The MCU in Japan, part 1
As a movie buff from the pre-home video age, I gravitated toward print media for the films I liked most. I was a kid in the 70s, which was the last decade for movie program books sold in theaters. In the 80s they evolved into collectors’ magazines and then home video came along and theaters stopped being interested in selling anything but janky food.
For my [meager allowance] money, program books were the best. You could buy them while you were still high on the movie you just saw, and they became a physical link to the moment you saw it. That’s what made them a staple in the 50s and 60s, and they’re still a pleasure to behold no matter how dated they become.
Program from the first Spider-Man movie, 5/3/2002
Well, guess what…Japan agrees with me. They never stopped printing movie programs (called “pamphlets” in the local lingo), and in fact there’s almost no movie that DOESN’T get one, no matter how foreign or obscure. If it ever played in a Japanese theater, it very likely came with its own program. So as a collector, there’s always a reason for me to go digging through Tokyo bookstores or online auctions to find hidden gems.
I took my first trip to Japan in the blazing hot summer of 2007 (it’s only gotten hotter since then, BTW) and dove into collecting program books for the first time since they went out of style back home. I quickly found that the graphic innovation that impressed me in other Japanese books drove these as well. They often captured images you wouldn’t see in western publications, and made a concerted effort to gather up and preserve the poster art as well, which I always appreciated for its emotional alchemy.
Couple this collecting mania with the arrival of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and you have a perfect match. I snapped up the “pamphlet” for Iron Man in 2008 and haven’t let down my guard since then. Over time, I watched them evolve into VERY high-end publications, lavished with increasing page counts, unique printing gimmicks, foldouts, bonus items, and extraordinary art direction. The movies may be uneven, but the pamphlets always put the best possible face on them.
Pictured below is everything I’ve gathered up since the MCU rocket left the pad. Some of these may surprise you. The covers are mostly in English, but don’t be fooled – all the interior text is Japanese.
(Note: the US premiere dates are listed; Japanese premieres were usually simultaneous.)
Surprise! MCU TV series stream on the Japanese version of Disney Plus, and some of them also get their own program books, just as lavish and detailed as anything made for a film. I don’t have the full scoop on this, but my guess is these were sold in theaters when subsequent movies were released in order to spread awareness.
However, not every series got this treatment. I have yet to find programs for Hawkeye, Moon Knight, She-Hulk, Echo, Daredevil, or Ironheart. But I’m still looking.
BONUS: Pen Plus magazine, Marvel special
CE Mediahouse, January 2017
Here’s something you didn’t expect when you started reading this page. One day in fall 2016, while working at Marvel Animation Studio, I was asked to participate in an interview session. It happened to be with a small group of Japanese visitors who were collecting information about all aspects of Marvel. I was chosen because I made no secret of my love for anime and manga, so our exec producer asked me to join the fun.
I talked about my job, what anime inspired me, and various things about working for Marvel. I even spent some time explaining how the animation choices of the original Mach GoGoGo led to a unique style of vocal performance in Speed Racer. They enjoyed it and thanked me for my time. I went back to work and didn’t hear anything more about it.
Jump forward to February 2017. I’m in Tokyo for a week (mainly to see the premiere of a new Space Battleship Yamato series in theaters) and I’m zipping around to my favorite bookstores. There, I spot this issue of Pen Plus, focusing on the Marvel phenomenon. I open it up, and there I am in probably the goofiest photo ever published of me! They got my job title wrong (it’s just “director”), and our hour-long conversation was shaved down to three sentences:
“The important thing in a work is to choose a creative script and depict the subtleties of various human beings. So it usually takes four weeks for the script and four weeks for the storyboards. I am influenced by Japanese anime, and I am a big fan of Space Battleship Yamato in particular, and what it has in common with Marvel is the high quality of the art.”
But I am finally part of Marvel history, so what could I possibly complain about?
Interested? Order a copy from Amazon.co.jp here!