G-Fan
Encyclopedia
G-Fan is a magazine
dedicated to the Japan
ese kaiju
film genre. It is published quarterly and long-running (the winter 2009/2010 issue is #90). It was created by J. D. Lees. G-Fan serves as the official magazine of the Godzilla Society of North America, but it also has subscribers and retailers in Europe
and Asia
. G-Fan was named in The Chicago Tribune’s 2008 "Our Fifty Favorite Magazines" list. It is also the sponsor of the G-Fest
convention
.
s with actor
s, producer
s, director
s, and special effect
s technicians associated with the Japanese giant monster (daikaiju) genre. G-FAN also covers giant monster movies produced outside of Japan, such as King Kong
, Them!, and Gorgo
.
Regular features include movie reviews, toy reviews, information on new products, DVD
reviews, dealer
spotlights, guides to Japanese locations, fan profiles, and kaiju-related activities. There were other Godzilla fanzines before this, such as "Japanese Fantasy Film Journal" (by Greg Shoemaker); "Japanese Giants" (by Brad Boyle); and "The Godzilla Fan Newsletter Godzillamania" (by Richard H. Campbell). Most of these were in the 1970s. G-Fan is an extension of these.
of the magazine.
Art created by the fans is sometimes used as cover art
for the magazine.
Fan fiction
has long been a part of G-FAN. Among the most notable pieces of fan-fiction features are The Journals of Dr Rex Summeral, a fictional kaiju
biologist
.
Fan-produced content including trademark
ed kaiju was formerly accepted, but Toho Productions, the company that owns the rights to several kaiju, asked G-FAN to stop using their copyright
ed monsters. Since then, only fan-produced content that uses fan-created kaiju is accepted.
s, t-shirt
s, and keyrings.
G-FAN has a mascot
named Gfantis, a large dinosaur
with solar
-based powers, including regeneration and an energy beam fired from his horn
. G-FAN's editor has given artist
s and fan fiction
writers permission to use him in art and story submissions to the magazine.
convention
in Chicago
. Each year, an award called the Mangled Skyscraper is presented to someone who has made an important contribution to the kaiju genre. The Godzilla Society of North America dedicated a plaque
("Platrix Chapter No. 2 of E Clampus Vitus") in March 2006 at Frank del Olmo Elementary School, which was the former location of Visual Drama, Inc. where Raymond Burr
's insert scenes were directed by Terry Morse in 1956. The dedication celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Americanized version of Godzilla: King of the Monsters!.
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
dedicated to the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese kaiju
Kaiju
is a Japanese word that means "strange beast," but often translated in English as "monster". Specifically, it is used to refer to a genre of tokusatsu entertainment....
film genre. It is published quarterly and long-running (the winter 2009/2010 issue is #90). It was created by J. D. Lees. G-Fan serves as the official magazine of the Godzilla Society of North America, but it also has subscribers and retailers in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. G-Fan was named in The Chicago Tribune’s 2008 "Our Fifty Favorite Magazines" list. It is also the sponsor of the G-Fest
G-Fest
G-FEST is an annual convention devoted to the daikaiju film genre and sponsored by Daikaiju Enterprises, Ltd., and G-FAN magazine. It regularly features panels, contests, and theatrically screened films of interest to fans of Japanese monsters such as Godzilla, The Ultra Series, and Gamera. G-FEST...
convention
Convention (meeting)
A convention, in the sense of a meeting, is a gathering of individuals who meet at an arranged place and time in order to discuss or engage in some common interest. The most common conventions are based upon industry, profession, and fandom...
.
Content
G-FAN contains interviewInterview
An interview is a conversation between two people where questions are asked by the interviewer to obtain information from the interviewee.- Interview as a Method for Qualitative Research:"Definition" -...
s with actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
s, producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
s, director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
s, and special effect
Special effect
The illusions used in the film, television, theatre, or entertainment industries to simulate the imagined events in a story are traditionally called special effects ....
s technicians associated with the Japanese giant monster (daikaiju) genre. G-FAN also covers giant monster movies produced outside of Japan, such as King Kong
King Kong
King Kong is a fictional character, a giant movie monster resembling a gorilla, that has appeared in several movies since 1933. These include the groundbreaking 1933 movie, the film remakes of 1976 and 2005, as well as various sequels of the first two films...
