MONSTER ATTACK TEAM ISSUE 8, FULL COLOR

$23.00 + S & H

UPDATE 1/28/12:

Initial shooting for relaunch of MONSTER ATTACK TEAM tv show has been completed. Stay tuned for more details as they develop...

UPDATE 1/26/12:

Just north of nowhere and south of where the Meganulon became food for the monster Rodan (Radon), MAT rises from the video age ashes and started production on our first webisode on Jan 28, 2012 from Japan. Rise Up, MAT, Rise Up!

UPDATE 1/21/12:

MONSTER ATTACK TEAM TV production meeting held in southern Japan. 1 week from today the 21 year old cable access program steps into the digital realm for beaming later this year. Volume II Episode 01: Nagasaki Japan!

UPDATE 1/14/12:

MONSTER ATTACK TEAM Members: Due to popular demand MAT TV is preparing for a relaunch via the web this year!

High resolution video reports in your region of the galaxy are strongly encouraged. Format requirements are being established and interested parties may message our Ready Room at: kellerwerks@yahoo.com for subsequent mission briefs.

MAT: Promoting Japan's monsters, heroes & allied culture since 1991. "Let's Fight Monsters, Let's Really Fight!"

UPDATE: 1/7/12:

Mike Nordstrom, one of the contributers to our next issue, has an exciting statement about a show he's putting on next month:

This is Mike Nordstrom, writing to you from Burlington, Vermont’s best neighborhood, the Old North End. For several years now, one of my artistic missions has been to keep the spirit… the clunky, crusty, fish-lipped, oil-belching, high-rise-wrecking spirit… of the iconic 1960s Japanese television monster Garamon (and his “recycled alter ego”, Pygmon) alive and thriving in the world of today. This work is largely advanced through my site, Garamania , as well as in select print publications and through my paid speaking engagements at universities, conventions, car wash openings and bat mitzvahs the world over.

I write to you today to make you aware of a couple very exciting Garamonic projects which I have well underway. The first is GARAMANIACAL, the all-Garamon, all-Pygmon art show I am curating for FOE Shop & Gallery in Northampton, Massachusetts. As of this writing, we have assembled 38 amazing artists committed to capturing our spiky subject in various media, and it’s likely a few more will jump on board before we open. I gotta say, I’m flabbergasted by just how well it has come together so far, and by the stellar array of talent on the roster! We have tied a strong charity component to the show, a coloring contest to benefit the crucially important work of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The MSPCC covers FOE’s neck of the woods, so it seemed a perfect fit. So, here you go- a few links on the show and the contest:

http://garamania.blogspot.com/2011/12/garamaniacal_13.html
http://blog.shopfoe.com/events/2011/12/13/garamaniacal/
http://garamania.blogspot.com/2011/12/garamaniacal-coloring-contest.html

Dovetailing with the show… is a project I’ve long dreamed of, which- through completely serendipitous connections made with two talented individuals in the beginning of December became suddenly more attainable than ever. In short... I’m seeking to become a close cousin to my beloved atomic age spirit animal… I submit for your consideration: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/819769147/the-becoming-of-garamike

Yours in Garamon, Michael

UPDATE: 12/16/11:

Photographer Chris Mirjahangir, whose work will be seen in our next issue, has made the film Transcendence.

Here is a press release:

Hello! My name is Chris Mirjahangir and I'm the Writer/Director/Producer/Supporting Actor on the short film "Transcendence". I wrote the script in mid 2007 and it was an instant hit with friends and colleagues alike. After a new draft and a few revisions, filming began on March 20th, 2009 in Palmdale, California with re-shoot/pickup shoot dates in June and August of the same year. Since then, the film has gone through the post production process of editing, soundtrack recording of an original score by composer Brian Morales, sound design, creation of the demons and other duties. We've been working on getting the demons finished for the film over the past year and have had delays and personnel changes during that time. We're almost at the finish line with the demons needing to have their scenes rendered, additional sound design (demon roars and a couple of other sounds) and the final mix and master of all the audio and then the film will be complete. Transcendence is a unique film about a family who, on the last stop on their vacation, get taken hostage by survivors of a demon attack from a nearby small town. The film stars such brilliant up and coming actors such as Savannah McReynolds (Justified, Private Practice) Brandon Tyler Russell (Smitty), and Jeff Prewett (The Objective, Marvel One Shot: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer)

UPDATE: 11/19/11:

The military newspaper Stars and Stripes has posted an article about Edward Holland, Monster Attack Team, and our efforts to help the people of Japan.

