The JFFJ Project is still missing two issues of The Japanese Fantasy Film Society (JFFS) newsletter: Volume 2, Number 7, and Volume 3, Number 2.

Volume Four of Early Kaiju Fandom is out. The series features the Godzilla fanzines of the Showa era. www.amazon.com/Early-Kaiju-...

Early Kaiju Fanzines have been preserved in both online and print media. Online, visit the JFFJ Project at archive. com. Use keywords: "JFFJ" "Showa". In print, the first three volumes of a projected six are sale at Amazon. No profit is made on book sales. www.amazon.com/Early-Kaiju-...

January, 1968. Greg Shoemaker of Toledo, Ohio publishes the 1st "Godzilla" fanzine, The Japanese Fantasy Film Journal. From an initial circulation of 25, Shoemaker would build JFFJ into the premier kaiju publication and ignite North American Godzilla fandom. archive.org/details/japa...

The JFFJ (Japanese Film Fanzine Junkpile) Project is dedicated to the preservation of the fanzines which ignited American Godzilla fandom. The Showa era history of kaiju fanzines will be presented as a timeline.

JFFJ 2 is released April, 1969. An eclectic mix of features and printing media, the focus is Prince of Space, but it's labeled "Special Boris Karloff Memorial Issue." The issue is a combination of ditto, mimeograph, and offset printing. Some pages are difficult to read. archive.org/details/japa...

Ernest Farino draws the cover for 1969's JFFJ #3. Printed by mimeograph, two pages are offset with stills from Throne of Blood and Green Slime. The issue's date can be ascertained by Shoemaker's "Discography" column lamenting the death of ex-Rolling Stone Brian Jones. archive.org/details/japa...

JFFJ four contains part two of the Frankenstein Conquers the World filmbook and interview. Pages six and ten are missing. Shoemaker: "Issue four was all out of whack. The printer backed up the wrong pages for the entire issue ... page numbering was nonsensical." archive.org/details/japa...

JFFJ five is also released in 1970. It is the smallest issue, at 24 pages. The Speed Racer cover illustrates the fanzine is not solely kaiju focused. The issue contains four mimeographed pages, highlighting the struggles with primitive printing technologies 50+ ago. archive.org/details/japa...

1970, unknown month. JFFJ six is published. The issue's focus is The Mysterians, with filmbook, commentary, and credits by Mike Dean. Due to lack of space, the acknowledgement / contents page appears on the normally blank inside front cover, printed upside down in error. archive.org/details/japa...

March 1971: JFFJ seven. Tim Johnson draws the cover. Johnson would later draw Japanese Giants covers two and four. Shoemaker compiles the "The Godzilla Story," short synopsises and credits for all nine Godzilla films made to date. Shoemaker admits he has only seen four. archive.org/details/japa...

Shoemaker ran into the "Toho Problem." From Vantage Point Interviews: "Toho ... was not pleased with the publication of stills ... the studio threatened me with a lawsuit ... the answer to the problem ... was a simple one. I stopped sending (Toho) copies of JFFJ. Not another complaint was heard."

January 1972. Issue 8 features Godzilla vs. the Thing, including a filmbook, reviews, and credits. The letters column is a rollcall of fandom: Stan Timmons, Murad Gumen, Tim Johnson, Wayne Vogler, Mike Copner, Dick Klemsensen, Bill Pugmire, Greg Feret and Mark Gelotte. archive.org/details/japa...

Fall of 1972 brings JFFJ issue nine. Tony Malanowski and Robert Craig review Godzilla's Revenge in "Godzilla Goes to Sesame Street." Shoemaker discusses a new TV release: The Space Giants. The article is accompanied by stills supplied by Lakeside Television. archive.org/details/japa...

The first annual Japanese Fantasy Film Festival was held in October of 1973. Left to right: Stan Timmons, Greg Feret, Peter Varga, Greg Shoemaker, and Tom Murdock. The event was at Feret's house in Chicago. In the 1980s, the new Japanese Fantasy Film Society would also meet in Chicago.

Fall 1973. After delays, JFFJ ten is released. Bob Scism provides financial aid. Shoemaker celebrates the publication's five year anniversary. Features include part one of the Ghidrah filmbook, and a discussion of Matango, still known as "Attack of the Mushroom People." archive.org/details/japa...

