I have always enjoyed MONSTERS FROM THE VAULT and even subscribed to it one year. Perhaps I am biased (as I am a Wolf-Man nut) but this is the best issue EVER. I also share the love of the cover pose ever since I first laid my eyes on the character at the age of seven looking at a friend's album art of the LP FAMOUS MONSTERS SPEAK.

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 Forget the Frankenstein Monster and Count Dracula, I wanted to know more about that figure in the back hanging out with the Gill-Man and the Mummy! Less than a year later I saw The Wolf-Man and was hooked. But I have always loved FMTWM more than any other Wolf-Man movie or indeed any of the Universal Monster films. The opening sequence is the scariest, the leading lady is the most beautiful, the focus is on Larry Talbot and the Wolf-Man and it DELIVERED the fight promised in the title at the end.

I never get tired of watching it and am really looking forward to Greg Mank's book. Lugosi is still my favorite Count Dracula but I believe the movie would have been better served if Glenn Strange could have played the Monster beginning with this one.

The photos of Baroness Elsa Frankenstein (Ilona Massey) on Page 20 and especially on Page 11 - Wow! Those are worth the price of the magazine right there! The cover art is worth the price of the magazine alone also. The picture of Chaney wrapped in the blanket on Page 16 and the "Lugosi Monster" next to him - I never saw this before either and was frankly awed by the composition, shadow and somber dignity of each character reflecting on their own private hells. Where Talbot found the Native American Indian blanket in Visaria is anyone's guess though.smiley: wink

I would have loved to have seen the "Chaney Monster" at that ballgame and you know somewhere out there - there has to be newsreel footage of it. There simply has to be.

I of course enjoyed the review of the Wolf-Man's evolving make-up by Jack Pierce and the fantastic photos that went with it and - as always - the DVD/book reviews were wonderful as well (great still of Zandor Vorkov as Count Dracula - he actually looks menacing there!) and there's even a couple of mentions of the Spanish werewolf (Paul Naschy) in the reviews  - one for the film Dr. Jeckyll vs. The Werewolf (another monster mash-up) and one for the book MUCHOS GRACIAS SENOR LOBO. I will purchase this book as well as Gary Don Rhodes and Bill Kaffenberger's NO TRAVELER RETURNS.

Finally Tom Weaver's article on The Creature From The Black Lagoon's adventures at Marineland was informative, entertaining and enjoyable. ANOTHER book I'll be reading when I return from Afghanistan.

The magazine is suffering a lot of wear and tear and my men have been passing around reading it and loving it (I brought it into our operations room as a Halloween treat) so I'll be purchasing a more pristine copy as a keeper when I return home as well.

I Repeat: Best Issue Ever.

Last Edited By: Yuers Truly Oct 8 13 3:14 PM. Edited 1 times.