Friday, October 9, 2009

The House of Hammer

Hammer's House of Horror
Hammer's Halls of Horror
G.B.D. Ltd. / Top Sellers Ltd.
Editor: Dez Skinn
1976 - 1978

Halls of Horror
Quality Communications Ltd.
Editor: Dez Skinn
1982 - 1984

The best selling British film magazine of it's time, House of Hammer was very well written by top talent, like John Brosnan, Dennis Gifford, Ramsey Campbell, Alan Frank and others. It featured excellent, colorful cover art with movie posters on most back covers. Combining features on current (especially those from Hammer Studios) and classic horror films with comic strip adaptations of Hammer films by UK comics artists such as Brian Lewis, Brian Bolland, John Bolton and others. Dez Skinn was the editor of Marvel UK, and had earlier helmed Monster Mag (Vol. 2) and later created Doctor Who Weekly and the long running sci-fi movie magazine Starburst.

In March 1978 Hammer's House of Horror was launched in the US with issue no. 1, a compilation of previously published material and the same cover art as no. 17. The title of the UK edition of the mag was similarly changed on issues number 19 and 20. Having earlier gotten wind of this, Warren Publications copyrighted the title and printed a few hundred copies of it's House of Horror no. 1, which forced Top Sellers to change the name, once again, to Hammer's Halls of Horror for issues number 21-23 (US 20-23), after which the mag was cancelled by the parent publisher. In 1982, Halls of Horror returned (now published by Quality Communications Ltd.) for a further seven issues and an all comics Dracula special issue.

No. 1
Cover Art by Joe Petagno









No. 2
Cover Art by Brian Lewis









No. 3
Cover Art by Brian Lewis









No. 4
Cover Art by Brian Lewis









No. 5
Cover Art by Brian Lewis









No. 6
Cover Art by Brian Lewis









No. 7
Cover Art by Brian Lewis









No. 8
Cover Art by Brian Lewis









No. 9
Cover Art by Brian Lewis









No. 10
Cover Art by Brian Lewis









No. 11
Cover Art by Brian Lewis









No. 12
Cover Art by Brian Lewis









No. 13
Cover Art by Brian Lewis









No. 14
Cover Art by Brian Lewis









No. 15
Cover Art by Brian Lewis









No. 16










No. 17
Cover Art by Brian Lewis









No. 18
Cover Art by Bill Phillips









No. 19
Cover Art by Ramon Sola









No. 20
Cover Art by Bill Phillips









No. 21
Cover Art by Villagran









No. 22
Cover Art by Brian Lewis









No. 23
Cover Art by Keenan Forbes









No. 24
Cover Art by Brian Lewis









No. 25
Cover Art by Garry Leach









No. 26
Cover Art by Garry Leach









No. 27
Cover Art by Mick Austin









No. 28
Cover Art by Gary Ward









No. 29
Cover Art by Gary Ward









No. 30
Cover Art by Gary Ward









Dracula Comics Special
Cover Art by Mick Austin









US No. 1
Cover Art by Brian Lewis









US No. 20
(with Halls of Horror title)
Cover Art by Bill Phillips








Top Sellers No. 24
Unused cover art (by Brian Lewis) for the never published issue.

3 comments:

  1. Thought you and your readers/viewers might be interested in a new website I've put together with an extensive coverage of my old House of Hammer magazine. But be warned, it's up to 60,000 words and I've only reached 1979 so far!

    http://dezskinn.com/warner-williams-2/

    Kind regards,

    Dez Skinn

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, Dez!

    I had a post in the main blog about your site and linked it to your name in this post, but it's good to have a link to the particular page, too!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fantastic site that evoked many pleasant memories of when I used to buy these awesome monster mags as a kid back in the seventies. One question: do you know if there are any affiliate programs selling monster mags? I ask this because I am planning to set up my own site selling monster mags.

    Keep up the good work
    Regards
    Alan
    www.trueghoststories.co.uk

    ReplyDelete