CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (DELL COMICS)

Titled simply "The Creature" this is Dell''s comic book adaptation of Universal's THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. The cover is by Vic Prezio and interiors are by Bob Jenney (the scriptwriter is unknown). It was first printed in 1962. The copy shown here is of the 2nd printing from 1964, "Reprinted by popular demand".

There is little to the story that matches the movie, perhaps because of the limitations of licensing agreement. For example, the character's names are changed (including the boat, from "Rita" to "Lucia"). There are a few panels and images of the creature that are familiar, but like Dell's other Universal adaptations, don't expect to relive the movie through these modified stories. Still, it's nice to have them in comic book form.

HOLLYWOOD STUDIO MAGAZINE MONSTER SPECIAL

Focusing mainly on the Golden Era of Tinseltown. HOLLYWOOD STUDIO MAGAZINE began publishing in 1957 and as far as I can tell, into the 80's. While there was coverage on newer films, many of the articles had a retro slant and covered vintage classics and their stars.

I came across this October 1973 "Galaxy of Ghouls" Special Collector's edition when it hit the stands at Larry Edmund's Bookshop in Hollywood on one of my day-off-from-work trips into La-La-Land. While not offering anything necessarily extraordinary, it does provide a nice collection of short articles on various aspects of the genre. It was definitely worth the dollar I spent on it. I particularly enjoyed the articles on Don Post, The Count Dracula Society and "Hollywood's Happiest Monster" (Boris Karloff). By the way, Larry Edmund's Bookshop is still operating and has been since 1938!

I've removed all the non-genre material from these scans.