Ambassador Magma: The Space Giants

‘Milton Glaser v. Magma Taishi’ is Craig McCracken’s tribute to Osamu Tezuka and graphic designer Milton Glaser, who created the Sixties poster of Bob Dylan upon which this image is based. It’s available as a print and T-shirt during the month of February at NakatomiInc.com.

Clipped from www.scifijapan.com:

Though the name THE SPACE GIANTS may be unfamiliar to anyone under age 35, for a decade or so beginning in the early 1970s this 52 episode Japanese science fiction series was a popular fixture on syndicated television in the United States. Much like its brethren ULTRAMAN and JOHNNY SOKKO AND HIS FLYING ROBOT, each episode of THE SPACE GIANTS featured a gigantic humanoid super-hero battling bizarre monsters and aliens who threaten mankind. The main hero of THE SPACE GIANTS was Goldar the Space Avenger, a brave and intelligent robotic being that could turn into a golden rocket.

Known in Japan as AMBASSADOR MAGMA (Magma Taishi), the show was Japan’s first weekly special effects TV series to be broadcast in color, beating ULTRAMAN to the air by two weeks. However, it was the superhero in red and silver and not the one in gold with the lion’s mane of hair that skyrocketed into popularity to create a national obsession of video, toys and merchandising still going strong to this day. While AMBASSADOR MAGMA may not have had the same long-term impact as ULTRAMAN, both series did make it to American shores, and many older US fans of Japanese fantasy fondly remember THE SPACE GIANTS and long for its return on television or home video.

Dork Note: I really dug the Space Giant's volcano lair and ability to transform into jets.