It all started back in 1997, with our very first issue. Having been a Kolchak fan since the age of 3, my love for the show grew as I got older. I had always written stories about Kolchak and after countless viewings of the 20 episodes, I felt that I could write about any subject on the show (many youthful hours were spent reading everything I could find on horror and paranormal books in our local Library).

By the time Fox's X-Files hit it big in the early 1990's, Paranormal subjects were hot again, at this time the Sci-Fi channel would run Kolchak on a weekly basis (twice a week, actually). That is when I felt the time right to put together a nice little fan magazine to honor our original Paranormal specialist, who was suddenly back in the limelight again thanks to the X-Files (which cited Kolchak as inspiration) and Columbia House Home Video, which was about to release all the episodes on video for the very first time.

We covered all of those stories in our very first issue, along with episode synopsis, reviews art work and a short story. Our pages were very primitive back then, before I had a computer, so all of the pages were typed and photocopied with pictures pasted on from my personal collection (we don't do it that way now).

Yup, things were looking up for our intrepid aging reporter than and we continued to publish a few more issues, almost on a regular basis of every 3-4 months. As things got better, I got a computer and we still published with the help of everyone in the know on the Kolchak front, writers, comic artist, long time fans and even Kolchak creator Jeff Rice and Kolchak authority Mark Dawidziak helped contribute to our magazine over the years (and still play an active part till this day).

Our audience soon grew bigger, and changes were due - so we suddenly changed our title and style and have continued to pay tribute to our all time favorite character ever written - Carl Kolchak (as played by outstanding actor of films and television, Darren McGavin - the one and only Carl Kolchak).

Now known as "The Kolchak Journals" we shall once again pay homage to the Jeff Rice character and do our best to continue the Kolchak legacy by being one of the only fan publication still in print after all this time - still bringing you all the current information and back story to the World we know as the Kolchak-Universe.

Happy-Stalking Fans!!!

The name's Gaby Santos, I'm an aging writer in my mid 30's who fell in love with a character so well written that we can all relate with. Kolchak works for dummies who don't understand his standing up for what he believes to be true. He works along side of dummies who aren't even capable to perform their jobs - and these people he must call his equals!

Everyone can  relate to Carl Kolchak, my love for the Jeff Rice character has involved me in numerus fan fiction stories, self-made amateur comics on the subject as well as articles for other publications as well as fan art (such as this one).

This publication is a pure labor of love, that I don't get paid to do, but love doing and hope to continue doing for as long as there is a public for Carl - and with new comics, TV series, DVD releases and other collectibles coming out at a more rapid pace than can be counted, it seems that demand for this beloved character has only just begun - and with no ending in sight!

The recent issues of our magazine have brought many different and interesting articles, as well as have our older issues. For first time viewers of this site, I've included a few articles from our most recent issue, out now (pictured). The Kolchak Journals #2 can still be ordered, please see our home page for ordering information. There are a lot more interesting articles, as well as pictures and art (not included in these previews) that will make it worth any fan's money to try and subscribe, or send for a sample issue. I hope that you will do so soon.

More articles will be previewed very soon - keep watching!

Chris Carter's Afterword for the Gauntlet Press Book Release, The Kolchak Scripts

Much has changed in the thirty years since I sat trembling in my parents' family room watching "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" on network television, not the least of which is network television. Codes, norms, mores, what traffic will allow; even vampires might not recognize themselves as the multicultural, conflicted MTV fashion plates they've become. Janos Skorzeny, The Night Stalker himself, would be hard pressed to get himself cast on The WB.

Thanks to the new technology, what scares us has also changed. Where once danger lurked in the shadows, computer generated images now leap out in a nonstop phantasmagoria. The sum effect being we're not that easily scared anymore. Strangely enough, it's new technology that scares us more than anything these days (and, of course, the unseen and unintended ways it might be used against us).

So what makes "The Night Stalker" and its manic sequel, "The Night Strangler", worthy of our attention--and gushing fandom--after three decades of sophistication and progress? Well, it's hardly the chill thrills I felt so long ago. Watching now, the once frightening confrontations with the vampire Skorzeny seem repetitious and stagey, more entertaining as relics of past innocence (the scariest thing about Skorzeny's leering and growling bloodsucker now is his haircut). Dr. Richard Malcolm's zest for eternal youth doesn't seem quite so underground as it once must have, his methods only slightly more horrifying and macabre than some Beverly Hills plastic surgeons. (I know, Malcolm killed people, but do you know where all that collagen that's being so freely injected is coming from?)

For me, what makes "The Night Stalker" and "The Night Strangler" stand the test of time is the antic, inexhaustible, ever-flappable character Carl Kolchak. As conceived and written by Jeff Rice and Richard Matheson, Kolchak is an American original who prefigured a whole generation of investigative journalists and media busybodies. Dustin Hoffman's Carl Bernstein included. Wonderfully performed and embodied by Darren McGavin, Kolchak is a thorny and lovable square. In his seersucker suit, with his salesman's tenacity, he's more than just a pushy reporter, he's uncool. And yet--he always gets the girl, because he's smart enough to listen to them, and they all know he has the heart of a pussycat. More importantly, Kolchak does exactly what the star must do: he lights up the page and the screen; he keeps you wanting more of him.

Thirty years have passed since I sat watching Kolchak barge into his boss's office, trying hysterically to convince him of the truth that was out there. I should hope the characters of Mulder and Scully seem so inspired in their pursuit thirty years down the road. In a throwaway line in "The Night Stalker" script, Richard Matheson has the scrappy Kolchak pay a debt to Ben Hecht, a tip of the hat for paving the way for him. I'd like to do the same for the creators of Carl Kolchak.

Chris Carter
August 2003

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