In this issue of Weird you'll find shrunken heads, floating hands, annoying corpses, wicked witches, and all of it nicely delivered in bloody black and white: a perfect treat for your Halloween swag bag.
Comic reader version:Download Weird Issue V4-3
In the first issue of the short run (3 issues) of Monster Mania, the first part of The Peter Cushing Story, a great on the set (House of Dracula) photo with Lon Chaney Jr. and his sons, and The Reptile snag some paper. A way too short interview with Jack Pierce only whets the fangs, but the abundance of photos without corny captions does satisfy. A shame that Monster Mania didn't last for a longer run.
Comic reader version: Download Monster Mania Issue One
One astute reader's Mania Mailbag entry summed up Monster Mania's coverage pretty well: "...just the absence of corny puns in the picture captions is enough to gladden the heart of one like me who has grown up with horror movies and is sick of seeing them treated as kids stuff. Thank you." No kid stuff in this issue 3, just more Hammer coverage, a lengthy blow by blow description of The Wolf Man by Richard Bojarski, followed by production information, and lots of unmarred photos. The Monster Record Jamboree ad page will bring back memories for some of you, as well as The Sorcerer's Shop of goodies. How many of you ordered the Spyscope Pen (I did!) or the Haunted House Mystery Bank (I did!) or the miniature camera (yup on that one, too!) The Cobweb ad page shows more nifty swag: there's the Spooky Lite (yes, got that one), and the awesome Pin the Monster head (hung that on the back of my bedroom door and loved it).
Comic reader version: Download Monster Mania Issue 3 (see more monster magazines in the morgue)
The Monster Times went out with a whimper when issue 48, the last issue, hit the magazine racks. Not that the Six Million Dollar Man and cyborg coverage was poor, but at only 25 pages, with 5 full page ads, it was a slim issue to go out on. The teaser for issue 49, which never happened, would have entertained us with more Mexican monster movie coverage, It Came from Beneath the Sea, interviews with Vincent Price and others, and an "eye-opening treatise on horror stamp collecting." And...a look at the eeriest amusement parks! I wonder if any galley proofs of that lost issue exist?
Comic reader version: Download Monster Times Issue 48
Continue reading "The Monster Times Issue 48 (1976)
The Last Issue" »
Monster Mania was one of the more worthwhile reads in monsterkid horror magazines from the 1960s. Russ Jones, in his Editor's Desk entry for this issue, laments how tough it is to find fresh material and photos. "How many more times can the Frankenstein story be told? How many more times will the same stock shots of the immortal Bela Lugosi as Dracula be printed?" Indeed. And he didn't have the Internet to contend with, where pictures and the same material are shared (and ripped off) faster than a cold. I liked Monster Mania's simple but efficient layout and coverage, and this Tribute to Hammer issue is a keeper. Terrence Fisher talks horror, One Million Years B.C. gets reviewed, Chris Fellner explores The Intriguing World of Hammer Films, Christopher Lee is spotlighted, and Peter Cushing, too. And...the product ads are to die for. How many did you send away for? Take that, Amazon.
Comic reader version: Download Monster Mania 2 (More magazines in the morgue over here.)
Continue reading "Monster Mania No. 2, 1967
Tribute to Hammer Issue" »
This issue of Mad Monsters, No. 7, has lots of pics, not too much text, and good coverage, from The Preying Mantis and Corridors of Blood, to I Married a Monster From Outer Space and an article on Lionel Atwill. Not too shabby for 35 cents. Charlton did cut corners by printing the magazine as cheaply as possible, so the photos aren't crisp. But their covers were eye-catching.
Comic reader version: Download Mad Monsters 7 (and see other monster mags in the magazine morgue)
Lon Chaney Sr. explains why he prefers grotesque characters in this 10th issue of Monster World. The punny Batman, "battier than a ball park," flitters while The Reptile slithers, and The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini brings us to the beach.
Comic reader version: Download Monster World Issue 10 (and more monstrous reading in the magazine morgue!)
Sort of like a Castle Films 8mm reel, this Warren magazine gives you the Curse of Frankenstein and Horror of Dracula in a nice digest format.
Comic reader version: Download Famous Films Issue 2
Lots of cool photos and, better yet, some killer advertisements, like the holy grail of monsterkid-dom: the Famous Monsters Photo Printing Kit. And if that weren't enough to get you drooling, there are ads for the Mad, Mad, Mad Scientist Laboratory, the Addams Family Haunted House by Aurora, and Wacky Action Kits.
Comic reader version: Download Monster World Issue 5
For the children of the night, it doesn't get any better than issue 27 of The Monster Times. Vampires take flight, beginning with Gary J. Svehla's Forgotten Vampires of the Cinema. Of course, now we have the Internet and streaming movies and stuff we'd love to forget but can't because it keeps coming back like a vampire. But in 1973, an article like this one was pure gold to horror fans. Putting a nail in Blackula's coffin is Joe Kane with Scram, Blacula, Scram, who seems to really not like poor Mamuwalde much at all. Perhaps the most dispiriting read is Dave Stidworthy's the Decline and Fall of Bela Lugosi. On the one hand, while Lugosi suffered through a career that didn't shine as much as Boris Karloff's, to say that his many poverty row movies or his Ed Wood wonders are forgettable is rather shortsighted. You can call them many things, or critique them many ways, but you can never ever say they're forgettable.
Comic reader version: Download The Monster Times 27 (read more creepy magazines from Zombos' Closet)
The Fly and Return of the Fly buzzes around issue 25 of The Monster Times as Jim Wnoroski takes a swat at the movies, and C.C. Beck is marveled for his artistic work on Captain Marvel. I recall seeing Mr. Beck at one of Phil Seuling's Comic Art Conventions. Beck's hobby was to create very realistic sword and sorcery weapons out of paper and cardboard. He auctioned off some of these at the convention. Seuling, a big fellow, let down his hair (he really did, as he let it grow long) and grabbed a mighty Beck-crafted axe, then posed a la Conan for photo ops. Hopefully, some of those pictures still exist. I also had picked up one of the weapons to check it out and was surprised to find it light as a feather, but very realistic in appearance. Also in this issue, horror heroines get some love, and the Kung Fu craze kicks up the action.
Comic reader version: Download The Monster Times 25
The Monster of Piedras Blancas gets some love in issue 18 of The Monster Times; at least from the article's author, David Stidworthy (yeah, like that's a real name): the rest of TMT awarded a Schlock Award Winner to it. Christopher Lee returns as Count Dracula in Dracula A.D. 1972 and talks about the Count that made him famous, Tony Isabella searches for Willis O'Brian's Missing Monster. For comic buffs, Art Miller discusses Nedor comic's infatuation with monsters When Monsters Ruled the Comics.
Comic reader version: Download The Monster Times 18
