CASTLE OF FRANKENSTEIN NO. 9 (PART 1)

CASTLE OF FRANKENSTEIN
Vol. 3 No. 1 (Whole #9)
1966
Gothic Castle Publishing Company
Publisher: Calvin Thomas Beck (as Charles Foster Kane)
Executive Editor: Calvin T. Beck
Associate Editor: Helen Beck
Editor and Design: Bhob Stewart
European Editor: Mike Parry
Consulting Editor: William K. Everson
Cover: Photo Cesare Romero as The Joker
Pages: 68
Cover Price: 35 cents

Publisher Beck took a couple of giant steps sideways with this issue, focusing on the then current TV Batman craze and less on the Gothic Horror theme that had been the hallmark of the magazine until then. Beck was omnivorous in his tastes and knew when to amplify a topic for increased newsstand sales. The garish cover is striking, but once again, far afield from the covers that had gone before. The interview with Boris Karloff and article on Laird Cregar saves it from a total pop culture party crash.

Pleasantly surprising is the coverage of JUDEX and FANTOMAS, as well as a feature on the "Fantastic European Screen Scene". You wouldn't see these in FAMOUS MONSTERS! Absent is the review of BLACK TORMENT by Ramsey Campbell that is listed on the contents page. (Apologies for the lower quality scans, but this is what I have as an archived issue.)