1979 "Alien" poster magazine (updated)

(Click on images to view larger size!)

Although I somehow missed the first issue of the Alien poster magazine, I was lucky enough to find the second one at the Ft. Lauderdale tobacco shop/newstand where I got most of my monster magazines back in 1979. "Alien" really was the first major release of a sci-fi/monster movie to include such terror and graphic scenes of carnage, and many movie-goers were unprepared for the intensity and gore.

The only part of the magazine omitted for this post is the poster in the middle, it's too big to scan; but it was an image of the "space jockey's" wierdly-shaped ship on the surface of LV-426, later named Archeron. Below is the back cover of the magazine, highlighting some of the incredibly detailed sets created for the spaceship, essentially a factory in space. .

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New Blog!

Have you visited the new companion blog to My Monster Memories? It's called "Fantastic Flashbacks" and it's focus is science fiction movies, TV shows, comics, and so on. Everything on the blog is scanned in from my scrapbooks and collection of genre items, started in the early 70's. If you like this one, you like that one too!

Godzilla: In Person!

Today's Monster Memories are of:

When I Met Godzilla: And Lived!

The King of the Monsters roars a challenge to the con-goers.

In the summer of 1979, Miamicon 2 was held in, naturally, Miami. I had missed the first one back in 1975, but managed to come up with a lie convincing enough to get me out of the house for a whole afternoon (if you read this blog much you'll know why I was forced to), and I tooled down from Ft. Lauderdale in my gold 1968 Cougar to join the fun.

One of the most outstanding memories I have of the events was a match between Godzilla and King Kong! The Godzilla suit was awesome, and I wish I knew where it had come from and who made it. A pre-recorded tape with Godzilla's music and sounds played over the sound system as the Big G stomped into the room to a roar of laughter and applause from the gathered fans. As he tromped around in a power display, cameras were flashing. But then, a challenger appeared! A guy in a gorilla suit.. er, I mean... King Kong himself, stormed in for a rematch!

And thus began the battle of the century as the two titans wrestled for the crown of King of the Monsters. A referree annouced the fight and made calls as the two pummeled each other and tossed one another around in what was the funniest sight I ever saw. Gales of laughter were coming from me and the rest of the crowd as they went at it whole-heartedly, in no less of a fight than in their last movie together.

Unfortunately, the photos of the fight came out blurred, so I don't have any to post. My camera wasn't that great and they just didn't turn out in the low light and when the subjects were in motion. How I wish I had video of it!

But, posted above are the photos I do have, so you can see what a great job somebody did on that Godzilla suit. Maybe someday I'll find out the story behind it and get more photos from others that were there.

8-13-2010 UPDATE: Cleve Hall, whom I found on Facebook, has been revealed as the the person responsible for the suit! Read his post in the comments section below and get "the rest of the story!" Then visit his Facebook page for more photos!

Below is a newspaper article about the con.