Prior to Monday, the twenty-seventh of September, I had never once seen the 1960's television series, Ultraman.
For much of my childhood I was enchanted by Godzilla and all of his rubberized monster brethren. Their atomic breaths and penchant for destroying model cities brought great joy to my adolescent self. I distinctly remember checking out a book from my public library that had all of the monsters Godzilla had ever faced throughout his 50some-odd years of cinematic history. There was Hedorah the smog monster; Ebirah, the gigantic lobster; and Anguirus, Godzilla's spiky-backed best friend (just to name a few). Being the blossoming young nerd that I was, the book provided me with hours of drawing inspiration. When all was said and done, I had successfully drawn and colored every monster from the book. Even Minilla.
What does this have to do with Ultraman?
On Saturday, the twenty-fifth of September, I came into possession of the first volume of series one of Ultraman. It was given to me by girlfriend's father who harbored fond memories of Ultraman as a child. I informed him that I had never once seen an episode of Ultraman, but had a substantial love of Godzilla. After getting over his initial shock, he told me that I had to watch it, and thus gave the DVD box set to me as an act of faith from one giant-monster lover to another.
My plan for this blog?
Like I did with all of the Godzilla monsters many years ago, I plan to keep a running "Bestiary" of all the monsters that appear in Ultraman, Series One, Volume One. It is my goal to give Ultraman and his wonderful array of monsters the same amount of artistic justice I once gave Godzilla and his crew.
