James Warren, Empire of Monsters: The Man Behind Creepy, Vampirella, and Famous Monsters

The definitive biography of the visionary publisher of Famous Monsters of Filmland, the magazine that inspired filmmakers Steven Spielberg, George Lucas — now available in paperback.

In Empire of Monsters, the award-winning biographer Bill Schelly digs beneath the hype and myth-making to tell the true story of James Warren, one of the 20th century’s most influential and independent publishers. Featuring numerous eye-opening, often outrageous anecdotes about the colorful, larger-than-life figure, this book covers Warren’s childhood in the slums of south Philadelphia, a traumatic military injury during the Korean War, the hardscrabble origins of Warren Publishing, its great success and ignominious end — as well as his reemergence on the public scene in the 1990s, and the lawsuit to regain ownership of his literary properties.<.p>

For this impeccably researched biography, Schelly offers insight from new interviews with Warren’s colleagues, editors, and friends, augmented by unpublished interviews gathered in past years with Frank Frazetta, Archie Goodwin, Al Williamson, Bill DuBay, Tom Sutton, Bernie Wrightson, Richard Corben, and Warren himself.

Originally published in 2019, Empire of Monsters quickly sold out. Fantagraphics is pleased to make this groundbreaking biography of one of comics’ central historical figures available again in an affordable paperback edition.