GUIDE
TO:
THE
SCARY
WORLD OF
MONSTER MAGAZINE
COLLECTING
Baltimore area ephemera dealer Larry Kenton put out the very first monster magazines price guide in 1974. The 20 page digest sized "Monsters Price Guide" included prices (but no photos) for monster mags, horror comics and monster trading cards. The second edition of the Kenton guide (featuring 8 cover photos) was published in 1975.
Published by Dick Z Associates, in 1977, and edited by Bob Michelucci,, the guide featured b/w photos (with eight pages in color) of all issues of the magazines covered , along with publisher information, collector tips and prices (FM #1 - $150 !). The book also included a foreward by Forrest J Ackerman, interviews with Forry and
It would be another decade before the second edition came out. Now published by Imagine Inc. and again edited by Michelucci, the guide was retitled "The Collector's Guide To Monster, Science Fiction and Fantasy Film Magazines" (with a cover by Jack Davis), and updated to include the newer magazines., like "Starlog", "Cinefex" and "Filmfax". An eight page color section, pricing and grading guide and articles by Steve Dolnick, Tom Skulan, Mark Sielski and F.J.A. rounding out the book.
The most recent guides have been published by monster magazine dealer Michael W. Pierce of Monsters Among Us. His 1995 "Monster Magazine & Fanzine Collector's Guide" has over 500 titles and 2,400 covers of monster magazines and fanzines (plus foreign mags and fanzines), as well as a color center spread of every issue of "Famous Monsters of Filmland".
In 1976, Maryland fan Delbert Winans published the one shot "Fantasy Magazine Index". A comprehensive index of the
contents of most monster magazines published up until 1974.
All articles of every issue of Famous Monsters, Castle of Frankenstein, Horror Monsters, Fantastic Monsters, etc.
Still the only publication that can offer all of that information
in one place and a valuable resource for today's collector.
Published, in 1986, by Bob Michelucci, and written by Uncle Forry, these books were designed in the style of early FM's and includes Forry's reminiscences of editing the first fifty issues of FM. Filled with way too much good stuff to list here, the book has an introduction by Vincent Price, a new "Graveyard Examiner" and "You Axed For It", an alumni section of fans turned pro, a look at the "Captain Company", over 150 fascinating photos and much more. Vol. 2 (published in 1991) covers FM #51 - #100 and has a foreward by Bill Warren and 60th and 50th anniversary tributes to Universal Studios' "Frankenstein", "Dracula" and "The Wolf Man"..
Autographed copies of Vol. 1 may still be available from Forry's website?
Published by Fantaco in 1991 and edited by Dennis Daniel. A complete index to all 191 issues of FM, the Yearbooks, "Monster World" #1-10 and the FM paperbacks. Each listing also contains a cover photo. Too much to cover here, but there's Greg Theakston's "Warren Report", interviews with FM cover artists and others, tributes from top writers, reminiscences from actors, writers and directors and a wonderfully nostalgiac cover by Theakston. A must for the FM fan.
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