How did it come about? Here’s the news from Todd himself:

“Terry Rossio contacted me in regards to my American Godzilla ’94 graphic novel, and told me he was a fan (Terry is co-author with Ted Elliott of the 1994 rejected TriStar Godzilla screenplay, which you can actually read here. They also wrote the screenplays for Aladdin, Legend of Zorro, and the entire Pirates of the Caribbean series, among others). Now Terry has asked me to finish the G’94 graphic novel — and how could I refuse such an offer?

“Publication possibilities are being looked into, but job number one for me is getting it all finished.”

Todd has even sent the Backbrain some new artwork: three images of Godzilla rampant from page 80.

Great stuff!

For those who don’t know, Todd’s graphic novel adaptation has been running on his American Kaiju website for a long time, finally reaching as far as page 78. You can check it out here — and if you haven’t, you should. How can you resist reading 78 pages of a Godzilla graphic novel? Free!

More News from Todd: American Kaiju

In June 2011, Todd announced that he’d been contracted by Bluewater Productions to produce a series of American Kaiju comics — an ambition he’d been fostering for years. Some of his work toward it appeared in the subsequent articles American Kaiju: Aligon Attacks! and Gigante vs King Komodo, and The Big Eight.

This project continues apace — and you can follow developments on Todd’s blog. Meanwhile here are some images from this original — and awesome — comic series. This first one is PETT:

In this one, New York City prepares for the worst:

What is the worst? Something like this:

You can click on any of these to see them bigger.

Just so you know, Todd, I can’t wait for both these series to arrive!

• Source: Todd Tennant, to whom all images are copyrighted, by the way. No reproduction without consent!

Here’s what the press release says:

Following the success of 2011’s Big Arse Comic Book Launch the Melbourne comics community in hosting a second, even bigger event to launch of fifteen (15) new works created by authors from the fast-growing local scene.

These books are published by a diverse array of publishers, from the small press to national publishers, with reach into the newsstands and the global comics market.

Presented by the inimitable, indomitable, inglorious and invincible Bernard Caleo. Big Arse 2 is proudly sponsored by All Star Comics.

And what’s an “underground” comic launch without an advertising poster featuring a gross image of a fat arse, especially if it’s Wonder Woman with loads of cellulite?

Here’s a run down of some of the comics about to be launched at the mega-event, a veritable compendium of local talent.

ALL YOU BASTARDS CAN GO JUMP OFF A BRIDGE (Milk Shadow Books)
From the creator of Egg Story and Eating Steve, and the co-creator of The Sixsmiths, J Marc Schmidt furiously rains down comic stories covering art, romance, religion, anger, pop culture parodies, sex and death.  This book that explores human behaviour and why it can sometimes be so hard to just get along with each other. Features a foreword by Tango’s Bernard Caleo.

BALLANTYNE: WHERE HIDDEN RIVERS FLOW (Pikitia Press)
Ballantyne: Where Hidden Rivers Flow reprints Peter Foster’s collaboration with writer James H. Kemsley, which was featured in the Sydney Sunday Sun-Herald for several years in the 1990s. Based on Kemsley’s vivid memories of working as a patrol officer in post World War Two New Guinea, Ballantyne is a classic adventure strip in the fine tradition of The Phantom, X-9 Secret Agent, and others of the genre. This first volume of Ballantyne is 64 pages of lavish colour.

BLOOD ACROSS BROADWAY (FrankenComics)
Blood Across Broadway is a 70-page comic homage to Nosferatu, The Jazz Singer, and the most prominent Broadway musicals. Set in the Golden Age of Hollywood and Theatre, the story features an old, crippled vampire known as Morlook, who fosters a tremendous love of jazz, theatre and dancing, much to the disapproval of his overbearing son Cartorius. But with the help of a certain legendary dancer, Morlook learns the art of dancing and showmanship, all the while dreaming of being among the bright lights of Broadway, an unlikely setting for an undead creature of the night. Written and illustrated by Frank Candiloro.

CRIMINAL ELEMENT (Black House Comics)
Ten stories about crimes and the criminals who commit them. Gangsters, demons, burglars, nurses, hitmen, saboteurs, slavers, bounty hunters, and furniture salesmen. The mean streets, a post-apocalyptic plague  world, a tram depot and war torn Vietnam. The past, the present, and the future. Edited by Jason Franks.

