- Published on
The Mondo Art Of Godzilla
Author: Chip Carter
Publisher: Insight Editions
Hardcover
Publication date: October 13, 2026
Print length: 256 pages
Retail price: $60.00
Amazon pre-order here.
Discover Mondo’s stunning collection of official Godzilla artwork in this visually breathtaking celebration of the King of the Monsters.
For the first time, Mondo’s expansive artwork celebrating TOHO’s Godzilla is gathered in a single, visually stunning volume, spanning posters, statues, records, pins, apparel, and other products. Known for highly collectible, breathtaking creations, Mondo has earned a near-mythic status among fans. This definitive collection brings these coveted works together, showcasing everything from early designs and initial releases to recent collaborations in one beautifully presented and accessible book.
Alongside the artwork, the book explores the origins of both Mondo and Godzilla, offering a concise look at Mondo’s history and the iconic eras of Godzilla media that continue to inspire Mondo artists. It also features quotes and behind-the-scenes insights from the artists, designers, and creatives of Mondo and members of TOHO International, providing a rare glimpse into the process that brings these legendary pieces to life.
Featuring striking works from fan favorites including Attack Peter (Peter Santa-Maria), Hector Arce, Jesse Hernandez, and Tom Whalen, The Mondo Art of Godzilla is the perfect gift for every Godzilla fan and a captivating celebration of Mondo’s kaiju creations.
- Published on
McFarland & Company Publishes SCORING GODZILLA: AN ANALYSIS OF AKIRA IFUKUBE’S MUSICAL NARRATIVES
Press release
- Authored by Erik Homenick, PhD (UC San Diego), founder of AKIRAIFUKUBE.ORG and an internationally recognized expert on Akira Ifukube and his Godzilla music.
- First full length book about Akira Ifukube in English (or any language other than Japanese).
- Explores Ifukube’s life, career, and formation of his unique compositional style as well as his philosophies of nationalism and anti-modernity.
- Focuses on and critically analyzes his famous musical scores in Godzilla films such as Godzilla (1954), King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962), and Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964).
- Undertakes a novel, multi-disciplinary approach to interpreting and analyzing Godzilla films that includes musicology and composer-based auteurism.
- To be released in Fall 2026. (No exact street date yet—updates will follow, Amazon and B&N list April 28, 2027 release date.)
- Page count: 214.
- Retail price: $55.
Scoring Godzilla: An Analysis of Akira Ifukube’s Musical Narratives is the first ever book in English about the famous Japanese composer Akira Ifukube (1914-2006) and his personal interpretations of what the character of Godzilla represents. For Ifukube, Godzilla is not so a much a symbol of nuclear weapons as it is a mighty representation of an ancient and protective (if chaotic) spirit of Japan.
Taking this idea to heart, Scoring Godzilla, which underwent blind peer review, complicates and builds upon the more common “nuclear horror” interpretation of the broader Godzilla phenomenon and offers innovative interpretations of Godzilla films through analyses of Ifukube’s original music written for those films. The book argues that Ifukube’s Godzilla music is distinctively infused with the composer’s philosophies of Japanese/Pan-Asian nationalism and anti-modernity in order to portray monsters like Godzilla as spiritual protectors of Japan. The book therefore explores how the auteur Ifukube uses definable compositional techniques to portray these giant monsters according to his unique interpretations—and how these techniques allow us not only to see but hear Godzilla films in new, fascinating ways.
The two main case studies in the book are Ifukube’s music in Godzilla (1954) and King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962). Other film scores are also discussed, including Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964), Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975), Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1993), and Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995). The analyses of the genre soundtracks discussed in Scoring Godzilla were undertaken by direct consultation with the original, rarely seen manuscript materials prepared by the composer.
Scoring Godzilla also offers substantial biographical information about the composer, his composition methods, and production background on the genre films discussed. Additionally, the book includes several rarely seen photographs supplied from Ifukube’s estate.
