Famous MonstersForryeverDying to keep the memory of Famous Monsters of Filmland alive!
Famous MonstersForryeverDying to keep the memory of Famous Monsters of Filmland alive!
Inside This Issue
A Basil Gogos cover collectors prize — Gogos defined the Famous Monsters look, and this is the magazine at its most iconic. It fronts FM’s memorial to Boris Karloff, who had died that February of 1969, and the contents earn the occasion: a complete Karloff filmography, Elsa Lanchester’s recollections of The Bride of Frankenstein, and eulogies from Robert Bloch, Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, and William F. Nolan. A marquee Gogos cover and a milestone memorial in one issue — which is why #56 sits near the top of so many want-lists.
Cover Spotlight
Boris Karloff as the Frankenstein Monster — cinema's definitive creature, painted here with the reverence and craft that only FM could deliver.
Roll The Film
Graded Book Showcase 0:18
CGC 9.4 showcase of FM 56, the Karloff Memorial Issue (July 1969); Basil Gogos's Karloff Monster front to back (graded cover, cover-art detail, face macro, reverse); CGC census = 65 graded, avg 8.6, only six copies finer than 9.4
Graded Book Flyover 0:41
CGC 9.4 flyover of FM 56, the Karloff Memorial Issue (July 1969); Basil Gogos returned to the covers specifically to paint Karloff's Monster for the tribute; Karloff died Feb 1969; inside, Christopher Lee's handwritten tribute notes, Elsa Lanchester's "The Bride of Frankenstein Speaks," a complete Karloff filmography
Ads and Backstage 0:25
☠ Collector's Notes
One of the run’s most important books, full stop. The Karloff memorial is the genre burying its king — Price, Lee, Bloch, and Nolan serving as pallbearers in print. Issue #56 anchors a serious collection the way the man anchored the genre.
☠ Don’t just lurk in the crypt
Join the Monster Kids
Talk covers, show off your slabs, and swap finds with fellow fiends. Free to join — the crypt’s always taking new members.
