Website Obit

Monster Mag Ads

If you're like me, you probably went to the ads section of a newly purchased monster mag first, before reading any of the articles. (Heck, I still do it!) So, let's look at some of those cool old ads, every now and then, and the products they were selling.

MONSTER S-I-Z-E MONSTERS

After the Don Post monster mask ads, this is quite possibly the best remembered vintage monster mag ad. (It, or a variation of it, was also to be found in comic books of the day.) Novelties seller Honor House sold these iconic posters and fooled many kids into thinking they were going to get something a bit more "3D" ("..so life-like you'll probably find yourself talking to them.") than the flat posters they got. Monster collectors today see them for the classic '60s monster art that they are and will gladly pay 100+ times their original cost, when they can find them.

And here are the full color images of the Frankenstein and Dracula 6 ft. door posters.

There were several other 6 ft. monster poster, including the equally famous Jack Davis Frankenstein caricature and Zacherley and Vampirella posters.

Lost Nuetzell 2

Just wondering what that Nuetzell might have looked like on the cover of FM #16.

The Lost Nuetzell

Albert Nuetzell was a client of Forry Ackerman, who brought Al on board as FM cover artist (nos. 4-8) until Basil Gogos was discovered. This is conjecture, but it would appear that this Nuetzell painting was a victim of that discovery. The colors are probably not correct, as this image was produced from a faded photographic negative. Compare the Nuetzell "Phantom" to the one Gogos did for FM no. 16 (obviously done from the same source photo).

Gallery Update 3

Added the cover galleries for World of Horror and Warren Presents (all the Warren one-shot movie mags from the '70s and '80s).

World of Horror
Warren Presents

But wait, there's more!

Famous Monsters of Filmland used movie poster art on several of it's covers, but this is the only movie poster (that I know of) that mentions FM (or any other golden age monster mag). The 1959 "B" monster classic The Monster of Piedras Blancas.

I can't find any reference to this award in any issues of FM from around this time.

Before FM pt. 1

An occasional look at a magazine cover, or artical (focusing on a fantasy film, or films) that predates the first monster mag.

First up,  LIFE  Magazine Nov. 11, 1957. "Ghastly Look Of A Film Fad". A two page article on the latest batch of "B" sci-fi/horror movies playing at your local drive-in. Click for the large pics.

Sons of Gogos

I've started a block of links for today's monster artists. I'll add to it, later. (Suggestions welcome.)

Don Marquez is an amazingly prolific artist, with over 200 movie monster portraits and scenes on his website. His work has appeared on covers of Mad Scientist magazine.

Scary Terry Beatty has done the cover art for practically every issue of Scary Monsters magazine! His website will tell you what else he does.

Vincent DiFate has been one of the top science fiction artists for decades and has done several covers (and written some great articles) for Filmfax and Outré magazines.

Everybody knows Frank Dietz for those great b/w movie monster caricatures and his "Sketchy Things" art books.

Daniel R. Horne is a very talented illustrator and sculptor who has lately been the cover artist for Monsters From The Vault.

One of Mike Bennett's favorite subjects is movie monsters and you can see several examples of his work on his website.

Amongst other things, Pete Von Sholly has done a series of faux Aurora box art for monster kits Aurora never made and this issue of Mad Scientist.

John Detrich is more a son of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, but he does some mean movie monster caricatures, as well.

Gallery Update 2

Still working on cover galleries, plus real life getting in the way of posting.

House of Hammer/Halls of Horror
One-Shot Magazines (1970s)


And here's a couple of bonus pics for you.

Jim Warren gives a Screen Thrills Illustrated award to Buster Crabbe.

And, since turnabout is fair play, Jim gets an award from what looks like uuuuuuhh Danny Thomas and uuh Leo McKern. (Probably not.)

Cover Art Reference #1

This is the first in a series showing the reference material (mostly stills) for monster mag cover art. While most cover paintings are copied from very familiar movie stills (and some completely original), there are a number of them that are a bit of a mystery.

FIRST UP IS HORROR MONSTERS No. 7

It's obviously The Phantom of the Opera, but which Phantom is it? Although it says on the cover that it's Lon Chaney, it obviously isn't he. Some have thought it is the James Cagney make-up from the Chaney biopic, but it isn't that, either. What it is, is this guy.

Unfortunately, that doesn't solve the mystery. Is it a guy in a mask? Is it a make-up? Is it from some obscure horror movie? Nobody seems to know! Mask experts don't recognize it as being from any mask line, so it must be a make-up, but for what?

The photo was published in Horror Monsters and was part of a stills set that they sold (see ad), but no other photos of this Phantom have ever turned up and you have to wonder why they would have gone to all the trouble to create this, just for a still, when a Chaney still would have done just as well. If you have the answer to this mystery, please leave a comment.

Gallery Update

Got some of the 1970s mag galleries up and fixed a major glich running throughout the galleries.
Monsters of the Movies

Movie Monsters

Monster Fantasy
Quasimodo's Monster Magazine
Monster Madness

And had to go all the way back to 1969 for this one, which wasn't featured on the old website.

Supernatural Horror Filming

And so your time wasn't totally wasted reading this update, how about a couple of pictures from the cover shoot for Famous Monsters of Filmland #1.

The photo used for the cover (top) and an alternate pose (bottom), featuring FM publisher James Warren, in a Don Post "Frankenstein" mask, with model Marion Moore.

Warren had just recently finished the four issue run of his men's magazine, After Hours, before he and Forry started putting together the first issue of FM and I always thought the cover of FM #1 looked like it would have been right at home as the cover of After Hours #5.