DIGESTED #5 (Gestalt Comics)
The fifth issue of Bobby.N’s series reaches a turning point in the ongoing story Oxygen, where nothing will ever be the same again for the main character. And for dessert, there’s also a short personal story at the end of this issue.

IT SHINES AND SHAKES AND LAUGHS (Milk Shadow Books)
If you have never set off on a voyage with cult artist Tim Molloy, then get ready to leave this universe… forever. It Shines and Shakes and Laughs is packed to the gills with four year’s worth of silent and surreal comics. Contains the Impy strips, complete reprints of the long-ago-disappeared books, Under the Bed and Saturn Returns, and lots more. Features a foreword by Hicksville’s Dylan Horrocks.

KILLEROO: GANGWAR (Ozone Studios)
Killeroo returns in an all-action story from the past, when he was the leader of a motorcycle gang in the early 80s. This story shows a more savage side to the character than we’ve seen in the past, in a no-holds-barred, good old-fashioned slugfest. Written and inked by Darren Close and pencilled by the amazingly talented Paul Abstruse (Witch King).

KRANBURN #2 (FEC Comics)
Second issue of the brutal Australian post-apocalyptic series by Ben Michael Byrne. Now that you have met our lead character, Brand, it is time to see how much further these urban tribe wars have spread. And what will lead Brand into even more dangerous situations with the ‘Nongs’.

NO MAP, BUT NOT LOST (Milk Shadow Books)
A thick book that collects all of Bobby.N’s previous self-published work and short stories, from the early days where he is finding his voice, up until today. From amateur scribbling to a more refined line. A chronological record of one ordinary guy getting better on paper, by following his heart. Features a foreword by Larry Boxshall from the NonCanonical comics podcast.

PAY THROUGH THE SOUL #2 (Black House Comics)
Pay Through The Soul follows on from Black House Comics 2011 collection of Matt Emery’s The Guzumo Show. Published in an ongoing single issue format that was popular with Indy comics of the ’90′s, Pay Through The Soul is a finely crafted one-man humour anthology for adult readers. Utilising gag strips and lengthier stories, Matt Emery’s comics touch on themes of sexism, racism, homophobia, politics, sex, and religion all served with a dose of the absurd.

THE RETURN OF THE NIGHT EAGLE  (Pikitia Press)
Now retired, Peter Foster had a distinguished career illustrating thousands of pages of comics for DC Thomson in England as well numerous comics and newspaper strips in Australia. In the 1980s it was not uncommon to find a DC Thomson comic with two if not three of Foster’s stories in it. The Return of the Night Eagle is Foster’s re-invention of Carl Lyon’s Australian superhero of the ’40s, The Eagle, as a legacy hero. Night Eagle includes a back-up feature of Orion the Hunter and is packed full of adventure and intrigue with 40 pages of vibrant colour.

SAWBONES: THE TIME BEING
The Time Being sees the thrilling conclusion to the globe- and time-spanning epic as the gang rush to stop the Time Being from tearing the universe apart. Bones, Sawyer, Daisy, Emelia and Martin face off against vikings, ninjas, Nazis, centurions, cavemen and Genghis Khan in a fight to the finish. But who’s Finish? Adventure Zomedy at its best.  Written by Jen Breach. Illustrated by Trev Wood.

STRIPSHOW (Milk Shadow Books)
Forget the sweeping saga of The Sacrifice, or arty The Silence: Aussie comic master Bruce Mutard began his comic life in the slime, evolving slowly through the lizard and ape phases to become the ‘artiste’ he is today. Stripshow showcases these early phases where no holes — sorry, holds — were barred, and humour was the order of the day. This collection of short strips, gags, illustrations and ads are either unpublished, or long, long, out of print in their original publications. Comes with a mea culpa  from the author. For pubescents over 18.

TERRA MAGAZINE #1 (Black House Comics)
Debut of the much-anticipated tri-annual genre fiction comics magazine. Terra Magazine brings together a diverse range of continuing science fiction, fantasy, horror and crime stories by some of Australia’s best talents. Samurai and spaceships; elephants and yakuza; mummies and magicians; cops and cyborgs: if there isn’t something you like in here, you’re on the wrong planet. Edited by Jason Franks.

YOU STINK AND I DON’T #10 (Milk Shadow Books)
The tenth issue of Ben Hutchings’ cult comic, You Stink and I Don’t is now officially ready to hit the streets! Following up from the critical success of his cult newspaper comic Walking to Japan, Ben has created lots of comics about funny cats, silly sports, superheros in people’s bottoms and more.

