Book Review: Famous Monsters Magazine – Issue 254

Famous Monsters Magazine – Issue 254

Hey all, Welcome to a new review of another familiar face on the print scene arena. This article we review the latest release of Famous Monsters #254. First off, ….and I imagine I’ll be saying this alot, it features an amazing cover per Jason Edmiston. Yep it’s that cartoonish elongated face of our natural treasure Vincent Price. Rightly so he is featured in this edition with a full helping of all things Vincent including a special interview with Vincent Price’s daughter Victoria. The issue covers several of his films and reveals a bit of what it was like growing up in the Price household.. I never tire of an ol Vincent film, he just takes me back to my early B&W monster film days. If anything after reading this, you’ll want to dig a few out yourself just for the artistic reminder that he brought to the genre.

Another column features the new ..soon to be hit.. series “Being Human”. I say that because I love it already! This is some great early coverage of this inspired series that has been rematerialize to fit our Western tastes a bit closer. Look for more to come on this series as the episodes begin to make there way into living rooms and find new audiences.

Want a sneak peek at the creatures and gizmos of “Battle: Los Angeles”? Look no further, we got the Fx team, talking about the production, showing us the early designs and the mock up creatures featured in the film. As they put it into the article, they were really trying for a design style that we hadn’t seen before. I think they succeeded…now it’s up to the film to carry the presentation. The magazine might be an extra pleasure for FX artist as there is alot of coverage on that area. Joel Harlow, is on hand with an excusive interview about his work on “Green Lantern”, “Alice in Wonderland” and the “Pirates of the Caribbean”.

Larry Blamire talks about some of his weird creatures over the years, though it’s the “Lost Skeletons of Cadara” legacy that seem to follow him most. If you are looking for something weird and different then “The Screaming Forehead” might just be what you need to fit that bill. Dominic Lee as some great art renderings and film work magic on hand as he talks about some of his film conceptual pieces that are responsible for creatures like in the recent “Piranha 3D” and the more notably “Cloverfield”. Then moving forward from that we get a few more in the way of Bryan Wynia and Scott Spencer. Like I said, there is a firm helping of that magical behind the scenes creative making that plays out nicely to those who want to know more on the board-to-finish process.

IDW, a long standing favorite in the comic and graphic novel fields talks about the new series “Infestation”. I’m guessing this whole Walking Dead / Zombie craze has something to of with it, however the world is about vampire and zombies right now, so we welcome this new content with open arms.

Deignwise, the magazine is still getting its feet wet. I’m hoping that the unreadable text areas are not taken for granted and addressed in future issues. As I like to say, ….an issue is as only as good as you can read it.

Famous Monsters re-dux is a welcome addition to racks as it mixes a nice helping of variant subjects and focuses that other magazine might otherwise ignore. The classics focus is always a plus, but it really caters to both audiences young and old with a healthy helping of cross industry materials.