Introduction To The Space Monsters Universe
Greetings,
Jason Brazeal here, the editor in chief of Space Monsters. I thought I would create a little introduction for you so that you can understand the Space Monsters Universe. See, Space Monsters, or SM as it shall be called henceforth, isn't the standard run-of-the-mill movie magazine. Instead of doing what all the others do, I decided to take an entirely new approach so let's dive in.
The original version of Space Monsters Magazine was edited by Richard Gladman and in my editorial letter from SM #1: Some Dis-Assembly Required I detail it, here's an excerpt from #1:
I'd like to start by saying that what you hold in your hands is a labor of hard work, fun, and creativity. From the entire staff of Space Monsters Magazine, we hope you enjoy it. What Richard Gladman (the editor of the first incarnation of Space Monsters Magazine) started, became a foundation for a new publication to emerge. While our publication bears no resemblance, save that in name only, we are forever grateful for what he began.
Years ago, I had done some social media for him, and after he left us, I reached out to the family in regards to continuing the magazine. They were touched by this, and gave me their blessing, and the rights to continue the legacy. I’m extremely confident that Richard would be very proud of what has become of Space Monsters Magazine, and I know that you will to.
Now what happened after this, is I had reached out to the original graphic designer, etc. I also came into contact with some individual from the British publication: We Belong Dead (Idiotic Title, but hey, you belong unpublished is where you belong.) In all seriousness I spoke with these two in earnest because I was wanting to get the original design files, just to have them, I hadn't planned on using them. Well the Graphic Designer guy prides himself on his ummm work. And let's get real, that guy doesn't hold a candle to me. I mean his work is horrendously bad. Horrendous! But he wanted to charge me a ridiculous amount of money for them and I told him to get lost. Then the We Belong Dead guy was speaking to me about it privately, and we were having a productive conversation, but then out of the blue he doxed me and posted snippets taken out of context of the conversation in his group or what not. So I said ya know what, screw you too. I mean their work does not look that good anyway and I can do better myself I thought. So ended the drama, and I just blocked and ignore those individuals and the only reason I bring it up here is because I'm telling the full story. But yeah, it was all them, they were acting like twats and they got told off like twats.
This had occurred initially back in 2018. I have owned the SM property since then. I had always planned on doing the magazine again, but between many different things going on at any given time I just sort of put it on the back burner. I made a site and FB pages, posted silly memes and the like on there, and started the initial designs for the mascot "Grimaldi", but really I used it but hadn't committed to the publication, and was still sorting it all out exactly what I wanted to do with it. I knew I want to publish it in digest size as a throwback to the old sci fi pulp mags of the 1940s and 1950s. So the size of our publication is deliberately done that way in order to pay tribute to the Golden Age Pulps.
So then it hit me, I want to do it, but I want to do it as a hybrid. Part movie magazine, part comic anthology. Which is what it now is. You'll find that the first issue #1: Some Dis-Assembly Required is a great start, but it was a little rough because I was learning the chops and still hadn't figured out how to incorporate my plan (which we will get to) The second issue Night Slayers is a larger issue due to the Space 1999 Episode guide and I feel that this is a very strong entry. The cover of the issue was done by Simon Pritchard, who I had been letting do the covers. He did a great Star Wars parody poster for me back in 2018 and it felt natural to pull him back into it. So he did the first 2 covers. The reason I bring this up is because #2 was supposed to introduce some of the other characters I had in mind. Like I said, this isn't a standard movie magazine... But Simon produced the cover based on the story involving Buccaneer Bunny. The story was supposed to be in that issue but Simon sort of dilly dallied around and screwed up the release. he was going to do the strip for it too... which ultimately I wound up doing myself. And for the better. Now I just handle all the stuff. I have all of the computer art programs like Manga Studio, Photoshop, Blender, etc. I have them all and use a mix of them frequently. So now the art is spot on and doesn't have that unfinished look to it. And now, I can really make it the way I had in mind.
Issue #3 A Gift From The Depths is where I introduced these other characters and where I started building the universe. That's also the issue that I thought about going to full comic anthology, and it's a good issue, but still not quite there. Essential for fans though.
Issue #4: Threat Neutralized is where it really came into it's own and that is the first one where you "almost" get the full vision.
Now we are on Issue #5: Love In The Time Of Circuitry, and this one is absolutely, 100% what I had in mind all along.
