What Are Fotonovels Or Photostories, You Ask? Well, Let Me Tell You

Back in the ‘70s, before cable TV and home video options (laserdisc players, VCRs) weren’t household appliances yet, movie-fans like me had to re-experience or our favorite films in other ways. Since the ‘60s, there were books that contained screenplays of various popular movies augmented with a bunch of stills. 

In the ‘70s the medium exploded with tons of these books, but later in the decade, a particular kind of movie book hit the scene. They were called Fotonovels or Photostories and they featured color screenshots and word bubbles to illustrate the films or TV shows. Yes, they were put together like comic books (no one called them graphic novels back then).

Among the first Fotonovels published were of 12 episodes of the original ‘60s Star Trek including such fan favorites as “City on the Edge of Forever,” “The Trouble with Tribbles,” and “The Devil in the Dark.”

But it was the movies that were the bigger sellers. Such films as GREASE, LORD OF THE RINGS (the 1979 animated version), HAIR, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, HEAVEN CAN WAIT, ROCKY AND ROCKY II (in one book), and many more.

Check out a couple of pages from the CLOSE ENCOUNTERS edition:

TV shows that were given the treatment included The Incredible Hulk, Mork & Mindy, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Battlestar Gallactica, and even The Waltons.

 

Not everything that photostories and Fotonovels was a beloved hit. Flops like NIGHTWING, and AMERICATHON (heard of those?) were titles that were probably decided on before their box office was known, were impossible to predict whether they were going to be successes failures at the time (seems pretty obvious now though).

So in the early ‘80s, just as cable was spreading like a virus, there were fewer books produced. The saddest release was of STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN as it was in black & white. In addition, the images were blurry, and grainy on much lower quality paper. Even as a kid at the time, I knew the movie picture book party was over.

 

But the decades that followed, there were a few that popped up in the movie/TV sections in bookstores. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, Disney’s DINOSAUR, and CHARLIE ANGELS, which was an attempt to cash in on the ‘70s revival of the time. Nowadays, you can find Fotonovels and Photostories in used bookstores and on Ebay. Most are cheap - $10-$20, but the GREASE one is listed on Ebay as going for $40-$500 (no joke).

So that’s a small, maybe tiny, bit of movie memorabilia history. I have a few of these Fotonovels on my bookshelf, and am amused when I see them out in the wild. If I come across one, or more, at a local used bookstore, I may consider a purchase, unless it’s the overpriced GREASE one that is.

More later...