Godzilla Viewmaster

Like most kids in the 70s, my brother and I had a View-Master.  I had reels of Batman (from the 60s live action show, the first Catwoman episodes), the Peanuts (using puppets, not drawings) the Little Yellow Dinosaur and some from the dinosaur sequence from ANIMAL WORLD.  There were also plenty of boring pictures (at the time) of different buildings and sports, stuff like that.  And like most kids of the 70s, the bulb burned out quickly, making kids take the back of the View-Master off and hold it up to various sources of light.  This got old in a hurry and I'm thinking most kids put theirs away and forgot about them soon after.

I remember casually looking through the View-Master section at various stores like TG&Y and K-Mart, but never actually wanting to buy any.

I was surprised then when I saw this set.  There were some more superhero sets available as well, but since Godzilla merch was rare back then, I bought this.  It was kind of a new story, but most of the artwork was culled from Marvel's most fun Godzilla comic, specifically issues #1 and #2.  Godzilla attacks Seattle (which I'm always in favor of) and is driven off by an oxygen bomb.

I was a bit disappointed in this set, simply because it really wasn't anything new.  I liked the artwork a lot, but the story was kind of dull.  The fact that I had to dig out the old View-Master and look at it toward the lamp to see it.  I don't remember looking at it more than once or twice.

Most sources say it came out in '78 or '79, though I seem to remember it coming out well after Marvel's run ended.  It could be that I just wasn't looking in that section very much any more.  I was looking for Godzilla 8mm movies by then.  As much as I loved Godzilla back then, I kind of wish I had save my $1.29 or so it cost me.