Comic Talkback: Dark Horse Gamera

[klen7]

Title: Gamera
Publisher: Dark Horse
Series: Issue 4 issues
Year: 1996
Writer: Dave Chipps
Penciller: Mozart Couto
Inker: Mike Sellers
Letterer: Clem Robins
Colorist: Art Knight
Editor: Randy Stradley
Designer: Mark Cox
Cover Artist: Mitsuaki Hashimoto, Yuji Kaida



Synopsis:
Issue 1: When giant monsters threaten to destroy your family, when natural disasters endanger your home, there's one big turtle who's watching your back! He's Gamera, the guardian of the universe, and he's returned to save Mexico from the awesome power of the bio-engineered bird-monster known as Gyaos! There's a battle of the behemoths brewing south of the border, and the repercussions are gonna be felt across North and South America!

Issue 2: Gamera's got his giant-turtle hands full dealing with the flying terror called Gyaos! But he'll have to free up a foot or two, 'cause a new player just entered the game: the alien shark creature Zigra! You have to expect days like this when you take on the title "Guardian of the Universe," and you have to be ready to come out fighting!

Issue 3: Dr. Greta Karbone has succeeded in creating her very own supermonster -- the giant squid-beast Viras. But Karbone learns that what you create you cannot always control, as Viras takes over the doctor's mind. It's all part of a monstrous plan to enslave humanity -- a plan that begins in Paris, where Viras must dispose of mankind's bio-engineered guardian Gamera, the giant flying turtle! The City of Lights is about to become a city in flames!

Issue 4: Gamera is supposed to be the Guardian of the Universe, not the protector of life-threatening monsters! So why is he helping a gigantic squid destroy all of Paris? Has the original mutant turtle taken a turn for the worse? Find out in the final issue of this four-issue miniseries! It's giant monster action as you demanded it!

[klen7]

I was initially excited for this series because of the covers... little did i know the interiors had more in common with the Showa series despite some Heisei ties.

I did like that they worked in so many villains (although they crammed them all into 4 issues.) which is something the Godzilla comics had not given us until IDW picked up the license.

Overall this comic is very 90s. 90s in a comic way... which isn't really a good thing, but i enjoyed it more than some of the Godzilla stuff Dark Horse gave us.

[canofhumdingers]

Huh, never knew these existed. Any chance of some interior pictures/scans?

[klen7]

I will take some pictures tonite... still need to do some Gamera pictures for the toy section as well... but here's the post that the Kaijucast Tumblr posted that had me digging out my copies.

http://astoundingbeyondbelief.tumblr.co ... sue-gamera

[O.Supreme]

I purchased them when they initially came out. I enjoyed them for what they were...haven't actually read them in a long time however, maybe I should dig them out of the archives .

[Pkmatrix]

I love these comics! I bought them up as they were being released and was always disappointed Dark Horse didn't follow up on it.

[MekaGojira3k]

[Hybrid Gojira]

[klen7]

[O.Supreme]

[klen7]

Heres some pictures of the interiors (click image to make the bigger)









The monster action is the best part of this comic, some of the human story is a bit silly (90s comic meets Showa Gamera story writing) but they still tie it to Gamera:GotU

[lhb412]

[GiganGoji]

One of the few comic series that I've actually kept. Love the series, though it did get a little weird with that alien woman. I'll have to read them again as an adult and see if I pick up on different things.

[lhb412]

[lhb412]

Whoa; Matt Frank is doing the cover for the Japanese release of this comic (finally, eh?) and it will also include his fan comic (well, now officially licensed comic) about Gamera's Atlantean origins!



http://spankzilla85.tumblr.com/post/175 ... ight-im-an

[Dr Kain]

I'm sad as I was planning to do a review of this comic series for my channel back when I was doing my Gamera reviews and wanted to try my hand at reviewing a comic only to learn my worthless waste of skin brother stole all of my remaining comics and figures that were still at my parents' house and sold them for drug money. Sure enough, my Gamera comics were included in those boxes.

I doubt Dark Horse will ever reprint them in a collection.

[lhb412]

^ Bummer dude. Still, I don't think the individual issues are that rare. I know I didn't pay anything above cover price and I got them all a decade after they were printed.

[lhb412]

[canofhumdingers]

Um, there’s 4 issues...

[lhb412]

I think it's an initial 3 issue miniseries, then a ongoing series that only lasted 4 issues. I have the initial mini and the first issue of the ongoing now.

[O.Supreme]

To my knowledge, there was only a 4-issue series...



Unless...were there 'mini-comics" packed in with the Trendmasters toys? I had them at one point, but never opened them.

[lhb412]

I'm talking about the Ultraman great comic book, not the Gamera book. I've had all four Gamera issues for a while and even reviewed it on this thread!

[O.Supreme]

[lhb412]

^ Huh, my version of issue 1 crops most of that image and fills it in mostly with black. As a matter of fact, after I assembled the three issue miniseries I found a heaping helping of copies of those first three issues in the bargain bins of my local store. They have all sorts of variant covers, and several of them were pre bagged with trading cards. This was the height of the collectability craze in comics, so I guess that's to be expected!

[O.Supreme]

Yeah, I only posted the basics ones. i have the original 3 part series still bagged with their cards. issue #1 of the 4 part series I think had 3 different covers IIRC... it would take me a while to dig them out. I think one was just a silver Ultraman head on a black background, the 2nd one had the standard cover, but was covered 1/2 black, and the 3rd was just the standard cover without the black part obscuring it.

Yeah this was in 1993/1994 when Image and Valiant were at the height of their powers with an extreme emphasis on elaborate covers. So glad I didn't invest in any of that, their devalue make beenie babies look like a solid investment.