1974. In Martinsville, Virginia, 14 year old Mark Rainey announces to the local press his plans for his own magazine called "Japanese Giants." archive.org/details/mark...

Rainey's proclamation proved prophetic, publishing issue #1 of Japanese Giants that year. 18 pages, it was the beginning of a 30 year run of the JG franchise. Part 1 of a Destroy All Monsters filmbook was the main feature. Rainey also drew the back cover art. archive.org/details/japa...

Rainey discusses his involvement with kaiju fandom with Brett Homenick at Vantage Point Interviews. vantagepointinterviews.com/2021/11/07/d...

Known today as Stephen Mark Rainey, he is the author of such novels as Balak, The Lebo Coven, Dark Shadows: Dreams of the Dark, Blue Devil Island, The House at Black Tooth Pond, and others. stephenmarkrainey.com

July 1974. Randall Larson publishes CineFan #1. The issue features "A Romantic's View of the Toho Legend," by Greg Shoemaker. A photograph of Harou Nakajima partially in the Godzilla suit is later reprinted in Famous Monsters of Filmland #114, the Japanese monster issue. archive.org/details/cine...

April 1975. Salt Lake City, Utah. Inspired by The Monster Times and a local Star Trek fanzine, The Communicator, fourteen year old Brad Boyle publishes the first issue of the OfMSF Newsletter in April of 1975. (Organization for More Science Fiction.) archive.org/search?query...

A combination Star Trek/Godzilla fanzine, OfMSF Newsletter evolved into a increasingly kaiju focused publication with each issue. Issue 3 contained Boyle's attempt to list and briefly describe every Japanese genre film. Initially the fanzine was local, and included relevant TV listings.

As Boyle made contact with fandom, circulation became national. He was stunned to find fanzines that focused on Godzilla and similar films: JFFJ and JG. OfMSF now had a more coherent path. Lesser known kaijus like Yog graced the covers. With issue #9, Boyle changed the fanzine name to Monstrosities.

Monstrosities #10 contained a Japanese monster index and interview with Bay Area Creature Feature host Bob Wilkins. Wilkins featured the issue on his Sacramento show. In correspondence, Rainey informed Boyle of his decision to cease publishing Japanese Giants. archive.org/details/mons...

With Rainey's approval to take over Japanese Giants, Boyle placed a hastily prepared ad in Sci-Fi and discontinued that fanzine. Rainey sent material already completed for issue #2. Tim Johnson contributed Destroy All Monster cover art.

March 1975. Forrest J. Ackerman releases Famous Monsters of Filmland #114. The best-selling issue is a hundred page special on Japanese monsters. The issue is dedicated to fanzine publishers Greg Shoemaker (Japanese Fantasy Film Journal) and Randall Larson (CineFan). archive.org/details/famo...

May 1975: Shoemaker publishes JFFJ #11. Malanowski and Duncan finish the Ghidrah filmbook. Shoemaker pens "The Superhero: Japan's Interpretation." Stan Timmons draws an early kaiju cartoon: Creature Features. The issue is dedicated to Forrest J. Ackerman. archive.org/details/japa...

Greg Shoemaker discusses the Japanese Fantasy Film Journal and kaiju fandom in Brett Homenick's 2009 Vantage Point Interview. vantagepointinterviews.com/2018/06/06/t...

1976. Hayward, California. Young Damon Foster publishes his first fanzine, Japanese Monsters, with the help of his brother Lonny Foster. archive.org/details/japa...

Foster published four known issues of Japanese Monsters, although there may be five. Issues one and two were published in 1975, the remainder 1976. Such efforts from another child might go unnoticed but Foster goes on to publish Oriental Cinema, which will become a worldwide distributed prozine.

April, 1976. Boyle publishes Japanese Giants issue two. Boyle uses his high school printing class to produce an all-offset issue, with a two color glossy cover. The cover by Tim Johnson becomes a kaiju fandom icon. Mark Rainey finishes the Destroy All Monsters filmbook. archive.org/details/jg-2...

May, 1977. Although well received, JG issue two did not sell as hoped, until Forrest J. Ackerman mentioned it in Famous Monsters of Filmland issue 134. Another eminent kaijuoligist received a major boost from "Forry" on the same page: Richard Campbell for his Godzilla Fan Club.