So let's break down the universe so you can see what I am really doing. It's very obvious to me, but may not be to you, so let's break it all down so you understand.
First off, someone asked a question about why isn't it like the old one? Why isn't it only sci-fi? Why does it have horror too?
And the answer is simple. I like sci-fi, I like horror and I like fantasy. I want SM to be it's own thing and to be honest I didn't think the old SM was all that great. It lacked a lot. I wanted to do something entirely different, and didn't want to be restricted to one particular genre. And there's actually a good explanation in the SM universe as to why.
So the SM universe begins with Grimaldi. He is the host of the magazine. The one you see on the cover in the corner, in the ads, introducing the articles, doing his Creepy Cryptids column, He's also on the YouTube channel typically on the Friday music videos, or Creepy Cryptids stuff.
SO who is this Grimaldi? Well, no one really knows. I will tell you that he lives on the enormous derelict ghost ship SSE Raven that drifts in a space ship graveyard right by the Horsehead Nebula (yeah, that's a real place, look it up). He was reanimated by a glowing green slime which came into contact with his ship, destroyed it and it wound up in the space ship graveyard. He doesn't like trespassers on his ship either.
Grimaldi refers to earthlings as Earthies. It's used as a derogatory slur and he likes to make fun of Earthies and destroy them.
Now the glowing green slime which reanimated him is actually the ancient protoplasmic evil. It is literally evil and it turns those who are overtaken by it into reanimated evil beings. It can also inject into minds, and does so on Earth all the time. a little protoplasmic evil in that Earthie and the next thing you know they're running around carving up Earthies and making them into barbeque with chainsaws. So the protoplasmic evil which animates Grimaldi, IS the very evil which exists on Earth and everywhere. This is why we tell some stories which seem to be about Earthie stuff and some which aren't. Because it's ALL he same thing. It's all the byproduct of this bouncing baby globulous protoplasmic evil that just likes to go around being jiggly and doing what evil likes to do.
This is why we can tell tales that are horror, fantasy and sci-fi. And it makes us more diverse and unrestricted.
Now next up is Mortimer. So Mortimer is a little baby turtle whose Grimaldi's pet. He's like the only thing in the known universe that Grimaldi likes. Mortimer has a Gamera-Complex. That is to say he's obsessed with Gamera merch and flicks and he thinks in his mind that he is Gamera. So this naturally makes for some silly moments.
I envisioned this as a sort of ode to the old cartoons. Like Woody Woodpecker and in particular Chilly Willy. SO from time to time you will see Mortimer pop up in a story, or in his own little bit, and that's what it is. It's sort of like the SM throwback to the old cartoons with a little turtle who think's he's a turtle God.
Ok, next up is Space Kittens. So Space Kittens, which shall be referred to as SK henceforth. Is a creation I did where I wanted to incorporate a pinup, because let's face it. Sex sells, and I have no qualms about using sex in a tasteful manner. I had thought about doing it as a standalone but changed my mind.
Because I ad a better idea. Instead of making it a separate publication altogether why not just take a different approach.
So what I did, and this started with Issue #3: A Gift From The Depths I put a SK on the cover, with a monster. That's the formula. Sexy SK on the cover, and there's a monster. Maybe her and the monster are pals, maybe they're enemies, maybe she's running from it. Maybe it's running from her. Maybe she IS the monster. You get the idea. And unlike the old sci-fi pulp magazines of the past. It isn't just a random image slapped on the front. The cover art has it's story told within the pages in comic form. The name of this story also serves as the name of the issue. SO unlike how others do it, we just do SM # the number we are at and the name of it which is the name of the comic telling the story behind the cover art. These are naturally featured as SK bits and are introduced by the hostess of the SK who is named Altaira.
Altaira is named after Anne Francis' character in Forbidden Planet.
Altaira is sort of a horror hostess, kind of like Vampira, Elvira and a 1920's flapper girl rolled into one. The slang she uses is derivative of the flapper slang of the 1920s. You can catch her in every issue introducing the Cover comic and on SM TV hosting Fright Flight on Saturday nights. And as previously mentioned she is the spokesgirl for SK.
