Fotonovels – Nostalgia Central

VHS and Betamax videotapes began appearing in the 1970s, but the machines to play them were still prohibitively expensive. For many kids in those pre-cable TV/pre-Netflix days, Fotonovels served as the next best way to re-experience blockbuster films and TV shows.

Publishers including Pocket Books, Mandala (Bantam), and Fotonovel Publications released pocket-sized books with hundreds of still images from television shows and feature films, arranged in sequence, with dialogue sometimes added in comic-book-style speech balloons.

The Fotonovels were actually a variation on the Italian comic book genre known as “fumetti” – which literally translated means “little puffs of smoke” (a reference to the speech bubbles) –  that used photo collages instead of illustrations.

The television series published included Star Trek (a series of 12 episodes), The Incredible Hulk, Charlie’s Angels, The Waltons and Mork and Mindy. 

Featured movies included Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Alien, Rocky, Battlestar Galactica, Revenge of the Pink Panther, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Saturday Night Fever, Nashville and Grease. 

Even The Rocky Horror Picture Show and the Village People vehicle Can’t Stop the Music received the Fotonovel treatment.

The format was revived in the 21st century by comic publisher IDW for their Star Trek: New Visions series.