious as this seems like it's going to be, get in everything that's out there.

In short, go big or go home.

I feel this way too. If there’s not at least 5 chapters on Godzooky, I’m just not buying it.

Ah, good one!

But really, this looks like a great volume! I only hope it's also published in the U.S. as well as in Japan.

I would hope. It’s in English.

[mikelcho]

I feel this way too. If there’s not at least 5 chapters on Godzooky, I’m just not buying it.

Ah, good one!

But really, this looks like a great volume! I only hope it's also published in the U.S. as well as in Japan.

I would hope. It’s in English.

Great! I can't wait for this one! I just hope the price is reasonable.

[Terasawa]

Sorry to be a downer, but the last time we got an "official" Godzilla book in the States was 1998 in The Official Godzilla Compendium, and that was not all the great (to say the least). Sad to say I don't have much higher hopes for this. Like the Compendium, its greatest asset will probably be the publication of pictures that are already available in Japanese texts (and thus also online), although in this case I hope they're allowed more than a handful of full-color pages.

I'm also morbidly curious to see how the English-language history of these movies is glossed over, diminished, or outright ignored.

[Angilasman]

^ I don't think this book will have any information new to any of us - I'm expecting Compendium 2.0... but when I think of the Compendium I think of how great it was to 10 year old me to get that information all in one place, and how cool those Art Adams illustrations were!

I hope this book looks cool and provides a baseline of knowledge to newbies. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for bts photos and concept art!

[Rando Yaguchi]

The Official Godzilla Compendium, and that was not all the great (to say the least).

It was a pretty good book for the time. Slim pickins back then.

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

The compendium was made for teens and older kids. Personally Im glad JD went with the approach he did. Its a book on general information not a film review book. Personally I get annoyed when authors try and inject their own views when talking about films in a book like this. I want straightforward unbiased information when it comes to these kinds of books.

[Angilasman]

The compendium was made for teens and older kids. Personally Im glad JD went with the approach he did. Its a book on general information not a film review book. Personally I get annoyed when authors try and inject their own views when talking about films in a book like this. I want straightforward unbiased information when it comes to these kinds of books.

Well, if I recall he did make some comment in the Compendium sayinh the only reason Western critics liked the subtitled original Godzilla when it made the arthouse rounds in the early '80s was as an excuse to criticize Reagan's nuclear policy?!

JD gonna JD!

I remember checking out old monster movie books as a kid and getting quite annoyed when the author would go off on a film they hated and I liked. How can someone hate Mighty Joe Young?

[Terasawa]

The Official Godzilla Compendium, and that was not all the great (to say the least).

It was a pretty good book for the time. Slim pickins back then.

I guess it depends on what you're looking for. I mean, I liked it, but mostly because there were cool illustrations and stats of the monsters (both of which were pretty novel at the time). As for slim pickin's, it was published a year after Kalat's A Critical History and Filmography of Toho's Godzilla Series and the same year as Galbraith's Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo!; Ryfle's Japan's Favorite Mon-Star followed the next year. All of those are vastly better books than the Compendium. Galbraith's and Ryfle's books especially are still relevant reference works today (which also highlights the desperate need for new books with new research on some of the topics covered in those works, but I digress).

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

The Official Godzilla Compendium, and that was not all the great (to say the least).

It was a pretty good book for the time. Slim pickins back then.

I guess it depends on what you're looking for. I mean, I liked it, but mostly because there were cool illustrations and stats of the monsters (both of which were pretty novel at the time). As for slim pickin's, it was published a year after Kalat's A Critical History and Filmography of Toho's Godzilla Series and the same year as Galbraith's Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo!; Ryfle's Japan's Favorite Mon-Star followed the next year. All of those are vastly better books than the Compendium. Galbraith's and Ryfle's books especially are still relevant reference works today (which also highlights the desperate need for new books with new research on some of the topics covered in those works, but I digress).

Yeah but the Compendium was readily and easily available at pretty much all book stores, and it was relatively cheap. Those other books were not (a least not here locally).

[Terasawa]

It was a pretty good book for the time. Slim pickins back then.

I guess it depends on what you're looking for. I mean, I liked it, but mostly because there were cool illustrations and stats of the monsters (both of which were pretty novel at the time). As for slim pickin's, it was published a year after Kalat's A Critical History and Filmography of Toho's Godzilla Series and the same year as Galbraith's Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo!; Ryfle's Japan's Favorite Mon-Star followed the next year. All of those are vastly better books than the Compendium. Galbraith's and Ryfle's books especially are still relevant reference works today (which also highlights the desperate need for new books with new research on some of the topics covered in those works, but I digress).

Yeah but the Compendium was readily and easily available at pretty much all book stores, and it was relatively cheap. Those other books were not (a least not here locally).

Compendium: $16 (back cover)
Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo: $16.95 (back cover)
Mon-Star: $19.95 (back cover)

Can't find a 1997 price for Kalat's book. Also, I got Galbraith's book at a book store at a mall, hardly an out-of-the-way find. My parents had to get the Compendium for me online because of its initial unavailability. I bet Ryfle's book was somewhat hard to find in person and I'm certain Kalat's was. But sorry, the Compendium was hardly the best option even when it was published.

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

Yeah I never once saw Kalat's book in the wild. At least the others I found at random points at Borders. Then again I was barely in to high school and had absolutely no money of my own.

[Rando Yaguchi]

Yeah, I guess I was mostly thinking in terms of books with photos, art etc - those early scholarly works by the 'old guard' were definitely a lot better (though I, like TLK, wasn't aware of their existence back then).