UPDATE: 9/28/11:

MAT ATTACK UPDATE!

Ok, so it's been longer than a week...

There are a couple of things that we can tell you about now -
1. Japan Society.org is grateful for your
contributions to Japanese disaster relief via
purchases MAT members made at Project AKON,
G FEST and Comic-Con. We will continue with additional
community outreach efforts in the future.
2. Diamond is currently fulfilling all of the orders we had for M8, it should be on shelves within a month's time.
3. You may have noticed that M9 was not in the September Previews. There have been a few wranglings in the intervening months - but we can safely tell you now that M9 WILL most definitely be in the December Previews. Please look for it then.
4. Our captain is on a mission overseas. MAT remains strong under his command.
5. Into the bright future and beyond - After M9, we are setting our sites on distribution with a much bigger and more monstrous voice through a well respected publisher. Stay tuned for more details here on our site. Next year(s) issues will feature articles and more
visuals by respected authorities and artists, and Japanese kaiju culture reports never before seen in magazines.
The best is yet to come...

MAT, established 1991.

UPDATE: 9/19/11:

MUCH IS HAPPENING IN THE MAT CAMP

The next issue is in the can, but a lot is going on behind the scenes - things we are not ready to divulge just yet. We hope to leave a more detailed message sometime later this week, as our negotiations with other groups become more solid.

We can say that right now it looks as though our next issue will not be out in October, but early 2012. Trust us, it's a good thing.

Stay tuned for more info.

UPDATE: 8/20/11:

MONSTER ATTACK TEAM in the house Sun from 9 - 5 at the LA Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention @ the Shrine Auditorium Expo Center. SoCal bros & sisters stop by and support Japanese sci-fi fandom, disaster relief efforts and say hello to the Founder before he ships out. David Hedison (Capt Crane Voyage To the Bottom of the Sea/007 Felix Leiter), Judy Strangis (Dynagirl) and notable others in attendance.

http://www.comicbookscifi.com/

UPDATE: 7/30/11:

Wow, what a couple of weeks! G-Fest followed by Comic-Con is a one-two punch if there ever was one!

We want to thank everyone we met, spoke to and had dealings with at both cons. You guys are great, and you're the reason we do this! The next time you see us we'll have a brand spanking new issue to lay on you.

In the meantime, don't forget that issue M8 is being distributed by Diamond via Previews magazine. Ask your local comic shop or book store to stock it.

As for something else that is near and dear to our hearts- MAT would like to thank all who donated funds to Japan Disaster Relief by purchasing items from the personal collection of our founder at AKON-22 and GFest. Those purchases and monetary donations from our Captain raised $1,777 for relief efforts which was sent to the organization JapanSociety.org. Arigatou Gozaimasu. 
 
Please check our site for more rare fundraising items soon!

UPDATE: 6/26/11:

Hey guys, time for another update, and do we have news for you.

OK, first of all, convention appearances:

Monster Attack Team, as stated earlier, will be attending G-Fest this year, and will have a table in the dealer's room. We will also be giving an hour long presentation on Saturday, July 16th, in Hall 2 at 2:00pm. In addition to this, MAT captain Edward Holland will be participating in four other panels: Ultraman 45th Anniversary (Friday July 15 at 4:00pm, Hall 2), Hiroyuki Watanabe (Saturday July 16 at 11:00am, Hall 1), Lost In Translation (Sunday July 17 at 11:00am, Hall 1) and Yokai Monsters (Sunday July 17 at 2:30pm, Hall 1). Please stop by our table, say 'hi' (and buy something, please!) and attend as many of these panels as you can. We intend to have some spiffy new t-shirts for sale and plenty of issues on hand, so don't be a stranger.

