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Run for cover, dearest readers! We dug out today\u2019s \u201cImage of the Week<\/strong>\u201d from mothballs deep within the Secret MICRO-FILM Headquarters<\/strong> to add a nostalgic twist to our Halloween<\/strong> entries, but we hope you don\u2019t mind if it has no direct relation to the movies of Champaign, Urbana<\/strong>, and the cities beyond \u2026 other than your humble editor painted it! His after-hours artistry took place ages ago during a streak of sci-fi fandom in the Nineties when Ye Ed mixed it up with fantasy role-playing game publishers as well as movie periodicals such as Scary Monsters<\/span><\/strong>, Fangoria<\/strong><\/span>, and Famous Monsters of Filmland<\/strong><\/span>. Unlike much of his monochrome menagerie produced for print, the depiction of Toho Studios<\/strong>\u2019 post-Godzilla<\/strong> creation Mothra<\/strong> is a full-color illustration made for a trading card pitch sent to the St. Louis<\/strong>-based company Trendmasters<\/strong>, then manufacturers of the first full-blown kaiju<\/em> toy line<\/a><\/span> in the United States<\/strong>. Neither an acknowledgment nor thank you ever made it back to young Mr. JaPan<\/strong>, but this image would find a home before long. Canadian editor J.D. Lees<\/strong> ran the watercolor-on-board Mothra a year later in the September 1996 issue of G-Fan<\/strong><\/span>, still devoted to \u201cinternational understanding through Godzilla\u201d and company<\/a><\/span> to this day. (A pen-and-ink Gamera<\/strong> visage, rendered expressly for G-Fan<\/span> by JaPan, also appeared in issue 23.) While somewhat rough in technique, it is<\/em> one-of-a-kind in your editor\u2019s portfolio so we\u2019re happy to share it for the first time in nearly 20 years! Few friends of MFHQ<\/strong> have ever known about his attempted dalliance with the now-defunct Trendmasters and we simply can\u2019t spin the tale without spilling the goods; therefore, you will find below an additional picture of our mock-up cards, unseen by the public until now. You will also want to click on certain pictures to take a closer look, for what it\u2019s worth, but don\u2019t blame us if you find yourself humming the Mothra priestesses\u2019 song of prayer while doing so. You\u2019re welcome.<\/p>\n ~ Jason Pankoke<\/p>\n ~~~~~<\/p>\n ~~~~~<\/p>\n p.s.<\/em> Trendmasters\u2019 Godzilla products came packaged with exclusive collector\u2019s cards, inspiring the proposal for an autonomous set covering not just the licensed monster characters but the entire Toho tokusatsu<\/em> legacy, mixing stills and vintage graphics with \u201cMagic the Gathering<\/strong>\u201d-quality artwork by industry professionals. To our knowledge, the first full Godzilla set marketed in America \u2013 albeit imported from Japan<\/strong> and without involvement from Trendmasters \u2013 appeared the following year. Of course.<\/em><\/p>\n p.s.2<\/em> As depicted in the artwork, Mothra is based on the \u201cHeisei era\u201d moth and larva appearing in GODZILLA VS. MOTHRA<\/strong> (1992). By sheer coincidence, we discovered while compiling Friday\u2019s Calendar<\/strong> that Sony Pictures Home Entertainment<\/strong> repackaged a tonnage of latter-day Godzilla and Mothra films in two DVD sets released this past Tuesday, October 20<\/strong>; MOTHRA<\/strong> appears in the first set<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n p.s.3<\/em> This early \u201cJaPan era\u201d is discussed a bit further in C-U Confidential<\/span> #8<\/strong>, finally on track to be issued next month!<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n