MY HOMEMADE MONSTER MAG! (1970)

While taking a recent look at my collection of homemade monster magazines, I was sad to see that many of them are deteriorating rather considerably. And it's no wonder; I used cheap typewriter paper, rubber cement and most of the pictures that I used were originally printed on pulp newsprint. Even the ink from my trusty Adler portable typewriter is gradually fading. Even with a little image manipulation, it's not within my capability to correct the bleed-through on these pages without spending tons of time on them.

This is the next to last issue that I made of what I think was a pretty good 23-issue run of MONSTERS MAGAZINE. It was done sometime in 1970, and since I mention the new season of TV shows, my guess it was sometime during the Fall.

I still have a few of these 50+-year-old little treasures left, and I'll be posting them as I get them scanned and archived in the vaults here at the Mysterious Mansion.

NOTE: These pages have been reproduced at their original 8 1/2" x 11" size, so if you click on an image, it'll be easier to read the text.

ABOUT THE COVER: At the time, my crush on Raquel Welch knew no bounds and this drawing I did of her I'm sure was originally traced. Oh, and I bet you can't guess where I swiped the logo from!

I'll be the first to admit I was no Harry Chester, but I was trying to improve the look of my 'zine from totally amateurish to a quasi-competent fanzine and started to pay more attention to my page designs. Notice I even used some color marking pens! Don't forget to check out my freakishly adolescent comment about the cover. But, hey, at the time, I meant it!

I can't remember why I didn't include the letter writer's name on this missive. I might have even written it myself!

Four text-only pages in a row, and right after I said in my editorial that I would remain a pictorial magazine!

My 4th Annual Monster Awards for 1968-1969 didn't try to disguise the fact that I was a gorilla-sized PLANET OF THE APES fan during this period.

Outside of King Kong and Godzilla, Gorgo is my favorite "giant monster", and show Mama and Baby some love here. These pages were ripped and clipped out of an issue of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND. Fortunately, I had enough allowance money to buy two copies!

I added this after watching DEVIL BAT on one of the L.A. Horror Host programs. A little hokey today, but it creeped me out then!

The LOS ANGELES TIMES was always a good source for clippings.

SEE YOU NEXT TIME!

ANOTHER HOMEMADE MONSTER MAG!

As long-time readers of this blog have seen in previous posts, back in the Monster Craze Days me and my pals would spend a part of the dogs days of summer making our own, hand-crafted monster magazines. It wasn't long until my older sister began to wonder what the hub-bub was all about. Being somewhat less of a monster fan than the rest of us, she nevertheless plied her more sophisticated art skills to her own creation called SHOCK MAGAZINE.

While us guys did throw in a bit of humor into our 'zines, sis went all-out on the gags. As a result, I think she did a pretty good job. Now, if we only would all have collaborated and gone in on a mimeograph machine we could have reached the rest of the world -- or at least a couple more blocks over!

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MY FIFTY-YEAR-OLD HOMEMADE MONSTER MAG

Okay, Monster Kids, here's another one of my homemade monster mags from the dim, distant past -- 50 years to be exact! At this moment in MONSTER MAGAZINES's history, I was living in the Florida Keys (in case you're wondering, Marathon is about halfway in the middle). In between working, fishing and stuffing all the grouper I could get into my mouth, I managed to have a little spare time here and there. Living in a truck camper, I didn't have a lot of room for my stuff (I used the tiny fridge for a book case!), but for some reason I thought to bring along a small stash of clippings and pics.

Call it arrested development or just nostalgia, at some point, I decided I'd make another two issues or so until my youthful exuberance for this type of pastime was assuaged.

This is issue #23, "published" in the Spring of 1973. As you can see from my previous posts, I got a little more artsy-fartsy with the page layouts and I wrote longer articles than in earlier issues, which were photo-heavy.

I brought along an Adler portable typewriter that I received from my best friend's parents for my high school graduation (I still have it!) and used that to type out the text. Surprisingly, there's not much in the way of erasures or type-overs.

There are a few errors in the content -- the caption for THE VAMPIRE'S LOVER is properly known as THE VAMPIRE AND THE BALLERINA, and some of the info about Jack Pierce's makeup for the Frankenstein monster is inaccurate.

I guess I was always a Monster Kid at heart, and judging from this blog you are reading right now, I still am!

So, without further ado, I present the 23rd issue of MONSTERS MAGAZINE!