Godzilla: The First 70 Years

[UltramanGoji]

Oh this is sounding fantastic. Definitely gonna have to grab this at some point.

[Angilasman]

Google preview is up. Looks fantastic - though the physical book is undoubtedly better formatted.

[B34sT]

I got my copy and it’s a pretty fantastic book. It is large and I love the texturing of the cover. I haven’t read it all yet as there’s a lot of information in it but it’s filled to the brim with photos and info. It doesn’t appear to be going super into depth about each movie but there’s plenty to consume for each film. I’m even surprised about the additional chapters in there that go into stuff like suit design. It’s got a lot of photos, and while I have seen a lot of these over the years, it’s still got a lot of behind the scenes pictures that I haven’t seen.

Overall it’s a great way to read up on every film. I wish there was more on the anime movies/series but I can’t complain about what we did get.

[Legion1979]

So I recieved Ed and Steve's book this afternoon and I've only had enough time to look through it at the pictures and read a lot of the captions. First, this is a heavy son of a bitch. At over 430 pages this is not going to be light reading. Second, this is THE definitive English language Godzilla book, and is everything the completely soulless "Illustrated Guide" should have been a few years back.

While I have a lot of Japanese Godzilla books and I've seen many, many photos over the years, there's stuff in here I've NEVER seen, a lot of it in crystal clarity, arranged in some large, striking photo spreads. And even though I've only read about about 50% of the captions and none of the body text, I've come across a bunch of production facts I never knew about. The names Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewki are synonymous with quality when it comes to Godzilla and this is their masterpiece.

As other have pointed out, this is a celebration of the Toho Godzilla. Period. The chapters are on the 30 live action films, the anime trilogy and Singular Point, which is a clear indication of which Japanese Godzilla media Toho deems "official". So far the only mentions of the Legendary films have been in quick passing, and only referred to as "the Hollywood movies". The is no mention of any of the titles of those films or the term "Monsterverse". In the universe this book inhabits, it's like those movies don't exist. And I am 100% FINE with that. I just hope this and the book's price arent a barrier to younger Godzilla fans seeking this out. Because if you call yourself a Godzilla fan, you NEED this book.

I don't care what Bandai, X-Plus, Hiya, Super 7 or any sofubi company puts out in 2025. "Godzilla: The First 70 Years" is the collectable of the year.

[Jomei]

Got this after seeing Legion's posts, read several chunks, and it's pretty cool.

Seems like a very solid overall reference work for the history of the films with some details and images you might not have read or seen before.

big bük

[Chaos Reincarnation]

I pulled the trigger on it. if its as good as you guys say its worth it.

[StreamOfKaijuness]

As other have pointed out, this is a celebration of the Toho Godzilla. Period. The chapters are on the 30 live action films, the anime trilogy and Singular Point, which is a clear indication of which Japanese Godzilla media Toho deems "official".

Is there no section covering Zone Fighter?

[JAGzilla]

I'll be pulling the trigger on this soon. I really don't know much about the history and behind the scenes aspects of most of these movies, so I should definitely get my money's worth out of the book.

[Jomei]

As other have pointed out, this is a celebration of the Toho Godzilla. Period. The chapters are on the 30 live action films, the anime trilogy and Singular Point, which is a clear indication of which Japanese Godzilla media Toho deems "official".

Is there no section covering Zone Fighter?

There's a page on it.

I suppose to cover all the many constellations of Godzilla stuff out there (posters, sofubi, cameos, side series, books, comics, and so on) you'd have to have made this at least two volumes.

[Chaos Reincarnation]

This book is incredible and I've only gone through the opening segments.

[Angilasman]

Got my copy.

Believe the hype.