A Long Time Ago...

Back in the late seventies, 1978 to be precise, Famous Monsters of Filmland sponsored a contest to build a miniature Star Wars set. First prize was five hundred dollars. 'Nuff said! Five hundred dollars would buy me a lot of comic books and back issues of Famous Monsters of Filmland. It was great fun making the "set". I chose to recreate the scene on Mos Eisley where Luke Skywalker and Ben Kenobi are stopped and questioned by storm troopers.

Though I didn't win first prize I did place fourth and got my entry on the cover of Famous Monsters. Not bad considering I was up against countless of my fellow Star Wars nerds of this great land. I kept the notification letter, envelope and other assorted goodies that came along with it, including issue #150 announcing the winners.

Dad was my guiding force as I worked on the mini- set. I don't think it would have been as satisfying had he not been a part of the process. He drove up from Laredo this weekend with those treasures, still in pretty good shape after thirty- three years. Wow! It's hard to believe that so much time has slipped past me. Time to make another set. Above and below are some of those treasured items.


The entry form. I didn't order any of the toys for my piece. I walked a couple of blocks to the J.C.Penny where I found all the set pieces I needed.

The letter notifying me that I'd won fourth place and one hundred (1978) smackers. That was a lot of money for a fifteen year old lad.

That's my entry on the cover. I couldn't believe my model got to be on the cover. Too cool!


Here a a few of the winning entries including my own. The one thing I forgot to do was include a photo of myself. Oh well. There were some pretty neat entries.



Dad called one of the local papers so they would do a write up. He drove me one early morning, it was a Saturday I think, to tho offices if the Laredo News where I was interviewed and photographed. Thanks to you, Dad, I've got another wonderful memory to treasure.

They sent along a bunch of fun stuff too like these different covers ads too. These magazines had some of the best comic art and stories around at the time.





Two favorite characters: The Rook and Vampirella. Those were the days.

Check it out. They just don't have fun stuff in the back of magazines anymore.