The Monster Times

Cover of the May 10, 1972 issue (#8) of The Monster Times

The Monster Times was a horror film fan magazine created in 1972, published by The Monster Times Publishing Co. Intended as a competitor to Famous Monsters of Filmland, it was edited at various times in its formative years by Chuck R. McNaughton, Allen Asherman, Joe Brancatelli and Tom Rogers. Joe Kane (who later became The Phantom of the Movies) took over as editor with Issue # 11 (June 14, 1972), and remained in that capacity until the periodical's demise. Although the main editorial focus of the magazine was horror media, it also featured articles and reviews of modern and classic science fiction/fantasy movies and television series, as well as comic books. Each issue featured a fold out centerfold poster based on that particular issue's feature story. The publisher/designers were Larry Brill and Les Waldstein who were the original designers for Famous Monsters of Filmland and other Jim Warren publications.

Printed on newspaper-quality paper stock, with a more refined white paper for covers and other content in earlier issues, the magazine was published on a biweekly schedule for its first fourteen issues, then switched to monthly until 1975, at which point it became a bi-monthly publication. Its final few issues were published erratically, and the title ceased publication in late 1976 with issue # 48. Three special, non-numbered issues were also published: Star Trek Lives #1, subtitled "Sci-Fi Super TV Special Issue" (1972), Star Trek Lives #2 (1974) and an untitled all giant monster poster special.

Contributing writers included Edward Summer, Michael Uslan, Joe Kane, Doug Murray, Allan Asherman, Buddy Weiss, Frank Verzyl, Dean Latimer and Jason Thomas (aka Tom Rogers). Contributing artists included Gray Morrow and Bernie Wrightson.

A later companion magazine, published by the same group, was The Dinosaur Times.

References

• Monster Magazines - The First Decade