MONSTERS TO LAUGH WITH NO. 1 (PART 4)

Here are the concluding pages of the first issue of Stan Lee's MONSTERS TO LAUGH WITH. Now I will let you in on a little secret of mine and it may answer the questions that some of you may have been asking, like: "Why is he posting this rag?". This magazine has a more profound meaning for me than most other people. In an odd way, it is a sort of historical benchmark in my pursuit of the pleasures of monster movie-dom. You see, MONSTERS TO LAUGH WITH was the very first "monster magazine" that I was allowed to purchase. I suppose it was because it seemed more like a "joke book" than a movie monster magazine, and one could argue the fact that it is just exactly that. In any event, I plunked down my quarter and brought it home, poring through it and staring at the fabulous pictures for hours on end.

I guess when it comes right down to it, MTLW is best discussed in the context of the times in which it was published. Stan Lee didn't write these 'zines for adults. His target audience was pre-teen and young teenage boys -- the same ones who were building Aurora monster models and sat glued to their TV sets on the weekends absorbing the latest serving of SHOCK THEATRE or CREATURE FEATURES. Plus, the jokes were funnier back then. To anyone who knows who Jose Jimenez is, you'll catch my drift. In summation, MONSTERS TO LAUGH WITH is definitely not high art, but it happens to be high on my nostalgia meter. And you know what? That's okay with me.