Next up we have an interesting one. Now this one is actually something I did as a kid. When I was a little kid. My friends and I made little comics and did all sorts of stuff. I created a comic called the Adventures of Buccaneer Bunny and it was about a space pirate rabbit. The character is virtually unchanged in his speech and basic look, etc from the one I did as a kid. There was an issue I did about Green Slime getting on his ship the Jolly Roger too. Which is where the idea for the protoplasmic evil came from. The Jolly Roger in the kids comics I made by folding paper into quarters and then making little pages and stapling them together is the same essentially. I mean now that my art skills have grown from when I was that age it looks a million times better. And I bet my mom has some of those old Buccaneer Bunny comics I did somewhere.
So why? It's weird and sort of out there. Well, not really. See, I thought that any great villain like Grimaldi, has to have a nemesis. So I sort of came up with the idea of having them as part of the SM Universe.
It makes perfect sense to me so let me break it down:
Blackjack Brigade as they ae called was a name I picked out of military history books. It's the name of a military regiment and I thought it suited this perfectly.
So we have these little space pirate rabbits (Buccaneer Bunny, Rusty Greeneyes Warren, Face Florentine and Static) They have their ship the Jolly Roger which is basically a refitted Liberoni star cruiser. The Liberoni's are low key making fun of extremist radical political following people lol Anyway, the Liberoni's are an empire and they basically dominate water supplies, because water is the most scare substance out in space and the most valuable. So they have these freighters which haul water pods. Water pods are round water storage devices that they use to transport the water in. These are what the space pirate rabbits steal. They are after water pods.
Now the Jolly Roger being a liberoni refitted cruiser that was stolen and taken to Lagamorph Prime (the bunny homeworld) is fitted with a ships AI who went rogue.
She sort of takes care of the ship, and makes sure things work, gives alerts, helps all that sort of thing. Like Hal 9000 but cooler. Her name is Jeannie and she is based on a couple of characters. I based her on Amy Dolenz' genie character in the bad old late night flick Miracle Beach, the Regency Elf from Cerebus The Aardvark and several goth girlfriends I had at one time or another.
Jeannie is what you would call a cyberbeatnik. That is to say that she speaks in a beatnik slang which is based on the actual beatnik slang of the 1950s and 1960s but is revamped to have her own meanings and stuff. SO the ship's AI is a beatnik/bohemian/punk/goth type subculture enthusiast. Jeannie can be found in Blackjack Brigade entries and in SM as the host of Conspiracy A Go-Go and on SM TV as the host of Cinema A-Go-Go.
So really SM is basically it's own universe, with it's own characters so it isn't required to play by the rules that anyone else plays by. BlackJack Brigade appears from time to time in SM. It takes me a while to do the art for that and to come up with the stories so it doesn't appear in every issue, but there should be a new one in SM #6.
SM can have a protoplasmic evil-infused host introducing a horror tale, a beatnik genie AI ripping apart silly conspiracy Theories and an article about St Germain all at the same time.
We make the rules, we don't play be anyone else's
Now the segments you will find which fit into this universe are plentiful, and not every issue contains every column. Sometimes it might be an issue or 2 or 3 before you see a column appear again. It just all depends.
We have Elizabeth Belmont who does Bloodlines with Belmont and she writes excellent articles about vampires. Like the real history behind it. She was even Rondo Nominated for best article of the year for Space Monsters #2: The Night Slayers which featured her article about Lady Bathory.
We have Shane M. Dallman doing the Dallmann Frequency, Donald F. Glut doing Ask Don Glut Anything, Donald Farmer doing This Episode, Comics from Marcello Bondi, yours truly and others.
We have Grimaldi hosting Creepy Cryptids where he makes fun of Earthies and exposes the truth behind the cryptozoology, paranormal, and UFO tales. Because the truth is even more fun than the legends.
We have Sanctuary Reviews, Casey Orr (Beefcake the Mighty from GWAR) popping in from time to time to do articles. Nicholas Vince has done some great articles about the Roger Corman Poe flicks. So yeah SM is multi-genre. Because it's more fun that way, and it's built around it's own universe and it's own characters so it doesn't have to play by anyone else's rules.
I know it's so cliche to say this but the newest one SM #5 which releases the 15th is the best and most complete version to date. It basically contains the whole vision with the look I wanted and everything.
So that's your little intro to the SM Universe. dig it, enjoy the great articles from all of our contributors, stay away from protoplasmic goo and enjoy it.
I'm out
Jason Brazeal
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