Godzilla: The First 70 Years

[lhb412]

Very exciting development in the newfound world of official English language Godzilla publishing. Two years ago we had "The Official Illustrated Guide," which was a pretty simplistic overview, seemingly for a younger readership, but now we're getting (from the sound of it) a more in-depth series overview - and it's going to be written by Steve Ryfle!

https://a.co/d/cjJuzaB

[quote]
Godzilla: The First 70 Years is a narrative and visual history of the King of the Monsters, chronicling the triumphs, challenges, and meaning of seven decades of city-trashing, kaiju-smashing mayhem. It is also a tribute to Godzilla’s creators and costars—the filmmakers, special-effects wizards, cast members, even the stuntmen inside the monster suit—and an appreciation of the behind-the-scenes artistry involved in bringing Godzilla to cinematic life, then and now.

Exclusive behind-the-scenes photography, production materials, posters, lobby cards, and collectibles will illustrate this overview of The Showa Era films (1954-1975); The Heisei Era films (1984-1998’s Godzilla film produced by TriStar); the Millenium Series (1999-2004); Legendary Films’s Monsterverse; and the Reiwa Era (2016-present), including the 2023 box office phenomenon Godzilla Minus One. Extensive visuals detail the different evolutions of kaiju design, as well as profile the creative contribution and SFX developments across seven decades of filmmaking and innovation.
[/quote]

[Benjamin Haines]

Whoa! Look at these stats from the Amazon page:


Steve Ryfle (Author)
Ed Godziszewski (Author)
John Carpenter (Foreword)
Megumi Odaka (Foreword)
Shogo Tomiyama (Afterword)

Print length: 432 pages
Publication date: July 15, 2025


This sounds like a modern-day update on Japan's Favorite Mon-Star, although I guess this book is actually Toho-authorized!

[lhb412]

Wow! What a lineup!

[Kailem]

Wow, that all sounds awesome! Looking at the (current) release date it's still quite a way off, but this will definitely be one to pick up when it's out!

[Kailem]

It looks like both the US and UK Amazon pages have some preview images of the interior up to view now! If these are generally representative of what the book is going to be then it definitely looks like it's going to be a mostly visual overview of the series so far; but with behind the scenes pics that good, I'd be ok with that! I'm pretty sure I've not seen some of those DAM images before, and I'm always a fan of behind the scenes stuff in general, so the more the merrier!

Hopefully that slight error on the left page will get fixed before printing though, as going by the text it seems like the Rodan and Godzilla images are in the wrong places. But hey, there's plenty of time left before release to swap them round!

[lhb412]

If you combine this and Godzilla: The Encyclopedia (coming out in a week or two!) it seems the longstanding collective dream of fans of a certain age to see The Compendium dramatically expanded and elaborated upon is a reality. And who could ask for better talent behind either project?!

[Benjamin Haines]

^ Very true! Still, when I finally got Japan's Favorite Mon-Star a few years ago, I realized that a more expansive version of the Compendium had already been published way back in '98!