THIS MONSTER MAG IS FOR ADULTS ONLY!

MONSTER MAG
Vol. 1 No. 3
1974
Top Sellers, Ltd.
Editor: Roger Cook
Art Director: Gordon Winchcomb
Cover: Photo cover
Pages: 8 ( Plus pull-out poster)
Cover price: 20p (British Sterling)

After seeing their entire UK inventory of the second issue of MONSTER MAG literally go up in flames, publisher Top Sellers, Ltd. and editor Roger Cook somehow managed to clear issue #3 with British customs when it landed on UK shores from the printer in Italy. The blood-soaked and gory 'zine now had a "For Sale To Adults Only" banner across the front cover. Inside, however remained the same gruesome fare that the first two issues had been noted for. Disembodied eyeballs, a severed hand (on the giant-sized poster no less) and multiple slashed and bloody necks were on every page. Would mere words on a page keep the wayward youth of the UK away from such trash?

MONSTER MAG BANNED IN BRITAIN!

MONSTER MAG
Vol. 1 No. 1
1973
Top Sellers, Ltd.
Editor: Roger Cook
Art Director: Gordon Winchcomb
Cover: Photo cover
Pages: 8 ( Plus pull-out poster)
Cover price: 15p (British Sterling)

"Welcome to Monster Mag! Blood rich colour and full gloss gore is what we have to offer every month."

So begins the brief introduction to the first issue of the legendary MONSTER MAG. And what makes this 8-page pamphlet of mostly monster pics so legendary?

Well, it seems like not only conservative American talk-show hosts, lumped together with terrorists, aren't the only things that the UK has banned over the years, notwithstanding the infamous period of the 1930's when horror films were prohibited outright by British censors. Other films, including THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE II, TRACES OF DEATH, and WOMEN IN CELL-BLOCK 9, have all been at one time, forbidden to land on Her Majesty's shores (legally, anyway).

After the first issue of MM made it through to the news agents, the second issue, which was printed in Italy, was stopped dead in its tracks at the UK version of our customs office and declared unfit for human eyes. The entire print run was summarily seized and destroyed (by Fahrenheit 451 incineration? A giant shredder?), and nary a copy remained... except for those that were distributed to Germany and France.

The French version of MONSTER MAG #2.

True, the pics in MM are pretty gory and must have been quite shocking for the day, but they are really nothing worse than could be seen a half-dozen years later in any average issue of FANGORIA.

Fast forward to today, and we find the UK monster and comic book publisher, Dez Skinn (who published a few issues of the second incarnation of MONSTER MAG) has revived the 'zine by re-publishing the infamous second issue. The longevity of MM does not have a good track record, so we'll see how it does on this go' round. In the meantime, here is the first issue, in all its gory glory.

NOTE: Sorry for the text quality, but it's the best I've got.

The pull-out poster.

A YouTube vid that shows the posters from MONSTER MAG.