Famous Monsters of Filmland announced today that it will be partnering with IDW Publishing to resurrect the magazine back into existence.
IDW, responsible for such hit comic titles as 30 Days of Night, Angel, Transformers, and Locke & Key, will be bringing the magazine back to life beginning quarterly in the summer of 2010. it will be available in major book retailers and comic stores across the country.
Famous Monsters, formerly run by the late Forrest J. Ackerman, made its debut in 1958 and was one of the first magazines to bring readers behind the scenes of horror cinema. It quickly grew in popularity, and is credited with spawning ideas in youngsters such as George Lucas, Steven Speilberg, Guillermo del Toro and Stephen King.
After the magazine closed up shop in 1983, it was reopened in 1993 under the direction of Ray Ferry, but began having trouble in 1997 when Ackerman filed a lawsuit against Ferry. It hasn't published an issue since early 2008.
The new Famous Monsters of Filmland will be edited by Michael Heisler, a 20-year veteran of the comic book industry, including a stint at Marvel. While no details have been released yet about the look or layout of the new magazine, Heisler assures those who hold the publication dear that it will offer, "coverage of current horror in all its forms, while continuing to pay tribute to the classic films that started it all."
Sounds like another successful venture for IDW Publishing and in 2010, horror fans everywhere will once again be able to hold in their hands the magazine that started it all.
Comments
I absolutely LOVED this magazine when I was a tween (back when dinosaurs roamed the earth). My favorite feature--and one I hope they bring back, for the sake of today's literarily under-served youth--was the occasional "script treatment" of classic horror movies; FMOF would turn the script of, say, HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN into an active text, accompanied by stills from the motion picture. Genius.
I remember this too! Brings back many happy childhood memories and introduced me to the horror genre at an impressionable age. Sometimes inspiration comes from unexpected places!
Robin, Lane, I know what you mean. I used to read this one all the time. I'm looking forward to the new one though to see what direction they take it. Here's hoping they retain the integrity of the original while putting an updated spin on it.
The history of this magazine is interesting and a little perplexing. It always tributes Forrest Ackerman as the man at the top and seems to forget that Warren and Ferry were the brains behind both incarnations. Their genus and their vision is what made it palatable to audiences. Ackerman was a scifi and horror movie lover, but he also was only an editor who bailed on everything he ever wrote for or edited claiming he was mistreated or underpaid. Truth be told, he was just a mouth not a brain. I never found his writing interesting or even any more than his own ego. Maybe the new one will survive his legacy but I think Ferry had the right idea. It's a shame that he and Warren could not have kept it going with their vision. Heisler did comics for God's sake, hardly what FMOF is about.
Joella, surely you can't mean that Ferry was behind the original publication which released in 1958? Ferry was only 6-years old at the time.
Ferry's business deals were questionable, though. He decided that the trademark for FMOFL wasn't properly maintained and went ahead and filed an 'intent to use' without notifying Ackerman or the trademarks owner, James Warren, hardly signifying that they were on the same team. He hired Ackerman to be editor-in-chief on the revamped version in 1993, for $2,500 an issue, and then went ahead and wrote most of the articles himself in Ackerman's style, while heavily editing and rejecting submissions from Forrest. Ackerman then agreed to reduce his salary to $1,500 an issue and Ferry failed to pay him for four consecutive issues.
You may not like Forrest Ackerman, but you have to admit that Ray Ferry was no saint when it came to running a business.
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