Early Praise for Scoring Godzilla
“Scoring Godzilla is a major contribution to Japanese film studies, persuasively positioning Akira Ifukube not just as a composer of colossal, emotionally charged scores but as a true co-author of Godzilla and the many other science fiction and fantasy films his music animates. With its incisive blend of musicology, auteur theory, and cultural history, Dr. Erik Homenick’s study reveals how Ifukube’s nationalistic, anti-modernist soundscapes transformed the kaiju genre into a profound meditation on a uniquely Japanese guardian spirit rather than a simple atomic allegory.”
Steve Ryfle, co-author of Godzilla: The First 70 Years and Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film from Godzilla to Kurosawa
“Within [Scoring Godzilla] is a treasure trove of information on a great many things: biography, history, politics, ethnology, music, etc. It’ll also prove valuable to film aficionados in and out of Godzilla fandom in how it pushes one to regard its subject’s artistry. This book demonstrates that Akira Ifukube wasn’t merely a technician who wrote exciting music to complement exciting imagery; he was a serious creator with an active mind and reasons behind his methods.”
Patrick Galvan of Toho Kingdom and author of Ruan Lingyu: Her Life and Career
World Wide Web
Scoring Godzilla: An Analysis of Akira Ifukube’s Musical Narratives is now available for pre-order on the McFarland & Company website: https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/scoring-godzilla/
It is also available for pre-order at major online retailers such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
For more information about Akira Ifukube, visit Erik Homenick’s website: https://www.akiraifukube.org/
Author Bio
Erik Homenick received his PhD in literature from the University of California, San Diego, where he has taught critical writing, film studies, and French courses. He has also taught French at San Diego State University and various community colleges. A long time researcher of Akira Ifukube, Erik is also the founder of the official English language website about the composer, AKIRAIFUKUBE.ORG, which is approved of by the late composer’s estate. He is also the co-founder of the Kaiju Masterclass online Godzilla convention that took place in 2020 and 2021. Additionally, Erik has contributed film music-related supplementary materials to Blu-ray releases produced by Arrow Video.
- Published on
by Daniel DiManna
A comprehensive exploration of Godzilla’s 70-year evolution, from nuclear allegory to global pop culture icon.
He’s iconic. He’s atomic. And at 70 years young, he’s still the King of the Monsters.
Ever since his silver screen debut back in 1954, Godzilla has maintained a mighty hold on the collective imaginations of cinema lovers around the world. Originally conceived as a powerful metaphor for Japan’s fears of nuclear destruction, the character has undergone a complex metamorphosis over an incredible seven decades and more than three dozen films. From allegory to superhero, from atom-age menace to children’s matinee star, from arthouse to grindhouse and back again, Godzilla has survived by adapting and reacting to the changing cultures and generational expectations of the countries—and the filmmakers—that bring him to life.
In this exploration and celebration of Godzilla’s first 70 years, the full story of Japan’s kaiju icon is revealed through detailed histories, behind-the-scenes anecdotes, cultural connections, and contextualizing thematic analyses. Beginning with his postwar origins and continuing through his many rises, falls, revitalizations, and reinterpretations, this comprehensive companion to the Godzilla franchise seeks to place the character in his proper historical perspective and, by doing so, shed light on the depth, the flexibility, and the fun that’s kept him relevant and beloved for generations.
About the Author
Daniel DiManna is a film historian, author, artist, voice actor, and lifelong student of Kaijulosophy (a thing he totally made up but thinks sounds kinda cool). An award-winning marketing writer by day and an unapologetic monster-nerd by night, Daniel is the author/creator of the Godzilla Novelization Project, a fan-driven endeavor to write novel adaptations of every Japanese G-flick. His writing has been published in G-Fan, Prehistoric Magazine, Kaiju Ramen Magazine, and on various websites. He can also be heard guesting on multiple kaiju-related podcasts. Daniel lives in Sylvania, Ohio, surrounded by DVDs, books, and an unhealthy number of monster toys.