The week after that, we will be at the San Diego Comic Con. We will be selling our issues and other stuff at Raven White's table on the back wall of the auditorium (you know, the same wall as the food vendors). We will also have some of our stuff for sale at Anime Jungle's table, maybe a few others. You'll just have to show up and see!

Now that that's over, let's talk about distribution.
More specifically, let's talk about Diamond distribution.
That's right! The paperwork is signed, and we have finalized our deal with Diamond. MAT "M8" will be available for purchase in the August Previews, and MAT "M9" will be in the September Previews.

"Uh, wait a minute," you're thinking, "M9? What's this M9? That shouldn't come out until October, right? What happened to MAT M8.5?"
OK dudes, pay attention, because this might get confusing:

Part of our negotiations with Diamond involved making a few changes. Number 1: They want us to go up from 52 pages to 64. That means a lot of the stuff we had to cut out will end up back in the magazine, so cool beans there. Number 2: They want us to change our naming convention (again). Specifically, they don't like the whole ".5" thing, it sounds like you're getting half a magazine. So "M8" will remain "M8", but "M8.5" is now "M9".
What does this mean going forward?
It means that our mega-sized full color Issue 9 is still going to be Issue 9, and split off from it will be Issues "M10" and "M11". After "M11", we're dropping the "M" and will go to straight up Issue 12, 64 pages, b&w interior, then issue 13, etc etc.
We might still collect these issues in Giant size full color books like issues 8 and 9, but we'll call them "annuals", "giant sized specials" or something similar.

This also means that we're removing "M8" and "M8.5", in their current form, for sale from our website. They are effectively dead now. We'll sell all that we've already printed at G-Fest and Comic-Con. Once the files for the new "M8" and "M9" are ready, we'll be putting those on the site.

Is that clear?
Got questions?

We're as far away as that email link on the left.

UPDATE 6/13/11:

Hi ho,
Thanks to everyone who came out to see us at A-Kon 22. We had a great time and made a lot of good contacts! Thanks to A-Kon for having us and Babel Entertainment for all their support.
Next up is G-Fest. July 15-17. We will be in the dealer's room, in addition to our panel, the time of which is unknown right now.
We will also be at this year's San Diego Comic Con.y. How will you find us amongst the swarm of 126,000? Keep checking here and we'll let you know.
We expect (cross fingers) to have an announcement regarding worldwide distribution fairly soon.

UPDATE 5/14/11:
Hello Hello Hello there guys,
Where to start? Well, first things first. As you may have noticed, we have retired the black and white version of Monster Attack Team #8, and have added MAT M8 and M8.5 for purchase. What does this mean? As we are pursuing a deal for worldwide distribution, it became necessary to retool Monster Attack Team into a smaller sized format, and to discard the full color interior. Therefore, we have split the 132 page Issue 8 into two 52 page issues. We also had to excise 28 pages from the original, which of course means that we've lost a few articles. However, that doesn't mean Issue 8 in it's original full color format is gone. We are still offering it for sale online, via the store on Comixpress and in person at our convention appearances. The B&W issue, which hasn't sold nearly as well as the color, we consider superfluous, so have done away with it. If you purchased one, then you have a collector's piece now!

The 'M' in M8 and M8.5 stands for 'mass'. These are our mass distribution issues. We did this to avoid confusion between the 132 page issue 8 and the 52 page issue M8. If someone orders 8 or M8, we will know exactly which one they're talking about. We will follow our next issues in a similar fashion : Issue 9, M9 and M9.5. More information on our mass distribution deal will be forthcoming in the weeks and months ahead.

Oh, and did we mention that M8.5 features a beautiful new cover by artist Matt Frank? Well, we did now!

