Click on the picture above to see a larger version of it. Click here to see a giant version of it.
In the UK, the 2 February 2002 issue of The Big Issue In The North magazine was a special Monkey issue, to preview the northern dates of the Young Vic's Monkey stageplay, as part of its UK nationwide tour.
This magazine was on sale from homeless people in the North of England (they distribute to most places north of Derby) from Saturday, 2 February 2002 until Friday, 8 February 2002.
The Big Issue In The North have now run out of this Monkey issue, so it is no longer possible to order copies of it.
The four page special can be found below - click on each of the images to see a larger version of it.
There's lots of coverage of the Monkey phenomena in this issue, including:
1) A photo of Monkey (i.e. Masaaki Sakai as Monkey, from the TV show we all
know and love) on the front cover
2) An article about the Young Vic's Monkey show that's based on the original
Monkey legend
3) An article written by Manchester-based comedian Alex Boardman, reminiscing about what it was like to be a Monkey fan when he was at school in the late 1970s
4) Information about the Fabulous Films videos of Monkey that are on sale in
the UK, including a competition to win all 13 videos, plus information about
the upcoming UK Monkey DVDs.
5) My "The Day I Met Monkey!" article (as much of it as they have space for) which describes the day in 1998 when Nikki Brown and I met Masaaki Sakai (Monkey himself) in Japan.
6) A photo of Nikki Brown and I meeting with Masaaki Sakai -
from the unofficial Masaaki Sakai web site:
http://www.masaaki-sakai.co.uk/
(To see all the photos, scroll down towards the bottom of the main page, and
select "MASAAKI SAKAI PHOTO GALLERY" from the drop-down list above the
"Email Me" link)