The Great Monster Magazines: A Critical Study of the Black and White Publications of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s [Hardcover]

Robert Michael " (Author), Bobb" (Author), Cotter (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0786433892 | ISBN-13: 978-0786433896 | Publication Date: June 13, 2008

This work provides a critical overview of monster magazines from the 1950s to the 1970s. The term "monster magazine" is a blanket term, which, for the purposes of this study is used to describe both magazines that focus primarily on popular horror movies and magazines that contain stories featuring monsters which are illustrated in comic book style but printed in black and white.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Graphic designer and writer Robert Michael "Bobb" Cotter lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is the author of The Mexican Masked Wrestler and Monster Filmography (2005, paperback 2008).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 238 pages
• Publisher: McFarland (June 13, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786433892
• ISBN-13: 978-0786433896
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,777,866 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars monster movie lovers beware, July 2, 2008

By 

Monster Doc (NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Great Monster Magazines: A Critical Study of the Black and White Publications of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s (Hardcover)

If you are a fan of comics, you might find this very superficial overview interesting, but fans of monster MOVIE mags will be disappointed. Though he warns in the product description that he covers both film and comic magazines, it is not evenly divided, but very heavily weighted towards comics. When Castle of Frankenstein gets 2 and a half pages, but a Marvel monster comic mag called Monsters Unleashed gets 7, you can see the slant. Much of text taken up by lengthy lists of table-of-contents of sample issues, which is a shame because the author can write, but seems to have just padded the book with many of these table-of-content lists, with short paragraphs of actual text after each.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars WOEFULLY LACKING IN INFORMATION, August 22, 2008

By 

Tim Janson (Michigan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Great Monster Magazines: A Critical Study of the Black and White Publications of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s (Hardcover)

If you didn't grow up in the 60s or 70s you probably don't have a sense for just how big monster magazines were back then. The kids who grew up on these magazines were part of the culture who watched Shock Theater films hosted by those great horror movie hosts like Zacherley, Ghoulardi, Chilly Billy Cardille, and The Ghoul. This was the era of those great Aurora monster model hits as well and the monster mags of that time were like a gathering place for fans.

Robert Michael Cotters book promises a critical look at monster magazines. Yes! The same magazines that our mothers hated is now getting a critical look! In a lengthy introduction, Cotter gives a history of magazine and that era that fostered them. The Shock Theater package of films and the horror hosts were really the seeds of monster magazines. Films that previously were only seen in theaters were now showing up on late night TV and kids ate them up.

The grandfather of monster magazines was Warren Publishing's "Famous Monsters of Filmland" which began publishing in 1958, edited by legendary historian and collector, Forrest Ackerman. Famous Monsters, or FM as it is referred to, spawned numerous imitators. Heck, Warren Publishing even put out a few imitators of its own such as the short-lived Monster World. Cotter's book provides a history of these magazines providing the years they were published and giving details about select issues.

Knowing a good thing when he saw it, Marvel Comics' Stan Lee decided to start up his own line of monster mags first with humor magazines Monsters to Laugh With and Monster Unlimited. These were no more than black & white photos from horror films with funny world balloons added. They didn't prove to be all that funny and quickly folded. Monsters of the Movies. A virtual FM clone, proved to be a bit more successful lasting 8 issues and an annual.

Cotter does a nice job of covering these magazines, hitting on some of the very insignificant magazines like Mad Monsters, Movie Monsters, and Monster Mania, as well as some of the unique publications like The Monster Times, which was a newspaper format mag, England's Halls of Horror, and the mercurial Castle of Frankenstein.

Cotter however greatly veers off course. He does mention in the introduction that he includes comic magazines as well and Marvel put out some great B&W horror comic magazines like Monsters Unleashed and Tales of the Zombie, but Cotter lingers far too long on Marvel's magazines. More space is afforded to the above-mentioned magazines than those that were infinitely superior, namely Warren's Creepy and Eerie, who featured some of the most talented artists of the time. Even worse, Cotter goes on to devote a great deal of space to magazines that were decidedly NOT monster mags like The Savage Sword of Conan, Heavy Metal, Planet of the Apes, Epic illustrated, and The Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu. Cotter gives an insufficient explanation for including these publications. The entire book ends up being way too Marvel-themed, especially considering their contribution to monster magazines pales next to Warren Publishing's offerings.

Monster magazines are stronger than they've been in thirty years today yet Cotter manages a mere ten pages to mention the new breed likes of the long-running Midnight Marquee, the gorgeous Monsters From the Vault, or the zany Scary Monsters Magazine.

The Great Monster Magazines doesn't quite provide the critical study that it claims. Truly wonderful mags are dismissed in favor of magazines that are not even true horror mags. It's a nice book for reference but falls woefully short of a true critical analysis.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun and interesting read!, September 14, 2008

By 

J. Rhoades (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Great Monster Magazines: A Critical Study of the Black and White Publications of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s (Hardcover)

I found this book to be an interesting review of all sorts of monster magazines. The title of the book says "monster" magazines, not "monster movie" magazines, and I think it gave a good general review of movie and comic magazines. Anything going in-depth of either monster movie or monster comic mags would have to be much, much larger. Marvel's comic magazines are heavily represented because they made so many titles, especially if you count 'Conan' (who fought a monster in virtually every issue)and the other sword and sorcery comics. So if you are looking for a nice overview of all types of the monster mags this is it; if you are looking for exclusively monster movie magazines or a scholarly treatment of the subject then look elsewhere.