Campbell published five issues of The Godzilla Fan Letter, ceasing publication in spring of 1977. Notable contributors include Mark Rainey, Bill Gudmundson, Damon Foster, Wayne Smith, and David Milner, who would later be co-editor of the Japanese Giants Fan Letter. archive.org/search?query...

In 1978, Campbell relaunched the newsletter as a full fledged fanzine: Godzillamania. Issue six was twenty-two pages, and featured a controversial cover based on the rumor of an upcoming "Godzilla vs. the Devil" film. archive.org/details/godz...

Campbell says: "I do regret my use of blasphemy in Godzillamania issue seven. I had to do 50 Hail Mothras for that one!" The final issue was digest sized and was a who's who of Showa Kaiju fandom: Godzisewski, Grays, Foster, Gudmundson, Boyle, and Milner. archive.org/details/godz...

Read more of Campbell's experiences in Brett Homenick's Vantage Point Interview. vantagepointinterviews.com/2022/01/13/g...

Many Showa era fandom members became writers. Campbell was the first to publish a book. His "The Bible on Film: a Checklist 1897-1980" was published by Scarecrow Press in 1981. archive.org/details/bibl...

Japanese Giants issue three is released, setting off an explosion of kaiju fanzines. Showa fandom archeologists refer to this publishing flurry as the "DAM Explosion," referencing a seminal movie in the Godzilla series. archive.org/details/jg-3...

The most important contribution was "Godzilla! Coincidence or Allegory" by Peter H. Brothers, a scholarly feature which predated much of the knowledge now taken as assumed about the seminal film. Other features included a Monster Size Chart by Bill Gudmundson. Gudmundson also drew the cover.

Brothers became a prolific author, recently releasing his twelfth book. In 2015 he released Atomic Dreams and the Nuclear Nightmare: The Making of Godzilla, continuing his examination of the film. www.amazon.com/Atomic-Dream...

1977 is the year of the kaiju fanzine explosion. Most publications were short-lived. In June, Dan Murray publishes Giant Japanese Monsters. A second issue was prepared but never published, the material finding it's way in Barry Kauffman's Monsters of Japan issue two. archive.org/details/gian...

Back to Hayward, CA. Exposed to fandom and fanzines, Damon Foster, with Brian Tuomy, starts a new fanzine: Japanese Movie Sci-Fi. Issue one starts off like an issue of Japanese Monsters, hand drawn. The reader is in for a shock on page five and beyond: typewritten pages. archive.org/details/japa...

Foster continues to improve with JMSF #2, his first fully typed issue. With his new found connection to fandom, contributions from others begin to appear. Art in the issue includes Jeff Gutsky, Brian Ridgeway, Bill Gudmundson, Kevin Grays, and Damon Foster. archive.org/details/japa...

Japanese Movie Sci-Fi lasted 5 issues, ceasing in 1985. There was a gap of 5 years between issue 4 and 5. From the premiere issue with it's handwritten pages, it evolved into a well-produced, well researched fanzine. Foster would soon also create Oriental Cinema. archive.org/search?query...

Don Macgillvary, Jr.'s Japan's Giant Monsters was released sometime during 1977. An amateur effort, Macgillvary had contact with fandom as the issue contains a Japanese Giants ad. Despite mention of a planned issue two, JGM was apparently one-shot publication. archive.org/details/japa...

In his Japanese Giant # 3 editorial, Boyle announces a monthly newsletter. He states film news is becoming more frequent, plus excess contributions need an outlet. He names it Japanese Giants Fan Letter for lack of a better name. The newsletter is usually referred to by its acronym "JGFL."

David Milner co-edits the first four issues of JGFL. Milner also wrote for Godzillamania, Creation Times, and Markalite. He interviewed many kaiju personalities, including Ishiro Honda, Akira Ifukube, and Haruo Nakajima. Brett Homenick interviews Milner: vantagepointinterviews.com/2022/07/03/r...

In JGFL five Boyle announces Japanese Giants four will be his last issue. JGFL six contains Godzilla: A Film History by Ed Godzisewski, who would take over the JG franchise after Boyle. The article was illustrated by Mark Rainey, who founded the fanzine. archive.org/details/japa...

JGFL lasts ten issues. The final issue was large, 25 pages. It contained all the submissions Boyle had not used previously. Submission quality varied but Boyle included them all. The cover was draw by John Lofffink. Barry Kaufman provides the newsletter's eulogy on the final page.