Just received both copies of Famous Monsters #264 from the good people at Hemlock Books here in the UK (yes folks, FM #264 has been published and does exist!)
The editors are to be commended for putting out a special issue devoted to a cult favourite sit-com from the 1960s, but I wonder how much it will appeal to the general magazine reading community? That said, guest editor Kevin Burns has done a good job in a series of seperate articles examining the history, location, marketing and merchandising of The Munsters in all its incarnations, and sharing with us his deep and long standing affection for the show. (Funnily enough I was on the Universal Studios tour only a week or so ago and drove by the Munster house.) The 2004 Basil Gogos Herman Munster cover is a thing of beauty (commissioned by Burns himself) but the "news stand" cover by Paul Garner is redundant and annoying (I've already posted my opinion of multiple covers here and elsewhere).
Nice to see some coverage devoted to I Was A teenage Werewolf too and the current restoration of Jack Hill's Spider Baby by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
The last 10/11 pages are pretty much extended ads and space fillers and do nothing to enhance the content of the magazine. But overall, another step in the right direction.
The editors are to be commended for putting out a special issue devoted to a cult favourite sit-com from the 1960s, but I wonder how much it will appeal to the general magazine reading community? That said, guest editor Kevin Burns has done a good job in a series of seperate articles examining the history, location, marketing and merchandising of The Munsters in all its incarnations, and sharing with us his deep and long standing affection for the show. (Funnily enough I was on the Universal Studios tour only a week or so ago and drove by the Munster house.) The 2004 Basil Gogos Herman Munster cover is a thing of beauty (commissioned by Burns himself) but the "news stand" cover by Paul Garner is redundant and annoying (I've already posted my opinion of multiple covers here and elsewhere).
Nice to see some coverage devoted to I Was A teenage Werewolf too and the current restoration of Jack Hill's Spider Baby by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
The last 10/11 pages are pretty much extended ads and space fillers and do nothing to enhance the content of the magazine. But overall, another step in the right direction.
