Shogun Warriors (comics)

The Shogun Warriors are fictional gigantic humanoid robotic constructs (mechas) appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics based on a line of toys of the same name.

Shogun Warriors
Combatra of Shogun Warriors fighting alongside the Fantastic Four on the cover of Shogun Warriors #20 (September 1980) published by Marvel Comics.
Cover art by Herb Trimpe.
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceShogun Warriors: Shogun Warriors #1 (February 1979)
Shogun Reapers: Nick Fury #2 (July 2017)
Created byShogun Warriors: Doug Moench and Herb Trimpe
Shogun Reapers: James Robinson and ACO
In-story information
Team affiliationsShogun Warriors: Fantastic Four

Publication history

The Shogun Warriors were licensed by Marvel Comics to create a comic book series written by Doug Moench and drawn by Herb Trimpe.[1]

Character biography

The Shogun Warriors series (composed of 20 issues) was published from February 1979 to September 1980.[2] In the comic book series, the Shogun Warriors were created by a mysterious group called the Followers of the Light[3] and human operators were chosen from all around the world to operate the massive robots in order to battle evil.

Marvel only licensed three Shogun Warriors characters for the comic book series:

Between February 1979 and July 1979, Marvel had the comic book rights to both Godzilla and the Shogun Warriors. While the characters never crossed paths in their respective comics, Trimpe (who did the artwork for both series) drew a variation of Godzilla and Rodan alongside Daimos, Great Mazinger, Raydeen and Gaiking on the top page of a comic book advertisement soliciting the Shogun Warrior toys.[5] Mattel simultaneously had a license to produce Shogun Warriors toys (at the time) and a license to produce toys based on Godzilla[6] and Rodan.[7] Though never appearing in the comic series, Red Ronin of Marvel's Godzilla, King of the Monsters comic book series was mentioned occasionally and was frequently written about in the letters pages. Shogun Warriors #15 (April 1980) was a fill-in written by Steven Grant with art by Mike Vosburg. The series took a dramatic turn with Shogun Warriors #16 (May 1980), as the Shogun Warriors' mentors were destroyed by the Primal One and his followers.[8] This alien force decided that Earth's technology had outpaced its morality, making it their duty to destroy the Shogun Warriors as well as other powerful humans. Declining sales, as well as Moench's commitment to writing the Moon Knight comic book series that had just been started, led Marvel to cancel the Shogun Warriors comic book series.[9] The three giant robots are destroyed (off-panel) to which the Fantastic Four and the robots' pilots (Richard, Genji and Ilongo) learn about the Samurai Destroyer (a giant robot built from an abandoned fourth robot that was never finished); this is because Marvel lost the rights to the characters.[10]

Shogun Reapers

The Shogun Reapers are mechas within the Yakuza. When they built a cannon on the Moon to hold Earth hostage, Nick Fury Jr. broke into the Shogun Reapers' base in order to steal their powering device. The Shogun Reapers' leader Daniel "Danny Fear" Kiku and lieutenant Akihiko are outfitted in shogun mechas for a confrontation. However, Akihiko's suit gets hacked by the agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. to fight Danny Fear which decompressed the room and caused all the gangsters to be swallowed into space, apparently killing Akihiko and a third member. However, Danny Fear is revealed to be safely inside his mecha.[11]

In other media

References
  1. Sanderson, Peter; Gilbert, Laura, ed. (2008). "1970s". Marvel Chronicle A Year by Year History. London, United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. p. 188. ISBN 978-0756641238. Writer Doug Moench and artist Herb Trimpe created Shogun Warriors, a Marvel comics series based on a line of Japanese toys imported by Mattel.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  2. Shogun Warriors at the Grand Comics Database
  3. Christiansen, Jeff (April 17, 2009). "Followers of the Light". Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe. Archived from the original on July 20, 2017.
  4. Smith, Andy (May 2014). "Shogun Warriors The Sky-High Rise and Abrupt Fall of Three Giant Robots in Comics". Back Issue!. Raleigh, North Carolina: TwoMorrows Publishing (#72): 56–57. Even maintaining the same spelling of the robots' names between the toys and the comics didn't seem to be a top priority. Fans will find multiple versions of the word 'Combatra', sometimes as 'Combattra' and 'Raydeen', at times as 'Raideen', adorning the boxes of some of the figures.
  5. "Shogun Warriors Toy Ad".
  6. "Mattel No. 2440 Godzilla!". WildToys.com. Archived from the original on March 22, 2012.
  7. "Rodan!". WildToys.com. Archived from the original on March 22, 2012.
  8. Moench, Doug (w), Trimpe, Herb (p), Esposito, Mike (i). "Death of Innocence" Shogun Warriors #16 (May 1980)
  9. Smith, p. 60: "The letters section of Shogun Warriors #20 gave fans a practical reason for the series' ending, attributing it to 'the precarious economics of profit and loss.' The note also added another contributing factor to the end of Shogun Warriors - the company wanted to make way for Moon Knight, Moench's new project with artist Bill Sienkiewicz."
  10. Moench, Doug (w), Sienkiewicz, Bill (p), Marcos, Pablo; Patterson, Bruce (i). "The Samurai Destroyer" Fantastic Four #226 (January 1981)
  11. Nick Fury #2
  12. "Civil War, Part 2: The Mighty Avengers". Avengers Assemble. Season 3. Episode 24. January 28, 2017. Disney XD.
  13. https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/films/1117769/Avengers-4-Endgame-Hiroyuki-Sanada-Yakuza-Akihiko-Ronin-Hawkeye-Tokyo
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