ZOMBOLETTE (Milk Shadow Books)
A beautifully decaying, giant-sized collection of Scarlette Baccini’s strips and stories featuring a girl zombie and her best friend/roommate/hamster, Cameron. So is the book cute? Maybe. Or filled with gutz and gore? Sort of. Will you get lolz? Yes… yes you will. Meet Zombolette (and Cameron too!).

The details of the event are:

Saturday, March 3rd from 2:00pm
Sentido Funf
243-245 Gertrude Street
Fitzroy
Victoria, Australia

That was irony, by the way. The above recently released stills are, of course, from Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (US-2012; dir. Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor), which I’m rather looking forward to. Why? Well, not because the first one was great — though most critics hated it, I thought it was okay, but only about a 6/10 — and not because Cage successfully nailed the role of Johnny Blaze in it — he didn’t, going from looking somewhere between bewildered and emotionally disconnected. But because I really like the comicbook character of the Ghost Rider, which, in its best incarnations, is a powerfully iconic figure, visually and thematically potent. I really hope Cage and friends get their act together this time in order to up the ante on the first. Sure, Cage makes a lot of dud films, but occasionally something sparks in his performance and he manages to flame on, metaphorically and not just via CGI. Maybe this will be one of those occasions.

Todd commented on the event depicted [warning: the following contains spoilers]:

Gigante and King Komodo finally have their long-anticipated battle, though it is short-lived. KK was supposed to be transported back into his Cryo-tank (located deep beneath the earth), but the transversable wormhole’s vortex accidentally opened up in the sky just above Area 50 instead.

When KK drops to the ground he is confronted by the “Area 50 Defense Force” (or AFDF), and by GIGANTE, who will flip KK into another TW vortex created on the ground at the conclusion of their kaiju battle. This will escort KK back to his Cryo-tank where he will be gassed back into suspended animation and preserved for the big, conclusive battle in NYC later on.

Todd added: “Here’s a mild spoiler for ya; with 8 giant monsters, my story will obviously be mostly about the kaiju-battles, but it will not be ‘politically correct’, and the climactic end-game battle in NYC may shock some readers. It won’t be pretty…”

I’m guessing that rather depends on how you define “pretty”…

Below are Todd’s pencil sketches of the eight monsters. In regards to them, Todd remarked: “I’m no Crash McCreery, but tried my best to emulate his style in my own way. These are the giant monsters who will be battling it out in my story.”

Please note that you can buy these monster pics as signed, limited edition (50) pencil prints, available from the American Kaiju website. For $20 each, these are an absolute bargain and will undoubtedly be major collecter’s items one day very soon.

The American Kaiju:

ALIGON:

ANGKAH:

GIGANTE:

KING KOMODO:

KING YETI:

KWAI-LONG:

PETT:

POSEIDON:

Source: Todd Tennant. All images are copyright © Todd Tennant 2011 and should not be reproduced in any way without permission. Article written by Robert Hood.

Check out Paszkiewicz’s darkly subversion website, Arsenic Lullaby.

But it doesn’t end there. As announced at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con in July, the company plans on expanding the franchise into the area of prose fiction — even as a film of ZvR goes into development through Sony Pictures, with Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes as producer. Yes, there’s not only a major cinema release on the horizon but a massive anthology of stories set in the ZvR universe, edited by Jeff Conner and featuring a huge cohort of notable writers from around the world — including myself, the writer of this blog, and a bunch of other Aussies.

“It’s gratifying to see that ZvR has taken on an unlife of its own,” said Ryall, series co-creator and Chief Creative Officer/Editor-in-Chief for IDW. “Expanding from comics into prose is a logical progression, though as the heretofore sole writer of the series I must admit that letting other writers into our subversive little world was at first troubling. But now I’m fine with it. Really. Mostly. Especially since editor Jeff Conner has corralled such a talented array of writers to tackle some really bizarre and creative prose stories. As long as no one expects me to let them write ZvR comics, too…”

The list of undead authors is impressive. Apart from Ryall himself, it includes headliners John Shirley, Nancy A. Collins, Rio Youers, Brea Grant, Steve Rasnic Tem, Amber Benson, James A. Moore, Rachel Swirsky, Norman Prentiss, Mark Morris, Simon Clark and John Skipp & Cody Goodfellow — along with Dale Bailey, Amelia Beamer, Jesse Bullington, Lincoln Crisler, Stephen Dedman, Rain Graves, Rhodi Hawk, Robert Hood, Stephen Graham Jones, Nicholas Kaufmann, Steven Lockley, Nick Mamatas, Jonathan McGoran, Joe McKinney, Gary McMahon, Bobby Nash, Yvonne Navarro, Hank Schwaeble, Ekaterina Sedia, Sean Taylor, Simon Kurt Unsworth, Kaaron Warren, and Don Webb.

