Yuku free message boards

The first issue of FM I saw and purchased that same day was #28, the Lugosi wolf man from Island Of Lost Souls gracing the cover. I was 12 years old and most likely, it was purchased with birthday money.

I loved going into Cummins Bookstore when I was a kid. Our town had two bookstores: Cummins and Nagel's. I didn't know that Nagel's even existed. But I knew of Cummins Bookstore. It had been in business since 1892. George Cummins, the founder, passed on in 1946 or 47. Glenn Salkeld kept the name. I first discovered Cummins Bookstore when I was either 6 or 7. I bought Fantastic Four comics there. Around the age of 9 or 10, I bought Frank Edwards paperbacks (Strangest Of All, Stranger Than Science, Flying Saucers Serious Business). Through those early years, I slowly graduated up to Ray Bradbury paperbacks and those Frazetta cover Tarzan paperbacks.

It's hard for me to talk about discovering FM#28 that bright sunny day in May, 1964 without also thinking about Cummins Bookstore. Immediately to your right when you walked through the door was what I called the Wall Of Magazines. It stretched from floor to as high as an adult could reach and displayed all types of pulp and glossy magazine covers. The Wall Of Magazines occupied about 1/3 of that side of the bookstore wall. And there, right at my eye level, was FM28, Lugosi's haunting eyes staring out at me. I was mesmerized by that cover. I didn't look at the price. I just picked it up and took it over to Glenn and paid for it. Then, I discovered Creepy #4 and added it to my "collection." Glenn knew how much I loved the magazines and would hold back the best copies of FM, Creepy and Eerie when he got them in (I don't recall ever seeing anything other than the Warren magazines there).

I waited to look at FM28 until I got home that afternoon. I loved the still from The Manster, with the eye poking out of the man's shoulder and hoped that Sammy Terry would show the movie. The ads captivated me and I spent as much time looking at them as the rest of the magazine. I'd never seen so many monster toys, records, models, and movies all in one place before and I wanted one of everything. I wondered just who this man named Forry Ackerman was. I continued to make my monthly pilgrimage to Cummins until 1966 when any money I had started going to G .C. Murphy's to buy records. Murphy's was right across the street from Cummins and Toyland was down in the basement. It wasn't too long after I bought FM28 that I started buying the Aurora monster model kits. The first one I bought was the Frankenstein Monster. I also picked up a copy of Frankie Stein & His Ghouls 2nd LP that same 1964 fall.

Just like FM28, Cummins Bookstore will always hold a special place in my heart. The two memories are inseparable.