Shogun Warriors

Back in the Christmas of 1977  I went with my parents to the mall to ask Santa Claus what I wanted for Christmas.  I sat in his lap and told him exactly what I wanted,  A Shogun Warrior!  I distincly remember telling him I wanted "Gaiking" but would've been happy with any of them.  I was sure to tell my parents just what I told Santa, mainly because I was already hip to the Santa gig.

Later that Christmas I notice an oblong christmas package with my name on it and knew exactly what it was.  I tore it open only to find "Raideen" (aka Reideen and Raydeen) Shogun Warrior on the cover.  I wasn't disappointed, in fact I had mixed up the names and thought Raideen was Gaiking.  No matter, I ripped open the package and put all of the sticker decals on him and he was ready to play with!

If you're not familiar with The Shogun Warriors, they are giant robots with human pilots who fight monsters and save humanity.  Based on various animated series (mostly by Go Nagai) that were collected and presented in the U.S. as "Force Five".  It had a very short run here but Marvel Comics picked up the series and ran it for 19 issues.

The toys were really cool, many of them had spring action missiles and spring action fits to knock down the bad guys.  It also knocks down baby brothers which I found out gets you in trouble.  The only bad guy that Mattel got around to making was Godzilla, I eventually got him for my birthday the following year.

Over the years I've seemed to have lost them somehow, I'm not sure how you can lose two 2 ft. high robots but I did.  At one time I had a Raideen coloring book, and I've since bought "Mazinga" and "Gaiking" and other memorabilia like Shogun Warrior Colorforms, Comics, Models and some Raideen Children's Board Books (in Japanese).  It's a series that still captures my imagination today.

Monster Magazines

Back when I was a young kid of 6 or 7, I lived in a really old house that had a great big, creepy attic.  I used to love going up there and exploring because it was filled with long forgotten Halloween costumes , furniture, lamps, steam trunks and other odds and ends.

I vividly remember the way it smelled, a sort of odd potpourri of old wood, dust and insulation.  I remember every time I would open the door to the attic I was always greeted by Red Devil Paint cans sitting on the steps on the way up.  I'd always give the devil on the can a wary look and run past it hoping that he didn't reach out a claw and grab my leg as I ran up the stairs.  And to add to the creepiness the attic used to have bats living in it.  I always looked up in the rafters hoping to catch a glimpse of a bat hanging upside down.

One day I was digging around and in an old apple crate I found two piles of monster magazines and my life was changed forever!

Warren Publishing was known for putting out Famous Monsters Of Filmland, Creepy, Eerie, Vampirella and a whole slew of action comics back in the 50s, 60s and 70s.  I didn't fully appreciate the treasure trove that I uncovered until much later in life, and long after the magazines were gone.

I remember picking up Eerie and how the Frazetta artwork attacked me visually with images of evil wizards, shambling undead, damsels in distress (I mean come on who drew women better than Frank Frazetta), and mindless beasts attacking brawny heroes.  I made many a trip up to my creepy spider haunted abode to force-feed myself horrific images in the creepiest part of my house and later to subject myself to nightmares.  In fact my parents cut out Scooby-Doo and Doctor Who from my TV time because they thought that was the source of my nightmares.  I didn't want the magazines to disappear so I didn't mention them.

Every once in a while I'll pick up a copy of Famous Monsters, Eerie or Creepy and let the memories run back in.  The images are great inspiration to me when working on illustrations and a great read on a cold winter night!