Famous Monsters of Filmland

December 9, 2009 5:22 PM

Famous Monsters of Filmland, the legendary genre magazine edited by the late Forrest J Ackerman (previously), will be resurrected by comic publisher IDW.
posted by brundlefly (19 comments total)

If they have order forms for monster masks in the back pages, I'm totally gonna fill them out and never send them in - just like the old days.
posted by davebush at 5:29 PM on December 9, 2009 [3 favorites]

Yeah. I have a box full of these in the attic. As well as Creepy, Eerie and a set of Vampirella including a #1 that's in decent condition.

I remember reading these on my porch under the shade of the two maple trees in the front yard. That was the time in my life that has that vaseline glaze on the camera lens in the movie of me.

Those trees are gone now, victims of bad city management. They cut limbs that overhung the street and didn't tar the fresh cuts or something. So the trees rotted and had to be taken down.

The porch has changed from old boards and tar shingles to concrete and wrought iron. The house is pretty much the same, except for aluminum siding.

I'm 50 now, not 15. Fat and cynical not slim and full of wonder.

But these were the background of my youth along with E.E. "Doc" Smith's Lensmen and Chiller Theater on Friday night.

Thank you for a touch of my lost youth, brundelfly
posted by Splunge at 5:52 PM on December 9, 2009 [8 favorites]

I hope they have an issue dedicated to famous Hollywood monster Billy Bob Thornton.
posted by basicchannel at 6:07 PM on December 9, 2009 [3 favorites]

That magazine was so much of Forry, and he was so much of the magazine. I have my doubts about any resurrection of Famous Monsters of Filmland. But what the hell, good luck to these guys, I hope they do a good job.
posted by marxchivist at 6:43 PM on December 9, 2009 [2 favorites]

Self-plug here: I work at the University of Wyoming's American Heritage Center, and we have Ackerman's papers. I don't know if this particular magazine is in them, but if you want more information about his papers, look us up.

I don't get paid more or anything for saying that, but it's nice when people use or collections instead of them just sitting around. So there.
posted by elder18 at 6:50 PM on December 9, 2009 [3 favorites]

use our collections, I mean.
posted by elder18 at 6:50 PM on December 9, 2009

basicchannel: I hope they have an issue dedicated to famous Hollywood monster Billy Bob Thornton.

Billy Bob vs. The Thing vs. Alien vs. Predator is long overdue. However, the rumors continue.
posted by metagnathous at 6:52 PM on December 9, 2009

I detect a trend. Dark Horse has resurrected reanimated Creepy as a $4.99 48-page black-and-white comic. Two issues have come out so far, and while it's nice to see good ol' Uncle Creepy back on a pulpy page, I'll probably drop it from my pull list after the fifth issue unless it gets better. The Eric Powell (The Goon) covers are nicely horrific, though.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 7:18 PM on December 9, 2009

I thought this said Famous Monsters of Finland... it still looks cool, though.
posted by Kloryne at 7:25 PM on December 9, 2009 [1 favorite]

I did a presentation on Forry in fourth grade (based on an article in Starlog, I believe) I remember being dumbfounded that he had aquired so much cool shit. (The Metropolis robot comes to mind, and I had no context for that other than "Damn, that is old.")

So, any attempt to pick up that torch is a worthy endeavor in my eyes.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 7:44 PM on December 9, 2009

I miss Forry. Still trying to find out who will run his museum or else sell everything off... LASFS is trying to maintain things, but they're stretched pretty thin...

I have room for Maria in my house, but as for the rest, well, Bob Burn's house is pretty full already...
posted by Jinx of the 2nd Law at 9:45 PM on December 9, 2009

There was a time when you could call Forry in Los Angeles and he'd show you around his house, which was an astounding museum of sci fi and horror. I did it once when I lived there in 1990. He was very genial and I, at age 22, was too flabbergasted to say much of anything.

If you ordered films from Russ Meyer's company then, as I did, you'd actually talk to Russ Meyer, too. I didn't know then how extraordinary this was. Because, God damn, did I love me some Russ and Forry. The latter was an unexpectedly large influence in my childhood, the former continues to influence my adulthood. Perhaps not for the better in either case, but certainly for the more interesting.
posted by Astro Zombie at 9:50 PM on December 9, 2009 [2 favorites]

Jinx of the 2nd Law, they auctioned much of Forry's collection off earlier this year.
posted by Scram at 10:27 PM on December 9, 2009

While this is obviously great, thanks, I misread the magazine's title as Famous Monsters of Finland. Which would be EVEN more interesting.
posted by krilli at 3:21 AM on December 10, 2009

Klyorne,

You're not alone. At first I was like, how many freaking monsters can Finland have, and how many of those can be famous enough to warrant a magazine? Then I read it again.
posted by dortmunder at 4:34 AM on December 10, 2009

After the Ray Ferry fiasco, I'm not holding out much hope for this.
I'm thinking if it's not Ackerman, it's not FM.
posted by willmize at 4:59 AM on December 10, 2009 [1 favorite]

I remember being scared, then intrigued, by Famous Monsters the first time I saw one.

It also fed me my first really terrible pun, which triggered the paranomasia that terrorizes my friends to this day, and thus I still miss Forrest Ackerman.

I hope they do a good job, and they go for the monsters, and the scary, and stay away from the rampant gore (that's what Fangoria is for, after all.)

(I was in LA many years ago, and I saw him on the street. I walked up to him. "Excuse me, Mr. Ackerman?" He smiled at me and said, "Yes, sir!" "I just wanted to thank you for your magazine. It's a lot of fun." He shook my hand and said, "It's people like you that make every day of my life fun." He gave me his card, told me to call if I had a moment and arrange for a tour, and then we parted ways. I never called for the tour, because even then I was large, and I was afraid of breaking something, but I had the chance to talk to the man for a couple of moments.)

(Oh, the pun? There was a picture of a skeleton with a laser pistol, and the caption said, "There is no proof this was named after the former governor of California, Ronald Ray-Gun.")
posted by mephron at 6:57 AM on December 10, 2009 [3 favorites]

In 1978 my 11-year-old self wrote

I have been a reader of your book for less than 24 ours. My mother is always complaining about going outside and getting dirty. I always have to stay in. But thanks to sci-fi & horror magazines & paperbacks out there I can never be bored in or out. However I thank FM the most. It's different from any other magazine.^*

The more things change the more they stay the same.

^* Published FM (July 1978): 4, 73.
posted by mistersquid at 7:25 AM on December 10, 2009 [3 favorites]

Still have most of my dad's FMM (inc. #1 and #2). Along with his Classics Illustrated. FMM was never as good as Fangoria when it came to showing all the special FX that went into a horror movie, IMHO.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 1:07 PM on December 10, 2009