KING KONG CONTRO GODZILLA!

When Christopher Elam posted this awesome promo image of GIGAN on his OWARI blog -- a picture which, you'll note, is labeled "King Kong" -- it started a Twitter conversation about the odd naming conventions of monster movies in various countries around the world.

For example, in Germany "Godzilla vs. Megalon" was apparently released as KING KONG - DÄMONEN AUS DEM WELTALL ("King Kong: Demons From Space"!)...

...and "Terror of Mechagodzilla" somehow became KONGA, GODZILLA, KING KONG - DIE BRUT DES TEUFELS ("Konga, Godzilla, & King Kong: The Brood of the Devil")...

Man, that's TWO giant apes that aren't actually in this movie! (You may recall I kicked this blog off with a review of Konga).

And then I found this on eBay:

So here we have what is presumably a poster promoting the Italian release of "Gamera vs. Guiron" that has been retitled "King Kong Contro Godzilla" ("Contro" is Italian for "against"). The poster clearly depicts our giant turtle pal Gamera, but what the hell is that shaggy beast with the long fingernails posing as Kong?

The poster for MST3K's take on "Gamera vs. Guiron." Note Guiron's complete failure to look like a gorilla.

 At first I thought he might be the star of such giant gorilla movies as "The Mighty Peking Man" or "A*P*E", but a quick Google search showed no real resemblance...

So I began to do searches on every giant ape movie title I could find, and then branched out into movies about apemen, Bigfoot, the Yeti, and even Dr. Jekyll's Mr. Hyde, but to no avail. Christopher didn't have any luck either, but between the two of us, our search did turn up three more "King Kong Contro Godzilla" poster designs:

The first one depicts our mystery ape-thing, Gamera, Guiron, and Ghidorah! Three big G's, but still no Godzilla.

The second one leaves out Gamera and Guiron altogether, instead giving us Godzilla, Ghidorah, Mothra, Rodan, a flying saucer, and finally, as Christopher described it: "Don't forget the Upset Italian(?) Guy in the corner!" (I feel like I should recognize the upset corner guy, but like the ersatz-Kong, I have no idea from where).

And the third... well... you can see that one for yourself. I like that all of them list "Terence Flasch" as the director. He appears to be an imaginary person that the Italians also credited with directing "The Little Norse Prince," which they of course released as something like "The Great Adventure of Little Prince Valiant." Italians must be compulsive name-droppers. "Yeah, Prince Valiant is in this movie. He fights Frankenstein and Caligula."

In the end I'm no closer to determining the identity of the vaguely gorilla-like monster in the posters, but I have come to the conclusion that I desperately want to see "King Kong Contro Godzilla"! Come on, a massive battle between King Kong, Godzilla, Gamera, Guiron, Ghidorah, Rodan, Mothra, alien invaders, and various indeterminate monsters that fly and breathe fire, all while New York City burns? How could this not be the Best. Movie. Ever? I like to believe that in some parallel universe it actually exists. Probably the same universe that Terence Flasch is from.

A Special Thanks to Christopher Elam for his time wasted help on this mystery! And of course, if anyone out there can help identify the giant hairy monster or the upset human in these posters, please post in the comments!

I'll conclude with a final "King Kong Contro Godzilla" poster design which I discovered while compiling this blog post. This one is fairly accurate, considering that the movie it's supposed to be promoting is actually "Gamera vs. Guiron."

It's still directed by that Flasch guy, though.

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New Ongoing GODZILLA Comic by IDW

Since getting the license from Toho, IDW has published 3 Godzilla comic book miniseries so far: Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters, Godzilla: Gangsters and Goliaths, and Godzilla Legends. Today marks the release of the first issue of their new ongoing series, Godzilla #1. Based on what they've done with Godzilla's universe so far, I'm already onboard. Here is their press release:

IDW announces digital Godzilla comics, new characters, and a new title!

May 23, 2012

San Diego, CA – Expanding what has become an explosive publishing partnership, this summer IDW Publishing and Toho Co., Ltd.are bringing even more kaiju chaos to comic fans everywhere!

May 23rd brings the launch of Duane Swierczynski and Simon Gane's new, ongoing Godzilla series, which features covers by Arthur Adams and Tony Harris! That's not all, though!

That same day, after much anticipation, Godzilla will finally hit digital platforms!  Available on iOS, Android, and Nook, IDW's entire back catalog of catastrophic, giant monster destruction will be available as single issues and trades.  Not only that, but the new Godzilla ongoing will launch day and date with two exclusive digital variant covers!

This bounty of crushing comics destruction comes hot on the heels of IDW's announcement of Orc Stain creator James Stokoe's Godzilla: The Half-Century War, a generation-spanning tale packed to the gills with Stokoe's trademark hyper-detailed linework and nearly-psychedelic colors. If any comics creator out there was born to draw giant monsters leveling crowded metropolitan areas, folks, it's James Stokoe.

And as if all that city-stompin' goodness wasn't enough, IDW has made the necessary space in Godzilla's monstrous world for even more of Toho's creatures, with more than 20 of Godzilla's co-stars joining the roster of licensed characters. From fan favorites such as JET JAGUAR to lesser-known greats like the gargantuas, SANDA and GAIRA, the future of Godzilla at IDW is bound to be even more action-packed than ever.

Needless to say, it's going to be a chaos-drenched summer for Godzilla fans.

Hopefully they all have insurance.

 
 Jet Jaguar? Sweet. If I recall, JJ couldn't appear in Kingdom of Monsters because he wasn't part of the licensing agreement with Toho.

And Sanda & Gaira from War of the Gargantuas, the sequel to Frankenstein Conquers the World? From the cast of characters alone it sounds like this series is going to be insane. I mean, I doubt we'll get to see Stringer Bell, but really, besides me, how much of a crossover audience is there between Godzilla and The Wire?

Since I haven't made it to my friendly neighborhood comic shop yet this week, here's an advance review of Godzilla #1 from Newsarama.

Giant Monsters vs. Alien Invaders

This is the June 1978 issue of Space Wars, the first science fiction magazine I ever laid eyes on. I can remember my mother -- knowing what a huge "Star Wars" fan I was -- bringing it home from the store to surprise me when I was nine. Though I'd seen a handful of Godzilla movies by then, an article by Tom Rogers, "Giant Monsters vs. Alien Invaders," was my introduction to most of the monsters in the Toho pantheon, not to mention those outside it, like the giant turtle Gamera.

As this was back in the days before we had cable TV, much less VCRs, DVD players, or Netflix, I did not have the luxury of watching whatever I wanted whenever I wanted it. No, back in the dark ages we had to watch what was on, while it was on, or miss it altogether. As a result, I recall spending countless hours studying the pictures and rereading the text of the article to get my monster fix, imagining movies that I have only recently managed to see (and many I still haven't).

Although the article sometimes reads like a 6th grade English assignment, is filled with lame attempts at '70s-era snark, and takes a derisive view of Japanese cinema in general, with the writer wishing more than once that the movies would just go away and never return, it was nevertheless a goldmine of information for 9-year-old me (despite containing dubious spellings of a number of monsters' names). And my elementary school friends were equally enthusiastic about it, because when I brought the magazine to school to show it to them, it was passed around the playground at recess like porn. (Which is in no way meant to imply that we were sharing porn in elementary school.)

The hallowed pages are posted below. Click to enlarge...