Now that is one swanky monster. I know I want to go to whatever soirée they're headed to.
Famous Monsters of Filmland was published by James Warren and edited by Forrest J Ackerman.
We can also thank Forrest J Ackerman with creating the very first Vampirella comic. Hubba.
Now for the scaaary part.
Among the many things Forry has done over the years, he was the literary agent for L. Ron Hubbard, back when L. Ron was hustling pulp stories--long before he decided to make real money by inventing a religious cult. He also represented Ed Wood Jr., who wrote outrageous pulp fiction when he wasn't directing classic movies like Glen or Glenda. Forry is also widely credited for having popularized the term "sci-fi".
Anyway, 4SJ is still around. He turns 91 next month. You can visit his website here.
I don't know when my dad started buying me Famous Monsters, but I remember seeing my first ones when I was 4 or 5 years old. The first ones I remember are these two:
What's funny is, my dad disapproved of comic books and Mad Magazine, but had no problem buying these. I carried them around, memorizing monster movie trivia and establishing a life-long love of bad puns. I even got in trouble for bringing them to school and scaring other children with the combination of movie pictures and stories I made up.
Sadly, my once vast collection of Famous Monsters of Filmland is now almost entirely gone. Like the GI Joe stuff I wish I'd taken better care of. We still have two editions, one of which was MizBubs' when she was a kid:
The 1966 Yearbook (Think Simpsons comic book guy: BEST. ISSUE. EVER.)
The 100th Issue, published in 1973.
You can see all the cool covers of every Famous Monsters on this here website.