Now, on to our convention appearances. This year, we will have panels and tables at Project A-Kon in Dallas and G-Fest in Chicago, possibly at the San Diego Comic Con as well (we'll at least be there). Come and check us out, say 'hi' and get high... on rubber suited goodness, that is!

Our panel at A-Kon will be Friday June 10 in San Antonio A at 3:15 pm. We'll have info on our other con panels later.

UPDATE 5/11/11:
We've been quiet lately, but that doesn't mean there hasn't been any activity.
Expect a detailed update this weekend. Stay tuned...

UPDATE 3/13/11:

All of us at Monster Attack Team headquarters wish to extend our sincere sympathies to the victims of the earthquake and tsunami that has recently devastated parts of Japan. Many of us have friends and relatives there (all are reported OK), so this tragedy has hit home for us. If you would like to assist with the relief effort in any way, there are several resources to be found here.

UPDATE: 3/5/11:

GOOD NEWS! The MAT UltraMega Pack Issues 1-7 is FINALLY AVAILABLE! Check out the Back Issues page for info on ordering. Please note that we had to raise the price due to first class shipping being more than we originally thought. Please also note that when these are gone, THEY'RE GONE!

UPDATE: 2/22/11:

MAT 8 has been nominated for a Rondo Classic Horror Award! And our friend August Ragone is up for two awards, for his blog and his commentary on the Gamera disc. If you liked any of those things as much as we did, please go here and vote for them! Also feel free to write us in for best magazine cover if you feel so inclined.

UPDATE: 2/20/11:

Lot's going on, with MAT 9 and with other things. Keep checking this area.
We are currently accepting advertisers for MAT 9, check out the advertise page for more information.

UPDATE: 9/25/10:

As things continue behind the scenes in the world of MAT, we offer a brief glimpse of what to expect in Issue 9.
Recently, Edward Holland was able to interview Kikaida himself, Ban Daisuke, in Los Angeles. The full interview will be one of the features in the next Monster Attack Team. Until then, we can offer you a snippet of the interview here.

In other news, we received this rather interesting email from the band 'Daikaiju' regarding their small inclusion in our Kaiju Bandstand playlist:

"Hello Monster Attack Team,

It looking like you only know Daikaiju band name. Daikaiju have many sonic attack formation with monster sound! You never listen to "The Trouble With Those Mothra Girls" or "Escape From Nebula M Spacehunter" or "Showdown in Shinjuku" or "Daikaiju Die!" or "Farewell to Monster Island"???

Who is the Daikaiju??? Premium action heroes deliver most high rocket music! Special reverb skill combo for full impact! Loud sonic boom for earful pleasure! Beautiful radiation of hyper-dimensional springy sound creates divine psychic wind for your special defense! Worship Psycho-surf band Daikaiju daily for good luck and health!

cheers,
Team Daikaiju"

Well, Team Daikaju, duly noted. All the songs you mention have been added to the Kaiju Bandstand playlist, and we are more than open to the possibility of featuring you in an upcoming issue of MAT. Rock often for great justice!

Until later....

UPDATE: 7/31/10:

Howdy folks!

It's looks pretty certain that there will be a MAT 9. Other than that, there's nothing else we can tell you about it right now - not who will be in it, how big it will be, or when it will come out. We intend to hit up all the usual suspects. If you've got something you want to see, or maybe even write about - drop us a line... however, we don't promise to accept every submission that we get. Not saying we won't, just saying we don't promise to...

Good things are in the future for MAT. Keep checking this area. We'll make announcements when stuff gets finalized.

We've had a few queries regarding Issues 1 - 5. That's something which is still on the backburner. We might release them in the form of a limited digest book, or it might be more feasable to reprint them as single issues. Whatever we do, this is the place to check for news, so stay tuned.

See you guys later!

UPDATE 7/18/10:

A big shout out to everyone we met at G-Fest last week! MAT was a big hit, and we sold out of virtually everything we brought with us. Akira Takarada was also very cool. Hope to see you guys again next year.

Our next stop is the San Diego Comic Con. We won't have a table, but we've got a few copies of MAT that we'll hopefully have... somewhere. Wish we could tell you more, but that's all we know right now.

