Among many of the reigning kings in the Universal Studios, where the Land of Monsters exists, fans clamor for Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolf Man, however another beloved one comes in the Gill Man, aka Creature or Fish Monster. He graced the silver screen in 1954 and appeared in numerous sequels, just last Halloween season 2017 Target stores joined in creating Monsterville and recently noted for inspiration for the award winning The Shape of Water. The Creature made the rounds in many styles and a growing part of the literary world, first in MAD magazine #49, from DC Comics in September 1, 1959 and many Monster and Horror Mags since then.

As many know, I am a collector of all horror, classic and modern, recently at the New Jersey Horror Con and Film Festival in March of 2018, I visited the vendor room as I often do, and stopped by the Skull Island table, a great one to see. There I found a Dark Horse Comics, first edition (1993) Universal Studios Monsters Creature from the Black Lagoon (as well as the first issue of the legendary horror magazine Deep Red). It truly was in mint condition, still is and wonderfully read, which later reprinted in trade paperbacks.

The classic black and white film presented in color and art team did it fine justice and rendered it nicely. Actually, Art Adams and Terry Austin provided the art design and L. Lois Buhalis (Letter) among others gave wonderful form to the scales and claws of the Gill Man, each panel following closely among with the movie, only a few times does it deviate from the original.

I thoroughly enjoyed this comic, and actually read it now three times, the richness of graphics and storytelling have encouraged me to watch the original movie and note the different areas, which I’ll refrain from mentioning leaving that to you the fans to discover in the murky depths of the Black Lagoon.

https://www.facebook.com/Skull-Island-relics-and-treasures-1077692985621831/