Review: Space Monsters Magazine #2 / Author: Richard Gladman / Publisher: Self-published / Release Date: Out Now

Richard Gladman’s Space Monsters #2 is now available to pre-order, and this issue is a doozy. The theme is Space Vampires, and Richard’s regular team of writers are joined by the adorable Emily Booth (who contributes a touching appreciation of It – The Terror From Beyond Space in homage to her father who loved the movie, and passed that love on to Emily) and Billy Chainsaw (who contributes a characteristically pithy appraisal of Al Adamson’s cheese-fest Horror of the Blood Monsters).

Elsewhere there’s a retrospective of Tobe Hooper’s much-maligned but ripe-for-reappraisal Lifeforce by the ever-dependable Chris O’Loughlin; Ernie Magnotta casts an affectionate look at Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and Ted V. Mikels’s The Astro-Zombies; Anthony Gates gives his view on Ultraman and contributes retro-reviews of Not of this Earth and Queen of Blood; Eric (We Belong Dead) McNaughton remembers the Howard Hawks/Christian Nyby classic The Thing From Another World; Ash Loydon gives the lowdown on Vampirella in comics and attempted screen adaptations; Jonathan Dabell casts his eye on Mario Bava’s Planet of the Vampires and The First Man Into Space; and editor Gladman interviews ‘50’s sci-fi spoofer Christopher R. Mihm.

The whole thing is illustrated with reams of rare movie stills, posters and lobby cards courtesy of Steve Kirkham and Hemlock Books; with artwork by Loydon, Chainsaw and Woody Welch (who contributes the terrific cover featuring the aforementioned Ms Booth). A delight; great fun and the perfect Halloween treat for sci-fi/horror nostalgists everywhere.