Going to the library was a favorite pastime growing up. Pretty early on, I discovered there was a tonlot of cool stuff outside the confines of the children's room (where I did find and enjoy the cool picture books on monster movies, as well as the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians and Aztecs). As soon as I learned the Dewey Decimal System, my regular haunt in the library was scouring the shelves in section 791.437.
But before that time, I, like many a monster kid, would check out a stack of Crestwood House titles in their Monster Series — the first generation of which had matching orange trade dress that I could spot on the shelf from across the room. And of course the Creature from the Black Lagoon volume was my personal favorite.
When I started working for B.Dalton in the summer of 1987, the first book I bought with my employee discount was one that jumped out at me from the dump in the front of the store the day I interviewed for the job, Robert R. McCammon's Swan Song.
But when I found out that one of the things we could do in the store was special order books, the first book I ordered was the Crestwood House Creature from the Black Lagoon. In hindsight, I wish I had gone ahead and ordered the whole series, but I'm thankful I ordered the one I did, even if it was the 1982 reprint.
Historians take note — my pal and Creature expert/aficionado David J. Schow points out that one of the behind the scenes photos in the book is believed to be unpublished elsewhere.
The following photo is a personal favorite of mine — the Creature reaching through the porthole while a terrified Kay Lawrence looks on. But it was early in their relationship. She just hadn't gotten to know him yet.
Gotta love the amazing line-up in the Monster Series. In addition to the all-stars you would suspect, the bench goes pretty deep when you've got The Deadly Mantis on the roster!
Check back next week for more from my Creature collection!