Editor Connor tells me that these good folk have had a gut-smashing marvelous time chronicling the wartime atrocities of the gun-toting machines and their cannibalistic enemies. For myself the experience has been the most fun I’ve had this side of the actual zombie apocalypse … hmmm, maybe I should rephrase that… Na! My story — “A Colder War” — grew into an epic tale of exploitation, betrayal and violence, set at an unexpected time in an unexpected place. No, I don’t intend to elaborate — you’ll have to grab a copy of the book when it appears to find out how domovoi get into the act.

And why on Earth wouldn’t you?

More about the film version when we hear about it.

• Source: Press release (and personal involvement). To learn more about IDW Publishing, check out their website.

As you may remember Kong, King of Skull Island is a book, a comic series and a proposed movie, based on characters created by Merian C. Cooper for the 1933 giant ape classic, King Kong (US-1933; dir. Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack). For the latest on the DeVito-inspired film see the Undead Backbrain article, Intimations of Kong.

Anyway 5Finity produce sketch card packs, and their Kong, King of Skull Island set looks as epic as the film itself. The series run consists of 650 packs, featuring at least one sketch card per pack drawn by some of the most popular sketch card artists. Among the 650 sketch card packs, there are random Special Packs dispersed as follows:

• 120 Rare Artist Sketch Cards (1:6 packs)
• 40 Hot Packs with 2-3 Sketch Cards (1:22 packs)
• 40 Joe DeVito Autographed Cards (1:22 packs)
• 10 Gold Signed Joe DeVito Autographed Cards (1:65)
• Plus, buybacks and surprises!

The odds of receiving a Special Pack is 1 in 3 packs!

The bad news is the set was released on August 15, 2011 and sold out before it hit the stores! However, a 5Finity representative commented that singles should be appearing on eBay and the sketch card forums.

Meanwhile, here are three of the “sketches”, by Anthony Hochrein, Mark McHaley and John Johnston respectively:

For those who are interested, here is the artist line-up:

Adam Cleveland
Alfred Lopez Jr
Amber Stone
Andy Black
Anthony Hochrein
Arley Tucker
Bill McKay
Brandon Kenney
Brent Schoonover
Buddy Prince
EJ Su
Frankie B Washington
George Calloway
George Webber
Hugh Vogt
Jason Hughes
Jason Metcalf
Jeffrey Witty
Jessica Hickman
John Johnston
Kelly Everaert
Manny Mederos
Mark Bloodworth
Mark McHaley
Mel Uran
Norval Hernawan
Puggdogg
Richard Stahnke
Robin Thompson
Roger Andrews
Ryan Wilton
Sam Agro
Samantha Johnson
Scott Simmons
Steve Jasper
Tim Baron
Tony Parker
Victor “Victoman” Rodriguez

• Source: Steven L. Frank for 5Finity, via Avery Guerra. Written by Robert Hood; 5Finity website.

Clearly something’s arrived in the Big Apple!

And here’s Aligon, whose genetic background is made clear by the name.

If you’re not looking forward to this series of Todd’s, then you must have come to this site by accident.

Source: Todd Tennant. See this previous Backbrain article for more, and don’t forget to check out Todd Tennant’s graphic novelisation of the rejected Ted Elliott/Terry Rossio 1994 Godzilla screenplay.

“I have agreed to produce four American Kaiju comic books for Bluewater Productions,” he reported. “These will also be released as a graphic novel upon completion.”

For those of us who have followed Tennant’s free online comics on his American Kaiju website, this news will certainly provoke howls of joy. Bluewater Productions is well-known as a producer of biopic comics, but also horror-fantasy epics, such as Tennant’s upcoming It Came From Beneath the Sea … Again graphic novel.

