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Spacemen

Entry updated 2 January 2023. Tagged: Publication.

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US letter-size Cinema magazine printed on cheap newsprint-quality paper. Eight numbered issues from July 1961 to June 1964, plus Spacemen 1965 Yearbook. Published by Warren Publishing's subsidiary imprint Sparky Publications/Spacemen Inc. Edited by Forrest J Ackerman.

Spacemen was intended as a more sf-oriented companion to Ackerman's Famous Monsters of Filmland (1958-1983), with a somewhat more mature slant. Most covers were by artist Basil Gogos, although the 1965 yearbook cover was by Wally Wood and Russ Jones (1942-    ). The magazine tried unsuccessfully to capitalize on interest in outer space created by the US-Soviet Union space programmes, and attempted to focus on movies with an outer space theme (see also Spacesuit Films). This limitation may have helped to bring about the magazine's ultimate failure. Productions covered included the early Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and Flash Gordon serials of the 1930s and 1940s, along with then-recent fare like 12 to the Moon (1962), and such Television series as Out of This World (1962). Issue #8 featured material on Ray Bradbury; each issue also ran one very short sf story. Stephen King submitted what may have been his first story circa 1962, though it was not accepted. Publication was nominally quarterly, but issues actually appeared roughly twice per year. Spacemen can be regarded as the ancestor of later, full-fledged sf film magazines.

Some confusion has been caused by a later quasi-relaunch as a "Special Double Issue" with Cult Movies #19, whose back cover is Forrest J Ackerman's Spacemen with discussion of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Barbarella (1968); Brad Linaweaver was contributing editor. [GSt/DRL]

see also: Media Magazines.

further reading

  • Spacemen – Volume 1 (Hornsea, East Yorkshire: PS Publishing/Artbooks, 2022) [collects issues #1-#3 of the magazine: pb/Basil Gogos]
  • Spacemen – Volume 2 (Hornsea, East Yorkshire: PS Publishing/Artbooks, 2022) [collects issues #4-#6 of the magazine: pb/Basil Gogos]

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