Aurora Kits

I first came across Aurora 'monster' kits around 1970, a little while after the demise of my beloved 'Fantastic' (later 'Fantastic & Terrific') comic. I discovered the American Marvel comics with my favourite superheroes in colour (although I found the artwork less impressive than in black and white) and with amazing ads: machines that would print money, X-ray glasses, all sorts of novelties and those kits. I bought a couple of the Universal Monster series: the Mummy & Dracula figures, but found the kits less impressive than the incredible artwork on the boxes. The kit which appealed to me the most was the 'Forgotten Prisoner' which I thought wonderfully gruesome. I added it mentally to my 'wish-list' and finally acquired a reproduction, made by 'Polar Lights' (get it?) a few decades later! Although Aurora has long since gone, (now followed by Polar Lights), it's good to see two other companies carrying on the tradition. First, Monarch has made a Nosferatu figure, in a classic Aurora style long box, with great artwork.

A 'frightening lightning' (i.e. luminous!) version is planned and a Ghost of the Forgotten Prisoner is also in the pipe-line. Moebius Models have already produced a reproduction of Aurora's 'Dr. Jekyll as Mr. Hyde' kit, including a glow-in-the-dark version in an Aurora-style square box, and they have some other interesting kits coming soon, too.

Finally, wouldn't the Luminous Spooks make an ideal subject for an Aurora style kit! I can almost see the artwork depicting the Haunted Manor, which leads me to this site which has some great-looking artwork for kits that Aurora never made!