Sunday, April 17, 2011

Two Favorites From the Web's Early Days

In the late 1990s when I got online with my home computer for the first time, two places I frequented were Marty Baumann's The Astounding B Monster Web site, and Universal Studio's new Universal's Online Horror Channel (created by Joe Sena). Both published all new editions monthly filled with tons of fun stuff. While the The Astounding B Monster focused more on the horror, sci-fi, and schlock films of the 1950s, Universal's Online Horror Channel focused on a different theme (actor, film, film series, etc.) each month. Of course, everything Universal's Online Horror Channel covered was from Universal's film catalog. Marty's B Monster continued on until  January 2006 and you can still view most of the stuff that appeared on his site by going to www.bmonster.com, unfortunately, Universal's Online Horror Channel ended in 1998 after a brief but memorable run. I have fond memories of both, and waited with great excited for the first of each month to arrive to check out the newest issues of both. During my earliest days of the internet, these were my Famous Monsters of Filmland and Castle of Frankenstein of my youth. I'd love to see both return as I still believe they could provide hours of entertainment, even now when there's a ton of other sites providing the same types of things. Does anyone reading this have the same fond memories as me? If so I'd love to hear from you. I'd also love to track down the remaining cover images for the other issues of Universal's Online Horror Channel. If anyone reading has them, please send them my way.













Also, if you haven't already done so pick up a copy of Marty's book, The Astounding B Monster. The books features tons of profiles, interviews and reviews that were first published on The Astounding B Monster Web site. You can pick up your copy at Amazon.com.

1 comment:

  1. Wow, Jim. You jogged my memory there. While I remember and still occasionally visit the B-Monster, I'd forgotton all about the Universal online mag. I remember downloading all I could from those. Will have to dig thru the Mysterious Mansion's dungeon and look for any discs that I might have saved them on. That's the era of 3" discs, not CD's!

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