Also, check out our new 'Music' section. Popular music has had a tie-in with MAT from the very beginning, and we're kick-starting this new section off right with some exclusive Seikima II material. Also check out some of our new reader reviews.

As always, please drop us a line and let us know what you think.

UPDATE 7/03/10:

We will be at the G-Fest convention in Chicago on Friday 7/9 and Saturday 7/10. Look for us sharing a table in the dealer's room with Damon Foster and Oriental Cinema.
We will have a limited supply of color and b&w issues on hand, as well as t-shirts and coffee mugs. See you there!

UPDATE 6/13/10:

Thanks to everyone who came out and saw our panel and talked with us at our booth in artist's alley at A-Kon! We had a great time!

We hope (cross fingers) to make some more convention appearances before the summer is over. Keep checking this area for more info.

We've made some updates to the site. Hope you enjoyed the new intro.We reconfigured the home page so that you don't have to scroll down to get to the buttons for buying Issue 8 anymore.

Also, please check out the video section, we have uploaded a music video created for the MONSTER ATTACK TEAM television show way back when!

In sadder news, Shunsuke Ikeda, who was featured in our namesake show, Return Of Ultraman, has passed away. Read August Ragone's blog for the details.

Please drop us a line, we love to hear from you guys!

UPDATE: 5/4/10:

MONSTER ATTACK TEAM will be appearing for an hour and a half presentation at this year's Project A-Kon anime festival. Also appearing will be rock band SEIKIMA-II, who's guitarist, "Jail" O'Hashi, was interviewed in the recent issue.

UPDATE 4/13/10:

The first round of issues have been sent to those who ordered. If you're one of them, please drop us a line and share your thoughts on the current issue via the email link on the left.

UPDATE 3/3/10 - THE WAIT IS OVER!!!!

MONSTER ATTACK TEAM ISSUE 8 IS NOW AVAILABLE!

Can you believe what you just read?
Let us repeat it -

MONSTER ATTACK TEAM ISSUE 8 IS NOW AVAILABLE!

That's right.
Over three weeks after making corrections to our proofs...
Over two months after submitting our files to the printer...
NEARLY A DECADE AND A HALF since MAT Issue 7...

MONSTER ATTACK TEAM ISSUE 8 IS NOW AVAILABLE!

You will find ordering information below and on our BACK ISSUES page.

The magazine is available in two formats:

B & W Interior. $9.00 + S & H

Full Color Interior $23.00 + S & H

Both versions have a full color cover.

A word about the pricing - we know it may seem a little steep, but these prices are the absolute lowest we are able to offer them for. We tried pricing them lower, but our printer's online store would not allow for the negative profit margin.
Rest assured - you're getting what you pay for. At 132 pages, it is more of a book than a magazine, or a 'tokusatsu annual', if you prefer... and we really do recommend our full color version. Take a look at these photos:

Look at how thick the book is!

We may be selling the books for less in person if you catch us at one of our convention appearances this year (keep checking this area for info).