- Hardcover: $34.95, E-book: $16.99
- 224 Pages
- Publisher: Fonthill Media
- Publication date: April 28, 2026
- Pre-order on Amazon, Barnes & Noble
- Published on
Authors Takehiko Fukunaga, Yoshie Hotta and Shin'ichiro Nakamura
Translated by Jeffrey Angles
Description
The original story that hatched Mothra, one of the most beloved monsters in the “kaijuverse”—available in English for the first time
Mystical and benevolent, the colossal lepidopteran Mothra has been one of the most beloved kaiju since 1961, when The Luminous Fairies and Mothra was originally published in Japanese. Commissioned by Tōhō Studios from three of Japan’s most prominent postwar literary writers (Shin’ichirō Nakamura, Takehiko Fukunaga, and Yoshie Hotta), the novella formed the basis for the now-classic monster film Mothra, with a protagonist second only to Godzilla in number of film appearances by a kaiju. Finally available in its first official English translation, The Luminous Fairies and Mothra will captivate ardent, longtime fans of the films as well as newcomers.
Written just months after the largest political demonstrations Japan had ever seen, The Luminous Fairies and Mothra reflects the rebellious spirit of the time. In this original story, explorers visit a South Pacific island and capture a group of fairies, inciting the fury of the goddess Mothra, who sets out for Japan on a mission of rescue and revenge. Expressing a powerful social stance about Japan’s need to chart its own foreign policy during the Cold War, the novella’s political message was ultimately toned down in the Tōhō Studios film. Through this translation, Anglophone audiences will discover Mothra as a figure of protest fiction intricately reflecting the complex geopolitical situation in early 1960s Japan.
The Luminous Fairies and Mothra is translated into lively prose by Jeffrey Angles, who also wrote an extensive afterword about the novella’s cultural context, the unusual story of its composition, and the development of the 1961 film. Following Angles’s best-selling translation of the original Godzilla novellas, this new work will once again delight kaiju fans everywhere.
Retail e-book files for this title are screen-reader friendly with images accompanied by short alt text and/or extended descriptions.
Authors
Shin’ichirō Nakamura (1918–1997) was a critic, scholar, and author of dozens of novels, many of which feature the experience of intellectuals during and after World War II.
Takehiko Fukunaga (1918–1979) was a prolific poet, translator of French fiction, and novelist, known for his sensitive, poetic writing style and interest in existential themes.
Yoshie Hotta (1918–1998) was an essayist and novelist involved in leftist politics and the international nonalignment movement of the 1960s.
Jeffrey Angles is professor of Japanese literature at Western Michigan University. He is author of three books and translator of several works in Japanese, including Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again by Shigeru Kayama, also published by the University of Minnesota Press.
Details
- Published on
Author Takashi Yamazaki
$15.99 US
Seven Seas Entertainment
On sale Sep 02, 2025
320 Pages
Rated T
From the director of the hit film Godzilla Minus One comes the novelization packed with even more action and story to celebrate Godzilla’s 70th anniversary! In postwar Japan, the kaiju of legend has become even more powerful and fearsome. Can a country in shambles withstand the might of Godzilla?
In post-World War II Japan, the citizens are left picking up the pieces in the aftermath. As millions find new homes and bury their loved ones, they must adjust to a new way of life. For disgraced kamikaze soldier Koichi Shikishima, he’s lost everyone and everything he loves and is left living with survivor’s guilt. But when he meets Noriko Oishi, a young woman who’s also lost everything, and the baby she rescued, he finds a new purpose. As the two begin a new life to survive and raise baby Akiko, Koichi’s new job puts him face to face with something terrible, something he thought had only been a nightmare from his time at war. A monster mutated by the U.S. government’s nuclear tests is making its way toward mainland Japan, and nothing seems to be able to stop its path of destruction.
Godzilla rises from the sea with Japan in its sights. Can a country devastated by war withstand the might of the king of monsters?
The novelization of the hit movie is now available in English print!