By the early 1970's, us Monster Kids had seen just about everything one could think of with some sort of monster on it -- everything from books, magazines, records, models, toys, playing cards, paint-by-numbers, mugs, shirts, posters, evern bubble bath, fer cryin' out loud!
But here was something different . . . here was a newspaper where monsters were above the fold instead of the Viet Nam war or Watergate, and where even the ads were more thrilling than a full-page spread for Sears, Montgomery Ward's, and Maidenform bras!
Published from January, 1972 until July, 1976, THE MONSTER TIMES ran for 48 regular issues (about one per month) with 3 special issues. The 3rd of these special issues was entitled "The World's Greatest Monsters" and was sold as the "world's BIGGEST Monster Paper!!! Starring a Gruesome gallery of Horror Greats!!"
The "First Giant Collector's Edition" (are you catching on to the promotional emphasis on the paper's size by now?) was 12 pages and featured 10 giant poster-sized monsters, such as Dracula, Godzilla, The Wolf Man -- even Planet of the Apes (!). Included with each image was a capsule summary of the monster's cinematic history. All this for under a buck!
Reading copies of THE MONSTER TIMES are abundant. Collector's copies, however, are a little harder to come by as it was published on newsprint -- a step down from the pulp paper that FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND was published on -- and the quality of printing, including the registry of the color photography was not exactly ESQUIRE, if you catch my drift. Watch for age stress at the fold, too, as this causes easy tearing, expecially of the front page. Copies of this special issue of THE MONSTER TIMES in better shape sell for upwards of $35 or so.