Here is a run down of what you'll find in the issue, aside from editorials and obligatory credits:
Go Go Godzilla
Patricia Rodriguez parties kaiju-style in Dallas, Texas.
Monster Toy Madness
Japanese style toys are the big thing for sculptors.
The Last Showakan Picture Show
August Ragone looks back with fondness of the end of a cinematic era.
Big Man Japan
Mini review by Steve Norwood.
Kikaida 01
David McRobie provides an overview and episode guide to the classic Toei tokusatsu series.
Kamen Knowledge
Who was that masked cricket motorcycle man? August Ragone knows!
Godman and Greenman
Mike Bianco explains how Toho kept school children occupied for five minutes at a time in the 1970’s.
Working Among the Monsters
Would you like to have Ultraman as your boss? Brad Warner did, and made it happen.
The Fantastic Cinema of Kinji Fukasaku
M.G. Keller gives an overview of the director’s sci-fi and fantasy films.
The Ultraman That Almost Was
M.G. Keller, Don Glut and Alex Wald provide insight into a fascinating project that never saw the light of day.
The Selling of Japanese Science Fiction
Ed Godziszewski shares knowledge and visuals of fantastic Japanese film posters and advertising.
The Last Dinosaur
Stuart Galbraith IV talks about the latest DVD release of the 1970’s Tsuburaya telefilm.
Tik Tak Talk
Lock up your daughters and brush up on your boxing. Tak Sakaguchi is in town, and M.G. Keller has an exclusive interview with him.
Putting Faces To Names
We enjoy their movies, but could we pick them out in a crowd? David Milner could, and gives us a visual reference to do so.
Wataru Mimura and Hiroshi Kashiwabara
MJ Simpson provides an interview with these two Godzilla screenwriters.
Jail Time
Jail O’Hashi is the guitarist for rock band Seikima-II. Edward Holland has a chat with Demon’s right hand axe-man.
Shut Your Venus Flytrap!
Think you’ve seen it all? How about a Japanese monster movie made by the US military and written by Ed Wood? Dr. Robert Kiss fills us in.
Not Just A Burnt Lizard
Nikkatsu’s Daikaiju Gappa was a monster never seen before and not seen since. Bob Johnson has the lowdown.
Ten Questions With Damon Foster
Edward Holland interviews the enfant terrible of Asian film fandom.
The Taste of Tea
Mini review by Crystal Decker-Norwood.
Monsters, Minatures & Magic
Steve Ryfle gives us an insider’s look at the recent documentary.
Ultraman, Path Towards Resurrection
Edward Holland has a few words about the show that gave MAT its name.
The Green Behemoth
Edward Holland gets some words of illumination and wisdom from August Ragone.

Thank you for your patience. When you see the issue, we'll sure you'll agree that it has been worth it.

UPDATE 2/6/10
Hurry up and wait.
Corrections were sent to the printer last weekend, we are told that we'll be sent a PDF proof to approve when these are put in place, and the magazine/book will be available for purchase afterwards.

UPDATE 1/30/10:
OUR PRINTED PROOFS HAVE ARRIVED!!!!
Wow, are we impressed! Even working on this thing by hand and knowing its layout did not prepare us for the level of quality involved. We will be making necessary corrections over the next few days, and we expect to offer it for sale in about a week or so. Keep checking back!

UPDATE 1/26/10
We received confirmation that our proofs had been shipped today. We expect to have them before the end of the week.

UPDATE 1/23/10:
We are expecting proof copies to arrive from the printer any day now. This is taking a little longer than originally anticipated, but such is the reality of the amateur publication world. We have been told that the ETA for the book's shipping was 1/20. Whether that goal was met we are presently unsure of, but will keep you posted with whatever we find. Once received, we will make any necessary corrections, then offer the issue for sale.
We ask for a little more patience on this. We have waited over a decade for this issue, and no one is more anxious to see it than its creators. We can stand to wait a little longer. Trust us, it will be well worth it when it arrives.

NEWS FLASH:
MONSTER ATTACK TEAM #8 HAS BEEN SENT TO PRESS!!!

And man, is it hot!
132 pages, available either in full color or black and white (both versions have a color cover). We HIGHLY recommend you spend a little extra and pick up the full color version of this, as some of the photos and art really pop! Prices will probably be $16.00 for the color version and $6.00 for the b&w (this is subject to change). Here's what to expect:

• The History of Kamen Rider
• Working for Ultraman
• An exclusive interview with Tak Sakaguchi
• The Last Dinosaur
• Partying Godzilla-style
• The Fantastic cinema of Kinji Fukasaku
• Japanese monster toy mayhem
• Fantastic tokusatsu poster retrospective
• Monsters!
• Super Heros!
• Japanese rock and roll!
• So much more!

We should be getting proofs back from the printer mid January. Affter we OK everything, MAT #8 will be available for purchase from this site. Keep checking back!

HEY KIDDIES!

Come check us out at Project A-Kon this year! More info here.