The Monster Times

The "Monster Times" was a day-glo, biweekly newspaper that scraped Forrest J. Ackerman's "Famous Monsters" formula and dragged it kicking and screaming through 1970s-era Times Square.

The brainchild of a couple Warren Publishing ex-pats, "Monster Times" had the distinct grit and grime of New York City circa "Taxi Driver". With lurid duo tone printing and coarse halftones - it was whispered to be some kind of bastard cousin to Al Goldstein's "Screw" magazine. In format and design they were practically identical - folded over tabloids with bright eye-catching colors and shameless call-outs to venture inside. A few years later, Jim Steranko's "ComicScene" (later "MediaScene") took the same weird, halved-tabloid format and polished it up a bit with mixed results.

"Screw" was fueled by a shaky foundation of prostitution and massage parlors ads while the terrain of "Monster Times" was the equally suspect world of classic horror and grindhouse cinema. Like the Warren mag's "Captain Company" pages, "Monster Times" featured lots of in-house ads selling all sorts of horror/fantasy ephemera. (I vaguely remember a dealer at Phil Seuling's early N.Y.C. cons who featured M.T. back-issues and a product lines identical to the ones in the magazine.) Even better, the 'Times' kept a keen eye on comics and television of the sort that were generally ignored by the fairly limited, retro-focus of "Famous Monsters." One of the only places to go for info on Star Trek, the Green Hornet, Bernie Wrightson's "Frankenstein" etc. It had the spirit and energy of a mimeographed zine with a more polished look and feel.

Fangoria plans to revitalize the "Times" brand via an online archive of sorts. They promise to make the entire run available - albeit via a clunky online "magazine reader" application that leaves something to be desired.

Fragile and brittle back issues of the "Monster Times" have a tendency to fall apart in your hands, so this may be the only way for future gorehounds to appreciate the 'Times' slightly-off, always entertaining voice.