Monsters and martial mummies in MAJIN HUNTER MITSURUGI
An oddity among the tokusatsu status quo is the 1973 12-episode series Majin Hunter Mitsurugi, mainly for its use of stop-motion animation instead of stuntmen in rubber suits. It has its other quirks too, though, such as the heroes: Sure, … Continued
NINJA III: THE DOMINATION Euro stills
These stills from a Turkish/Yugoslav/Romanian market press kit are pretty low in quality, but some are variants from the usual lot seen in American kits. People don’t give Ninja III: The Domination enough credit. It’s a smart as hell release, … Continued
Feudal Phibes?
Found this crazy image on tumblr and was immediately struck by similarities to one of my favorite pieces of movie marketing ever: This publicity still from The Abominable Dr. Phibes – and if you’ve never seen this 1971 Vincent Price … Continued
…some sorta Shinobi-Ho-Tep?
Earlier this year Marvel had a one-off vampire comic set in Japan’s feudal era. Was artist Goran Parlov just going for stylized over-folding of the material on this shadowy agent of a samurai vampire, or are we looking at some kind … Continued
NINJA WARS press book
It was one of the few Japanese ninja movies that actually made it to U.S. shores in the 80s, and what a weird choice. Full of fantasy special effects, bizarre super powered evil monks, sadism and rape and decapitated girls … Continued
Let MONSTERS AND MASKS MONTH 2011 begin!
This year, Monsters and Masks Month will also be celebrated at our lucha libre-themed sister site From Parts Unknown, where plenty of masked wrestler vs. monster and Dia de los Muertos inspired mayhem will ensue. The party’s already begun over … Continued
80s t-shirt ads
It was the 1980s, and there wasn’t a cheesy enough piece of Japanese graphics or ninja-related bad illustration we wouldn’t wear on a black t-shirt. And let’s just take a look at the logic of this: It’s a tough read … Continued
JIRAIYA vinyls
Picked there up in an anime/manga shop in NYC back int he early 90s, had no idea what they were from or who they were, but I guess I recognized coolness when I saw it. 15+ years later I finally … Continued
KAMUI anime designs
From the art book companion to the 1969 animated Kamui theatrical compilation film and 26 episode TV series. Some great designs here by Shuichi Seki, faithful to the Shirato Sanpei manga originals but with that rough, sketchy look popular in … Continued
Yugoslavian ENTER THE NINJA pub pics
These are from a set of POORLY repro’d press/publicity photos from Enter the Ninja‘s Yugoslavian theatrical release. Wonder if that amazing Kosugi credit sequence had the same craze-launching lighting bolt effect on European audiences that it did for us?