, Them!, and Gorgo
Gorgo
Gorgo is a 1961 British Giant monster movie. Directed by Eugène Lourié, it tells the story of an underwater monster's capture off the coast of Ireland. The monster is taken to London to be featured as a circus attraction. The film borrows elements from other monster movies, such as Godzilla and...
.
Regular features include movie reviews, toy reviews, information on new products, DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
reviews, dealer
Dealer
Dealer may refer to:* Antique dealer, someone who sells Antiques* Art dealer, gallerist, somebody or company that buys and sells art...
spotlights, guides to Japanese locations, fan profiles, and kaiju-related activities. There were other Godzilla fanzines before this, such as "Japanese Fantasy Film Journal" (by Greg Shoemaker); "Japanese Giants" (by Brad Boyle); and "The Godzilla Fan Newsletter Godzillamania" (by Richard H. Campbell). Most of these were in the 1970s. G-Fan is an extension of these.
Contributors
Some of the regular writers include Armand Vacquer, Brett Homenick, Mike Bogue, David McRobie, Allen Debus, Lyle Huckins, Skip Peel, Matt Frank, and Daisuke Ishizuka.Fan-produced content
Much of what is shown in G-FAN was created by fansFan (person)
A Fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something, such as a band or a sports team. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom...
of the magazine.
Art created by the fans is sometimes used as cover art
Cover art
Cover art is the illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book , magazine, comic book, video game , DVD, CD, videotape, or music album. The art has a primarily commercial function, i.e...
for the magazine.
Fan fiction
Fan fiction
Fan fiction is a broadly-defined term for fan labor regarding stories about characters or settings written by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creator...
has long been a part of G-FAN. Among the most notable pieces of fan-fiction features are The Journals of Dr Rex Summeral, a fictional kaiju
Kaiju
is a Japanese word that means "strange beast," but often translated in English as "monster". Specifically, it is used to refer to a genre of tokusatsu entertainment....
biologist
Biologist
A biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life. Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...
.
Fan-produced content including trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
ed kaiju was formerly accepted, but Toho Productions, the company that owns the rights to several kaiju, asked G-FAN to stop using their copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
ed monsters. Since then, only fan-produced content that uses fan-created kaiju is accepted.
Associated merchandise and symbols
G-FAN also has offered its own brand of merchandise including hatHat
A hat is a head covering. It can be worn for protection against the elements, for ceremonial or religious reasons, for safety, or as a fashion accessory. In the past, hats were an indicator of social status...
s, t-shirt
T-shirt
A T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....
s, and keyrings.
G-FAN has a mascot
Mascot
The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
named Gfantis, a large dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
with solar
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
-based powers, including regeneration and an energy beam fired from his horn
Horn (anatomy)
A horn is a pointed projection of the skin on the head of various animals, consisting of a covering of horn surrounding a core of living bone. True horns are found mainly among the ruminant artiodactyls, in the families Antilocapridae and Bovidae...
. G-FAN's editor has given artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
s and fan fiction
Fan fiction
Fan fiction is a broadly-defined term for fan labor regarding stories about characters or settings written by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creator...
writers permission to use him in art and story submissions to the magazine.
G-FEST convention
The magazine sponsors the annual G-FESTG-Fest
G-FEST is an annual convention devoted to the daikaiju film genre and sponsored by Daikaiju Enterprises, Ltd., and G-FAN magazine. It regularly features panels, contests, and theatrically screened films of interest to fans of Japanese monsters such as Godzilla, The Ultra Series, and Gamera. G-FEST...
convention
Convention (meeting)
A convention, in the sense of a meeting, is a gathering of individuals who meet at an arranged place and time in order to discuss or engage in some common interest. The most common conventions are based upon industry, profession, and fandom...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. Each year, an award called the Mangled Skyscraper is presented to someone who has made an important contribution to the kaiju genre. The Godzilla Society of North America dedicated a plaque
Commemorative plaque
A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, typically attached to a wall, stone, or other vertical surface, and bearing text in memory of an important figure or event...
("Platrix Chapter No. 2 of E Clampus Vitus") in March 2006 at Frank del Olmo Elementary School, which was the former location of Visual Drama, Inc. where Raymond Burr
Raymond Burr
Raymond William Stacey Burr was a Canadian actor, primarily known for his title roles in the television dramas Perry Mason and Ironside. His early acting career included roles on Broadway, radio, television and in film, usually as the villain...
's insert scenes were directed by Terry Morse in 1956. The dedication celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Americanized version of Godzilla: King of the Monsters!.