Want a sneak peak? Say hello to one of Tennant’s more imposing monster characters, Poseidon:

Tennant’s Bluewater American Kaiju comics will involve story ideas and characters developed by both writing collaborator Mike Bogue and Tennant himself. “The plots and characters have been updated,” he said.

“It will feature eight … that’s right, eight Kaiju characters battling it out in various and sundry parts of the Globe. I’ve already introduced you to Poseidon [pictured above], and some of my website readers may remember Gigante, Aligon … and oh yeah, a large Megalanian-mutation named King Komodo will be there in the mix as well. KK’s former sparring partner Snow (to be renamed by the news media as King Yeti) will also be making a return visit. There will be three new kaiju rounding out the action, along with some other surprises.”

Tennant gave Undead Backbrain this exclusive teaser:

Check out the American Kaiju site to expose yourself to some great Kaiju action. You can even read the 78 pages of Tennant’s unofficial graphic-novel rendition of the rejected Ted Elliott/Terry Rossio 1994 Godzilla screenplay — the one they dumped in favour of Roland Emmerich’s less-than-Godzilla-ish 1998 blockbuster. It’s wonderful stuff!

Source: Todd Tennant. Written by Robert Hood.

Gorgo (UK-1961; dir. Eugène Lourié) was Britain ‘s answer to Godzilla, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and other giant-monster national icons. The film is certainly a worthy addition to the giant monster canon and did good box-office in both the US and Europe back in its day. Gorgo may not have retained as iconic a position as Godzilla over the years, but those who know it generally hold it in high esteem. The suitmation and miniature sets were excellent and the script rather more literate than audiences are currently used to from SyFy Channel monster movies, with a good director in Eugène Lourié (whose films include the classic and influential 1953 giant monster film The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and the lesser but effective 1959 Behemoth the Sea Monster) and an ending that may have been suggested to Lourié by his daughter’s tears when she watched the title monster of Behemoth die, but nevertheless seems so right that it’s a surprise that no-one had done it before. There is considerable sympathy afforded to the monsters — both Gorgo and his rather bigger mum once she turns up to rescue her baby from the nasty humans. The pair may be destructive, but it’s all in the name of motherhood and good parenting, so that’s okay.

Gorgo franchising started with its first release — or even earlier. A novelisation written by Carson Bingham — blurbed on its cover as  “the classic thriller” upon which the film was based, thus suggesting an existence that predates the film (though this is barely the case) — was released in 1960 by Monarch Books.

Gorgo was popular and a successful film, but it never spawned a sequel (unless you count the Gorgo-less Waiting for Gorgo, a short film from 2009 by Benjamin Craig and M.J. Simpson). Almost simultaneously with Gorgo‘s release, however, Charlton Comics began a series of comic books based on the film.

There were 23 issues of Gorgo between 1960 and 1965, with a 24th in a 1966 anthology special called Fantastic Giants, which also featured a Konga story and two others. Original Spiderman artist Steve Ditko was the main artist on these Gorgo comics.

Gorgo’s Revenge — a Special Edition “based on the King Brothers film” — was also released by MGM in 1962 through Charlton Comics:

And two issues — numbered #2 and #3 — of The Return of Gorgo appeared in 1963 and 1964. [Note: The numbering has been said to continue from Gorgo's Revenge; but "more likely this title is continued from Reptisaurus Special Edition #1. Indicia reads The Return of Gorgo, Special Edition No. 2, Summer, 1963". (Source)]

I haven’t read the Gorgo series of comics — though if someone decided to reprint it in a trade format, they’d have at least one definite sale — but the “domestication” of Gorgo seems  clear enough from the covers.

Gorgo begins as a terrible threat (#2):

Very quickly takes on aspects of victimisation, as a mad scientist seeks to gain control of the monster for his own nefarious purposes (#3):

Faces up against alien invaders (#4):

Takes on a series of less loveable, though delightfully weird giant monsters (#5, #6 and #10):

Becomes a Hollywood star (#11):

Gains reader sympathy by being captured (#13):

Becomes mankind’s only hope of survival (#14):

Saves the damsel in distress (#15):

Fights an assortment of apocalyptic menaces (#19 — just one of several):

And finally becomes the Champion of Democracy against the Communist menace (#22):

These days he’s no doubt living in homely retirement somewhere in the suburbs.

Check out the complete run of covers in the Gallery below.

Source: CGD Grand Comics Database. Written by Robert Hood.

Gallery: