The Star Reach Companion

The complete history of the influential 1970s independent comic

COMPANION

by Richard Arndt

S

tar reac C O M PA N I O N

by Richard Arndt

TwoMorrows Publishing

Raleigh, North Carolina

H

www.twomorrows.com 1

Star*Reach Companion Text • Richard Arndt Cover art • Howard Chaykin Cover color • Jesus Aburto Back cover • Jeffrey Jones Design • Eric Nolen-Weathington

TwoMorrows Publishing

dedication

www.twomorrows.com store@twomorrows.com • (919)449-0344

Dedicated, with respect and admiration, to Star*Reach’s Mike Friedrich and to Roy Thomas, the first editor who thought enough of my work to actually pay me for it. It’s all his fault.

10407 Bedfordtown Drive Raleigh, North Carolina 27614

First Printing • July 2013 • Printed in the USA • ISBN: 978-1-60549-051-9

COPYRIGHT NOTICE Star*Reach Companion is ©2013 Richard Arndt and TwoMorrows Publishing. All rights reserved under international and Pan-American copyright conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the copyright holders. All reproductions in this historical overview are copyright by the respective copyright holders, and are used here strictly for historical purposes. Attempts have been made to properly attribute copyrights for use in this publication; if you are a valid copyright holder and have not been properly credited, please contact TwoMorrows so that corrections can be made for any future printings. The viewpoints in the text are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of TwoMorrows Publishing.

Gods of Mount Olympus © Johnny Achziger and Joe Staton / A View from Without © Neal Adams / His Name Is… Savage! © Adventure House Press, Inc. / Nexus © Mike Baron and Steve Rude / The Man © Vaughn Bodé / My Fears © Jeff Bonivert / One Man’s Madness © T. Casey Brennan and the estate of Gene Day / Dragonus, Duckaneer © Frank Brunner / Oregon Bobcat © Don Bucher / Crazyworld © Mike Burbey and Marc Hempel / American Flagg!, Cody Starbuck © Howard Chaykin / Ms. Tree © Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty / Manimal © Ernie Colón / Divine Wind, Future Day, Samurai © the estate of Gene Day / Batman, Isis, Justice League, New Gods, Spectre, Starfire, Swamp Thing, Wildcat © DC Comics / A Contract with God © Estate of Will Eisner / Coyote, Slab © Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers / Stephanie Starr © Mike Friedrich and the Estate of Dick Giordano / Mariah © Mike Friedrich and Lee Marrs / Sheena Queen of the Jungle © Galaxy Publishing Inc. / Role Model © Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik / Dream of Milk & Honey, Vignette: A Soft and Gentle Rain, The Wraith © Michael T. Gilbert / Love and Rockets © Los Hernandez Bros. / Bushi © Satoshi Hirota and Mukaide / Triad © Horizon Zero Graphiques and Frank Cirocco / Union © the estate of Jeffrey Catherine Jones. / Apprenticeship; Hey Buddy, Can You Lend Me A… © W. Michael Kaluta / Flash Gordon, Queen Azura © King Features Syndicate, Inc. / Newton the Wonder Rabbit, Rick Rabbit © Steve Leialoha / The Summoning © Paul Levitz and Steve Ditko / Vietnam Journal © Don Lomax / Out of Space, Out of Time © Gary Lyda / Sabre © Don McGregor and Paul Gulacy / Nightmare World © Dirk Manning / Ersatz; The Fleet Foot Foogle; Free Ways; Headtrips; Pudge, Girl Blimp; Stark’s Quest © Lee Marrs. / Adam Warlock; Clea; Dr. Strange; Epic Illustrated; Iron Man; Killraven; Outlaw Kid; Satana; Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu; Spider-Man; X-Men © Marvel Characters, Inc. / Parsifal © Patrick Mason and P. Craig Russell / Bela Lugosi’s Tales from the Grave © Monsterverse / Elric © Michael Moorcock / The Sacred and the Profane © Dean Motter and Ken Steacy / The Spider Thread © Masaich Mukaide / She-Devils © George Pérez / E-Z Wolf © Ted Richardson / Bran Mak Morn © Robert E. Howard Properties, LLC / The Avatar and the Chimera, Gift of the Magi, Siegfried and the Dragon © P. Craig Russell / Drug Fiends of the Martian Moon © Trina Robbins and Steve Leialoha / Nebula, Seriah & Damon © Mickey Schwaberow / You-All Gibbon © Scott Shaw! / Cerebus, Cosmix © Dave Sim / I’m God! © Dave Sim and Fabio Gasbarri / Suburban Fish © Steve Skeates / Death, The Origin of God! © Jim Starlin / Electric Warrior © Ken Steacy and Kerri Ellison / Talon © Jim Steranko / The Rocketeer © the estate of Dave Stevens / Pilgrim © the estate of Tom Sutton / Tales from the Crypt ™ and © Tales from the Crypt Holdings / The Horns of Elfland © Charles Vess / Linda Lovecraft, Lori Lovecraft, Retrowood © Mike Vosburg / Skywalker © Mike Vosburg and Steve Englehart / Black Crow © Mike Vosburg and Lee Marrs / Grendel © Matt Wagner / The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe © Walden Media / Elfquest © Warp Graphics / Earthprobe © Mal Warwick and Lee Marrs / Snorky © the estate of Wallace Wood / Key Club, Mandy © John Workman / The Cryptics © Berni Wrightson / Miracleman © the respective owner(s)

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table of contents Chapter One: The Star*Reach Influence

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Chapter two: What Came Before

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Chapter THREE: An Interview with Mike Friedrich

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Chapter FOUR: The Star*Reach Checklist

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Chapter FIVE: The Stars of Star*Reach

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Chapter SIX: The Independents During Star*Reach’s Run

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Chapter SEVEN: Star*Reach During Its Run

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Chapter SEVEN: The Collapse

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APPENDIX: The Early Independents Checklist

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THE COMICS: Stories from Star*Reach

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A Tale of Sword and Sorcery (Ed Hicks/Walter Simonson)

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Marginal Incident: The Prelude (Steve Leialoha)

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Vignette: A Soft and Gentle Rain (Michael T. Gilbert)

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Starbuck (Howard Chaykin)

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Encounter at the Crazy Cat Saloon (Michael T. Gilbert)

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I’m God! (Dave Sim/Fabio Gasbarri)

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Siegfried and the Dragon (P. Craig Russell)

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Foreword

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remember when I was a young comics writer in my late teens and early twenties, watching older artists in their fifties and sixties answering questions put to them by young fans. The artists were frequently quite uncomfortable because they hadn’t paid much attention at the time and they had a hard time remembering details. Fortunately for me, now that it’s my turn for people to be fascinated about my old comics work, I had paid attention. Thus it’s a great pleasure to be part of Richard Arndt’s labor of love, the Star*Reach Companion, that you’re now holding.

The extended discussion Richard and I had a few years ago, reprinted here, covers most of the historical issues about the Star*Reach publications period, so I won’t repeat those now. But I would like to put in an extra word or three about the value in following your enthusiasms. I knew very little about publishing at the age of 23 when I realized that the existing publishers at the time were not taking full advantage of both the enthusiasm of the new young artists and the enthusiasm of the older comics fans who were then beginning to cluster around comics speciality stores. It was my enthusiasm that propelled the steep learning curve I experienced as I launched and fitfully sustained a publishing business. Eventually that lack of knowledge tripped me up, but not until I’d gotten 30 interesting comics into the world, and the experience I gained enabled me to launch into the next phases of my comics career.

The second value that was important was treating my personal and professional relationships as ones of mutual respect and honor. It was those kinds of relationships that enabled me to find established contributors at the beginning of Star*Reach. I attempted to be as transparent as possible to artists, distributors, and production facilities about what was going on at the time (when I was inaccurate it was because I let my enthusiasm outweigh some countervailing realities). At the end of the publishing run, as cash was disappearing too fast, it was the strength of my relationships with my contributors, printer, and color separators that enabled me to get the last handful of issues published before I closed the doors. Even then, after publication ceased, I made sure to pay everyone in full, though that took a couple of years to accomplish. I’m convinced those actions enabled me to receive industry cooperation when I later tried out new enthusiasms, like producing comics industry trade shows (which failed); a comic convention, WonderCon (which succeeded); and most especially an agency for artists, which sustained me for 20 years.

Richard Arndt has produced a treasure trove of facts, flavored with an insightful critical perspective. I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I did in publishing the comics themselves.

Star*Reach is a trademark of Mike Friedrich

— Mike Friedrich

acknowledgements One doesn’t write a nonfiction book like this without help. I’d like to say thank you, first, to Mike Friedrich, who first suggested writing such a book to me three years ago at WonderCon. His original work on Star*Reach all those years ago is still an inspiration and a source of great enjoyment to me.

I’d also like to thank Ken Meyer Jr., whose excellent website on fanzines [http://comicattack.net/?s=ink+stains] was extremely helpful, as well as Roy Thomas and Michael Eury, whose work on Alter Ego and Back Issue helped me greatly along the way. A tip of the hat also goes to Lee Marrs, Steve Leialoha, Walt Simonson, Mike Vosburg, P. Craig Russell, and Bill Pearson for their willingness to be interviewed or consulted for this project. A huge thanks also goes out to Russell, Simonson, Leialoha, Howard Chaykin, Dave Sim, and Michael T. Gilbert for the permission to reprint their stories for this volume.

Thanks also goes to Peter Karpas, whose website www.enjolrasworld.com hosted early versions of some of the checklists in this book. His early support for this project was most helpful. And to Heritage Auctions, for the use of their archive of original artwork.

And, finally, to all those who labored and struggled in the first two decades of American independent comics. Without you the world of comics would be a sadder, sorrier place. Thanks to one and all!

Elric © Michael Moorcock

A Note of introduction The intent of this book is to provide both a historical and critical prespective of the 1970s groundbreaking comic Star*Reach. In addition to the history of the magazine itself as well as its sister magazines, we have also attempted to provide an overview of some of the independent comics and magazines that proceeded, ran concurrently with, and followed it. We hope you enjoy it.

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Chapter One

The Star*Reach Influence

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ry and name the most influential comic book of the 1970s. Surely, one might think, it would be the new X-Men. The title had very good, entertaining stories, with the high point being the Dark Phoenix story arc. It revitalized and transformed a secondtier title into one of the top titles in Marvel’s history. Yet what effect did it really have on the comic industry as a whole? It certainly made the X-Men book a hot item and helped spawn a houseful of X-Men spin-offs. Still, in the long run, I don’t think it created any long lasting trends.

Rather, it continued and strengthened the superhero genre, which had been in full swing since the early 1960s. It essentially maintained the status quo.

Will Eisner’s landmark A Contract with God demonstrated that graphic novels (or albums, as the term “graphic novel” was not in common use when the book was published) could not only be done, but be done well, and, most importantly to comic publishers, sell enough to make a decent profit. But, simply by its nature, it is not a traditional comic book.

Kirby’s “Fourth World” comics? Beautifully drawn and plotted although somewhat oddly scripted, they were the first clear attempt at a maxi- or limited series, but they were never finished. At best, they’re a noble, fascinating, and frustrating failure.

After that the pickings get slim. Swamp Thing? No. No matter how good Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson’s run on the comic was, that title became much more important when Alan Moore started writing it in 1983. Elfquest?

Might have a case there except that most of the original run appeared in the 1980s. Frank Miller’s Daredevil? Again, a possibility, but again the most groundbreaking issues came out in the early 1980s.

Nope, for my money the most important comic book of the 1970s was the independent (or ground-level, as it was called at the time) Star*Reach. Everything, everything, that comics are today can be seen in embryo fashion in that book.

First, it was an independent comic, long before anyone seriously mentioned or had even really conceived of

X-Men ™ and © Marvel Characters, Inc. A Contract with God © Estate of Will Eisner. New Gods, Swamp Thing ™ and © DC Comics. Elfquest ™ and © Warp Graphics, Inc.

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an alternate independent marketplace that could allow myself wincing at the long-winded dialogue and the, well, small publishers a venue to challenge the major publish- often juvenile plots and characterizations. Yet in Star*Reach, ers’ dominance. At its beginning, Star*Reach sold through except for some underground-style hippie stories that mostly the few comic shops around, as well as head shops (shops appeared in the early issues—and even those aren’t bad stodealing mainly with drug paraphilia) or via subscriptions ries, just dated ones—most Star*Reach stories could easily be and mail order. I myself bought all the issues through the published today with no loss of quality or respect. ads that ran in Jim Steranko’s Mediascene tabloid.

Fourth, the types of stories themselves were different.

Mike Friedrich, the publisher and editor of Star*Reach, Star*Reach published mostly science-fiction and fantasy pointed the way to both independent success and indepen- stories at a time when the conventional wisdom in maindent failure by showing the industry a new way to sell com- stream comics was that those genres didn’t sell. Plus, they ics, particularly comics that were neither mainstream (at were intelligent science-fiction stories. If you read Tolkien least, not at the time) nor or Heinlein or Sturgeon underground. He demonor Bester or LeGuin, these strated a method of sales stories fit right in. Most and publication that also science fiction in comics at gave the artists and writers that time was still melded a chunk of the financial acwith the superhero comtion to boot. It would be ics and were pretty much wrong to say he was the bush-league kid stuff. Fanfirst to go in that direction, tasy has only one real outbut he was the first to truly let—the adaptations of the succeed, even if only for a sword-and-sorcery tales by limited time.

Robert E. Howard (MarSecond, he published vel) or Fritz Leiber (DC) those comics on a regular or stories that copied the schedule. This is somestyle and look of those thing I believe was an enortales. Star*Reach routinely mous factor in his success. published modern day, or Starting with the fourth (as it’s called today) urban issue, Star*Reach was pubfantasy, as well as the more lished pretty much every traditional forms. three months like clockFifth, there was mawork until its demise. No jor exposure for both artunderground, no fanzine, ists and readers. Michael no independent prozine Gilbert, John Workman, similar to Star*Reach, such Lee Marrs, Robert Gould, as Hot Stuf ’ or Andromeda, Dave Sim, Ken Steacy, published on a schedule.

Dean Motter, Gene Day, They often said they did, and Paul Kirchner got but it just wasn’t true. their first major solo exOnly the big boys—Marposures here. Many of The first issue of Star*Reach with cover art by Howard Chaykin. vel, DC, Gold Key, Dell, today’s powerhouse writCody Starbuck ™ and © Howard Chaykin Warren, Harvey, Charlton, ers and artists first showed etc.—did that. By sticking to a schedule, Friedrich made their real abilities in Star*Reach. Howard Chaykin’s charit clear in the minds of his readers and contributors that acters Cody Starbuck and Gideon Faust (co-created with he intended to be around for a while. You knew that every writer Len Wein) both demonstrated what Chaykin was three months you were going to get your 48 pages of cool, really capable of, long before the mainstream allowed him quality comics from Star*Reach. the same creative freedom. Frank Brunner did some of his Third, they really were cool, quality comics. Unlike much last and best work for comics here. Mike Vosburg demonof the highly praised work done in the 1970s, the stories strated that he was a decent scripter and a fine all-around from Star*Reach and its sister magazines, Quack! and Imag- artist. Sim wrote—his art was still on a learning curve— ine, hardly date at all. Looking at many of the mainstream some great stories for artist Fabio Gasbarri, and illustrated stories, even the great stories or titles from that decade, I find at least one strong one himself. As for the readers, besides 6

(above) Chaykin’s triumph—American Flagg. (right) Robert Foster’s Lee Marvin cover, which bore only a passing resemblence to Gil Kane’s Savage in the book!

American Flagg! ™ and © Howard Chaykin His Name Is… Savage! © Adventure House Press, Inc.

getting consistent quality stories and artwork, one was exposed to stories and art that wasn’t in the Marvel/DC mode from folks like Lee Marrs or Don Marshall, as well as art that didn’t fit the mainstream market at the time it first appeared, although it soon would become commonplace, such as Gene Day’s material.

Sixth, Friedrich broke ground for any number of modern-day comic foundations. Craig Russell first published his opera adaptations here. Chaykin sowed the ground for American Flagg! with Cody Starbuck—not to mention heavily influencing George Lucas’ Star Wars characters.

Friedrich published the first major color comics by an independent publisher as well as giving the average American reader their first exposure of manga, although the comic pros had been getting glimpses of it. One of the first true graphic novels, The Sacred and the Profane was published in serial form here. Folks can argue all day about Gil Kane’s His Name Is Savage or Will Eisner’s A Contract with God, but face it, Kane’s book was 48 pages long, hardly a novel, and was such a dubious success that it was ten years before any publisher took a similar risk on such a book. Jack Katz had started his epic The First Kingdom, but it was still years away from completion. It takes nothing away from Eisner’s

achievement with A Contract with God, either artistically or commercially, to note that his book is actually four interlinked short stories rather than an actual novel. The Sacred and the Profane was not only serialized months before A Contract with God was published, but it is a true novel in every sense of the word and a damn fine one to boot. It wasn’t collected until 1987, by which time the writer, Dean Motter, had largely rewritten his script, and the artist, Ken Steacy, had completely redone the artwork, so the original version, which I actually prefer, has never been collected.

Both versions are good, thoughtful, and adult-oriented science fiction, however, and well worth your time.

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Chapter Two What came before

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s mentioned in Chapter One, Friedrich called Star*Reach a “ground-level” comic. By that he meant that it wasn’t a mainstream comic, coming from the big companies in the (above-ground) skyscrapers on Madison Avenue, nor was it part of the underground comix movement which was flourishing at the time Star*Reach launched its first issue. It was in between the two. Far more liberal and mature regarding violence, sex, story genres, and politics than the four-color superhero comics that ruled the likes of Marvel and DC, but not as counter-culture, sexually explicit, or as excessive in its approach as the likes of Zap, Bizarre Sex, Skull, or Slow Death comix.

Of course, Friedrich’s Star*Reach didn’t spring up out of nowhere. There were any number of earlier magazines that pointed the way as well as numerous trends in the comics industry itself that influenced, supported, and helped create the possibility of Star*Reach’s birth and success.

The first and probably most important was EC artist Wally Wood’s witzend magazine. Begun in 1966, Wood’s title published 13 issues between 1966 and 1985, although the bulk of them appeared between 1966 and 1971. Wood intended his comic magazine to be a showcase for writers and artists, and as such, made a point of refraining from actual editorial interference. He published the stories as is and regardless of genre, which often made it appear, especially in the earliest issues, that the magazine had no firm editorial hand at all. witzend (always in lower case) originated from an idea by Dan Adkins, at the time Wood’s assistant, who intended to self-publish a comic magazine named Outlet. This became a Wood effort called initially Etcetera but changed to witzend shortly before the first issue appeared when Wood discovered another magazine with the Etcetera title.

The first issue appeared in the summer of 1966 and featured unpublished stories from the 1950s, poetry, gag strips rejected by Mad magazine, the first half of an interesting SF/horror story featuring a character called Animan

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by Wood himself (Animan probably couldn’t have been published in mainstream comics at that time due to the restriction of the Comic Code, which forbid the use of a werewolf and frowned about stories dealing with human genetic experiments à la Dr. Moreau), and finally a really superb science-fiction story entitled “Sinner,” written and illustrated by Archie Goodwin.

Wood acted as the publisher and editor for the first four issues, publishing significant early work by Art Spielgelman and Roger Brand as well as important and interesting work

(above left and previous page) Some of the original ads for the title that became witzend. (above right) witzend’s first issue. all characters © their respective owners.

from Steve Ditko—the first Mr. A stories appeared in witzend—Gray Morrow, and Wood himself. With the fifth issue, Wood sold the title to Bill Pearson for the sum of one dollar, with the proviso that Pearson publish all the stories that Wood had already accepted for the title and continue the magazine though at least issue #8, since Wood had sold some subscriptions promising at least that many issues.

Pearson, in turn, published some of the most interesting stories of the era, including Vaughn Bodé’s deeply moving (and very violent) “Colbalt 60”; the exceptional pairing of Edgar Allan Poe and Frank Frazetta on “The City by the Sea,” using an old comic strip tryout

by Frazetta to frame Poe’s 19th century poem; and additional fine work by the likes of Jeff Jones, Bernie Wrightson, Mike Zeck, Nicola Cuti, Grass Green, Howard Chaykin, Alex Toth, Pearson himself, and many others.

Another interesting title was the 1970 effort Abyss, co-published by Jeff Jones, Bruce Jones (no relation), Bernie Wrightson, and Michael Kaluta along with major (uncredited) editorial help from Mary Skrenes. Abyss was probably a reaction

to the cancelation of the mainstream black-and-white title Web of Horror, for which all four men had been major contributors and which Wrightson and Bruce Jones had hoped to take over as co-editors before it went belly-up. Abyss’ only issue featured mostly straight sciencefiction stories, although Wrightson’s tales were horror. All the stories were done in a style that would not have been allowed in mainstream comics due to Comic Code restrictions, and were mostly in a genre—science fiction—that the mainstream comics had deemed non-commercial years earlier.

While no story stands out in particular, all of them were decently written, and the artwork was quite strong, making a very attractive magazine.

Then there were the efforts of the bar-mitzvah boys—Robert Gerstenhaber (now Gerson) and Adam Malin.

The two teenagers were friends and lived across the street from each other.

Both were greatly interested in comics and heavily influenced by the fan-published comics history titles that had appeared in the 1960s, such as Alter Ego, which dealt with comics in general, and Squa Tront and Spa Fon, both of which focused 9

The opening page of “Death Is a Sailor,” by Len Wein and Michael Kaluta, which appeared in Reality #1. © Len Wein and Michael Kaluta.

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on EC Comics. Both Malin and Gerstenhaber used their bar-mitzvah money to start their own prozines. [A fanzine is a fan-published effort with art and stories provided by fans; a prozine is a professional magazine, although in this context one also published by fans, in which professional artists are paid to contribute—RA]. The two 14-year-olds (!) began a friendly rivalry, with Adam publishing the high-quality comics history magazine Infinity for a run of six issues (1970–76), and Robert publishing the graphic story magazine Reality for a two-issue run (1970–71).

Both Malin and, in particular, Gerstenhaber had the good fortune to be in the right place at the right time. As mentioned earlier, the black-and-white horror magazine Web of Horror had just been discontinued, and the leftover stories from that magazine had no home. Over half the contents of Reality’s two issues featured Web of Horror leftovers, including fine early work from Michael Kaluta, Len Wein, Bruce Jones, and Steve Harper. In addition, high quality work also appeared from Frank Brunner, Howard Chaykin—in his professional debut—Roy Krenkel, Kenneth Smith, and underground artist Larry Todd.

Even though they were teenagers, Gerstenhaber and Malin’s highly professional efforts in both the high-quality content and the actual physical appearance of their magazines raised the bar significantly for future fanzine/prozine efforts. In addition, Gerstenhaber’s editorial taste on the type and style of the comic stories that appeared in Reality helped point the way for Star*Reach. Both of these young men were significant pioneers in the just barely stirring independent comics scene.

In part because of Malin and Gerstenhaber’s efforts,

Produced by a 14-year-old, Reality was a nicely done early prozine.

as well as the highly professional publishing standards of witzend, Squa Tront, Spa Fon, and others, a flurry of independent fanzines and prozines appeared between 1970 and 1973. The best would be the following:

This Is Legend (1970) While this was mostly a comics history effort, it did publish a few graphic stories—most notably a decent adaptation of Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” with a script by Mary Skrenes using the name Virgil North and art by Jeff Jones, Bernie Wrightson, and Alan Weiss, as well as an excellent little fantasy called “The Gardener” written and illustrated by Michael Kaluta.

The never-published second issue’s contents were spread out among some of the titles appearing next.

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I’ll Be Damned (1970–71)/ Scream Door (1971) I’ll Be Damned (1970–71) and Scream Door (1971) were an odd mixture. Scream Door was actually the third issue of I’ll Be Damned, which returned to its original title with its fourth and last issue. Although both titles featured original stories, they, like Reality, published leftover stories and art from Web of Horror from the likes of Michael Kaluta, Tom Sutton, and Bernie Wrightson (including the mock-up cover for the never published Web of Horror #4).

Fantagor (1971–83) Fantagor was actually an underground title that came very close in content and style to what Friedrich later established in Star*Reach.

Although it was mainly an outlet for editor Richard Corben’s stunning work, it also featured strong material from Herb Arnold, Stan Dresser, Tim Boxell, Jack Jackson, and, especially, writer Jan Strnad.

Imagination (1971) Imagination had a fine Gray Morrow cover and some interesting three-page tales from the likes of Jeff Jones, Bernie Wrightson, and Michael Kaluta, among others.

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Phase (1971)

Flash Gordon ™ and © King Features Syndicate, Inc.

Phase was a superior package. Behind an excellent wraparound fantasy cover by Ken Barr (for some reason the original and quite exciting Jim Steranko western cover was rejected!) was excellent original work from Frank Brunner (the original Dragonus story, whose adventures would continue in Star*Reach); the early “Fish” tales by Steve Skeates, which also continued on in Star*Reach; and solid work by the likes of Tony DeZuñiga, Gray Morrow, Tom Sutton, Gerry Conway, Ken Barr, and many others. The best story, however, is Neal Adams’ moving “A View from Without…”—simply one of the best war stories ever written or drawn for comics. The presence of that story alone makes this title a must have.

Heritage (1972) Heritage focused on telling new stories of Flash Gordon, each four pages in length (with one exception), and each written and drawn by a different artist. It featured good work from Jeff Jones, Frank Brunner, Gray Morrow, Kenneth Smith, Michael Kaluta, Reed Crandall, Mike Royer, Bruce Jones, Steve Harper, Neal Adams, Carlos Garzon, Al Williamson, and Esteban Maroto.

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Venture (1972–76) Venture, which was co-edited by future pros Frank Cirroco and Brent Anderson, had some excellent stories. I particularly liked Anderson’s humor strip “Grimmley’s Tales,” but there were several interesting SF and fantasy tales as well, particularly in the later issues. A number of these would be reprinted in Myron Fass’s Heavy Metal knockoff, Gasm, in the late 1970s.

Although much of the best work was done by Cirroco and Anderson, good early work also appeared from Gary Winnick and Steve Leialoha.

High Adventure (1973)

New Paltz Comix (1973–84) New Paltz Comix, edited by future Star*Reach contributor Michael Gilbert, had quite a number of excellent stories, including several that were reprinted in Star*Reach.

Many of the best stories were done by Gilbert, but it also provided debuts from the extremely interesting Jeff Bonivert, as well as strong work from Raoul Vezina, Larry Todd, Tim Boxell, and Brian Buniak. The best issues, by far, are #2 and #3.

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High Adventure, which came from Denis Kitchen’s Kitchen Sink Press and focused, naturally enough, on adventure tales, has early interesting work from Mark Evanier and Robert Kline as well as an interesting art team-up of Steve Leialoha and John Pound.

All of these titles featured high-quality material, especially from the artists now known as the “Young Turks,” described as such, at least in part, because they were the first new (and young!) artists to appear in comics since the 1940s to early 1950s. It should be noted that these “Young Turks” were huge fans of the comic books, something that may not have been true for the Depression Era and post-war artists for whom the newspaper comic strips were the height of narrative achievement.

The “Young Turks” could be said to include Bernie Wrightson, Jeff Jones, Michael Kaluta, Barry Windsor-Smith, Bruce Jones, Ralph Reese, Rich Buckler, Jim Starlin, Steve Leialoha, Howard Chaykin, Kenneth Smith, Ed Davis, Walt Simonson, Mike Vosburg, Steve Harper, Steve Hickman, P. Craig Russell, Al Milgrom, and Michael Gilbert among others.

Their appearances as artists in the fanzines, prozines, and mainstream titles of the period were, and still are, highly prized among collectors.

Chapter Three An interview with Mike Friedrich

RICHARD ARNDT: I’m speaking with Mike Friedrich, Star*Reach’s publisher and editor as well as a talent agent and a Silver Age writer for DC and Marvel. Can you tell us a little about your early days in the comics field?

MIKE FRIEDRICH: Sure, I became a comic fan in high school and started writing letters to the various editors. I got a bunch of them published, mostly in DC comics. This would have been in the mid-1960s. A great many of them appeared in the comics that Julius Schwartz edited—Flash, Green Lantern, Justice League, Batman. When I turned 18, just before I graduated from high school, I was able to sell DC some comic scripts. I spent my college years working in New York writing scripts in the summer and out here in California the rest of the year while going to school. I continued writing for DC, and later Marvel, until the mid-1970s.

In 1972 I began to think about the small press. There were a lot of underground and small press comics being published here in the Bay area where I live, and that kind of inspired me to think about publishing artists’ work that I knew from Marvel and DC. That eventually led in 1974 to the first issue of Star*Reach. I was the publisher, editor, marketing director, swept the floor, etc., of that until 1979. In 1980 I had to fold that tent, and I went to Marvel Comics and launched their direct sales department. Out of that came setting up Diamond Comic Distributors. That’s one of the things I did during that period. After a couple of years of that, I returned to California, and for 20-something years I ran a management company for artists—primarily comics but in television as well. That’s the broad stroke overview.

I became a comic pro largely through making a connection to Julie Schwartz, writing him letters, and, eventually, he started writing back. I was growing up rapidly during this time, maturing as a comic reader—going from, “I like these comics. I don’t like these other comics,” to, “I like or don’t like these comics because of this reason or that reason.” Then the third step of, “You know, it would be better if you did this… or that,” and finally, “You know, I could do it better.” [laughs] That’s kind of what led me to start to write.

Friedrich’s debut at DC, writing Batman. How great is that?

Batman and all related characters ™ and © DC Comics

RA: Did you find DC, in particularly Julie Schwartz, receptive to that approach?

MF: Well, yes, he very much was. There were a lot of historical factors going on during this period that I was completely unaware of at the time. DC had been the king of the hill for a long time. But by the mid-1960s they were not very sure that they were going to have much of a future.

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Another early Friedrich effort teamed him with Neal Adams, reintroducing Wildcat!

Spectre, Wildcat ™ and © DC Comics

Marvel had come along and was doing much better with much fewer titles. There was a sense within DC itself that they had become stale. They got worried that the kinds of stories they were telling weren’t as current and interesting. There was this whole counter-culture [thing happening], with baby boomer kids growing up. Times were changing and the older editors at DC really felt lost. They particularly did not feel that the current people they had, who had been working for them for 15 or 20 years, were up to the challenge that Marvel presented or for the new audience that was out there. They didn’t know where to go next.

Comics were traditionally never an attractive field to work in as a career. Now all of a sudden there were these comic fans who, hey!, wanted to become comic people.

They wanted to be writers. They wanted to be artists. I was lucky enough to be in the first wave of that. I landed on the beach early [laughs] and was able to get a little bit of a foothold there at a much earlier age than people after me were able to do. It was probably the last time an 18-year-old writer was hired by DC or Marvel.

RA: Jim Shooter may have had you beat in age. I think he was around 15 or 16 when he sold his first script for the “Legion of Superheroes.”

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MF: Yeah, he was. That’s my point. A couple of years later than this and a teenaged writer wouldn’t have been able to get in. There was only a narrow window of time that I was fortunate to slip through, along with Gerry Conway, Cary Bates, Len Wein, and Marv Wolfman.

RA: I do recall an interview in which Neal Adams mentioned that, in 1967, he was the first new artist that DC had hired in probably ten or 15 years, since about 1954.

MF: Well, that was certainly true, meaning the first new artist. Jim Shooter and Cary Bates were writing for DC before Neal was drawing for them. DC had not brought in a new artist in a long, long time.

Of course, in the 1950s, the whole field had shrunk dramatically. So when there was any sort of revival, at either

DC or Marvel, who they hired first were people that they used to work with before the collapse. They would bring people back into the field.

Pretty soon, Marvel was facing the same problem as DC. By the early 1970s, Marvel had no old people to bring back anymore, so the doors began to open to new people. They needed fresh blood as well and began to draw on the fan talent as it evolved.

RA: I noticed, and it seemed a rather curious thing at the time that, while Marvel had been very much the trendsetter during the 1960s, the new artists and writers seemed to have an easier time finding a home at DC than at Marvel. Marvel seemed very resistant to the idea of new blood.

MF: Right. A company has a certain way of doing things, especially if they enjoy a certain amount of success. If it worked, why mess with a formula that was succeeding? Through the 1960s, Stan Lee basically brought back people that he’d worked with during the Atlas days and even earlier, back to the 1940s. Almost every artist that we think of as a Marvel artist during the 1960s and well into the 1970s had personal and professional dealings with Stan going way, way back. I wrote Iron Man in the early 1970s for about four years, and George Tuska drew it. George was probably [looking] towards the end of his career, but he’d started with Stan during World War II! That was just the kind of guy that Marvel hired. It literally took an entire generation of people retiring in the field before Marvel moved to get new people in.

RA: Part of the need for new artists could also be due to that massive expansion of their titles from 1972–75. But at that point, they were also picking up a lot of artists from DC, like Bob Brown and Jim Mooney.

MF: Yeah, well, by then DC had brought the talent in. DC was not able to control their collapse until well into the 1970s, so the pay rates for DC stayed kind of static, and Marvel, certainly by the mid-1970s, came to be the better place to work in terms of making money and having fun. It wasn’t until Jeanette Kahn came in and turned things around that DC got to be more interesting again. Even then, it took five or six years to take root.

RA: One thing I’ve noticed about your stories, for both DC and Marvel, was that they tended to be concerned with contemporary social issues more than most other writers of the time. In previous DC stories, the stories all seem to be centered in a world based on the small-town values and life of Superman’s fictional hometown, Smallville. Even stories set in Gotham or Metropolis didn’t appear to be particularly urban. Small fictional towns like Smallville, or Archie Comics’ Riverdale, often seemed to be stuck in a time period where nothing happening in the stories seemed to reflect what was actually going on in the real world. I think yours were the first stories—at least at DC—to blatantly put characters into situations that were actually talked about in the news. Of course, a lot of those “relevant”stories today can seem to be pretty heavy handed in their approach, regardless of who was involved in the writing or art.

MF: It’s very embarrassing to look back at that stuff. [laughs] DC just didn’t know how to deal with what Marvel was doing in the 1960s. Stan was acting like he was this hip guy. He came across

DC’s social concerns crop up in the pages of Justice League of America with Friedrich’s hip new approach.

Justice League and all related characters ™ and © DC Comics

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(left) Another early effort, this time with Berni Wrightson for Web of Horror #3. (right) Skywald’s first horror magazine, Nightmare #1 (Dec. 1970), with cover art by Brendan Lynch. © respective owners

with the notion that young readers counted, that they were important to him and to Marvel. His literary voice resonated with an older reader than what DC was reaching. Stan was hitting the junior high school age, while DC was hitting grammar school kids. Kids who read DC had older brothers who were reading Marvel, and their friends down the street were reading Marvel. If you were older, you read Marvel, and, for that simple reason, DC began to look decidedly uncool. Stan acted like this was some big college sensation, which was a complete fabrication. But it made the high school kids feel like they were sophisticated.

DC had no idea how to make that approach work. Practically all those people who had produced their earliest stuff, which had been done in the 1940s, were gone. The people who created those characters and those stories weren’t around, and there were a bunch of resident writers and artists, who had taken over from the original creators, who were just told to keep on doing what they’d done before. So DC brought in the new people, and like I said, I was one of the earliest ones. We were encouraged to write contemporary stories, to be hip—whatever that actually meant to us.

Well, let me tell you, in high school and college, I was not a hip person. [laughs] I was aware of what was around me, of the things that I was having to deal with in my regular life. So those were the issues that were out there. The 18

Vietnam War, for example, which was quite unpopular— we were all worried that we were going to get involved in it personally. The whole civil rights movement had exploded.

The environmental movement was developing. Women’s rights were coming to the fore. It was a very turbulent cultural time. It was hard not to reflect that in my work.

I was not very well trained as a writer. I was completely self-taught. I did not really have strong craft at that age, so I read that stuff now and I cringe because it’s just so clunky.

But there was a bit of life to it.

RA: I should probably note that when I was helping the late Al Hewetson (the one-time editor of the Skywald line) with his Illustrated History of the Skywald Horror-Mood, he didn’t have credits for the early issues of either Nightmare or Psycho because he wasn’t the editor there at the time. The first two or three issues didn’t have any credits at all, except in the masthead on the title page. A lot of the writers mentioned there I don’t think even existed. Anyway, he wanted to know if I could figure out who had written the two or three original stories in those early issues, and yours was fairly easy to figure out because your stories tended to center around some kind of social issue, whereas Marv Wolfman, for example, had zero social commentary in his work. I think you wrote a story called, “The Pollution Monsters” that Don Heck illustrated.

MF: Yeah, that was me. I barely remember working for Skywald. I only wrote the one story for them. It was a bizarre experience working for those fellows. I knew Sol Brodsky, who was the “Sky” half of Skywald, but I did not know Izzy Waldman, who was the “wald” half of Skywald. Waldman had been a fringe distributor for quite a while, some ten, fifteen, twenty years.

RA: You mentioned in a previous interview that one of the reasons you left DC and went over to Marvel was that at Marvel, at the time, the writer was basically acting as his own editor. There was less hassle, and you could make more money writing more scripts with the time freed up from having to deal with story conferences.

MF: That had a lot to do with it. As things evolved at DC and I became more aware of the kind of work I was doing and how to do it, the stuff that I liked to do was heavily influenced by the way that Marvel Comics told their stories.

I was writing my stories more and more like that, but I was getting flak for it at DC. They were telling me I was writing too much like Marvel. So, at some point I just figured, “Well, wait a minute. Why should I get bashed for doing something that I like to do? Why not go where they want me

RA: I think he did crossword puzzles and that sort of stuff.

MF: Yeah, that kind of stuff. Weird little things. I’m sort of inclined to call him a street hustler, but I really don’t know what he did actually. The magazine distribution field had completely consolidated by the 1980s when I started paying attention to it. I remember that summer pretty well. I think it was 1970, where I was not really making much money. Barely hanging on with a couple of things with DC. It was just before things completely turned around and I gained two regular books with DC, primarily Justice League. But that particular summer I was really struggling.

Roy Thomas called me up and said, “Sol Brodsky has left Marvel, and he was asking for names of people who might be available for scripts.” Roy was totally happy to give them the names of DC writers. [laughs] So Roy connected me to Sol and I went over there.

Sol in turn connected me to the editor, who was the son of Izzy Waldman. All I remember is that he was this young guy, about 22, wearing a suit topped off with a head of curly red hair, which looked really bizarre to a T-shirt and jeans guy like myself. He had absolutely no idea of what a comic book was, and he was the editor! [laughs] I was getting the strangest story requests [from them], and they weren’t paying very well. I turned in the smog monster story and I was very embarrassed by it. I didn’t think it was very good. Now that I’m talking about it, I think I talked to them about a second story, but I don’t think I ever did it.

I actually remember being so embarrassed I didn’t want to come in to pick up my check. Fortunately, a couple of weeks later, I got assigned the Justice League book as an ongoing assignment, so I didn’t have to worry about Friedrich’s only story for Skywald appeared in Nightmare #1 with art by Don Heck. © respective owners Skywald anymore.

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to do that?” Then at Marvel, I really was more in control of the stories. I was not really an editor but was pretty close to being my own editor. I dealt more directly with the artist. I never really dealt with the artist at DC. At Marvel I felt I was creating a story that was more a true combination of story and art. It was tied together more. I felt that the way Marvel worked created that synergy, that fusion that, at the time, DC just didn’t have.

RA: That sounds about right. And Roy did an excellent job.

MF: Yeah, but Roy left somewhere towards the end of that period, and that’s where I was trapped. At some point, Roy quit and there was a succession of editors that finally stabilized with Jim Shooter. Gerry Conway, Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, and Archie Goodwin were among them. Unfortunately I didn’t have the same relationship with them that I had with Roy.

RA: I remember meeting Stan Lee, just RA: To move on, with Star*Reach, once, in 1975. He was doing a lecture one of the things I said in my introducseries at college campuses. I remember tion…. asking him a question about Steve MF: That was very nice of you, by the Englehart’s Captain America book, way. I really appreciate it. mostly about how Steve had tied in the whole Watergate mess into the storyline RA: Well, I felt the book and its influand that Steve had actually had an unence had been long overlooked. At least named Richard Nixon commit suicide at the time I initially wrote it. Since in the book. It was absolutely clear from that time there has been a major writehis answer that Stan had no idea what up in Comic Book Artist, the comics was going on in a book that he was the history magazine, when it was being publisher of, and I think technically the published by Top Shelf. I certainly editor or editor-in-chief of. I rememhope there’s more attention paid to ber being mildly appalled at the time the book by historians and collectors and wondered a bit later if I had gotten as a result of this book.

Englehart fired off the book, because he Star*Reach was one of the first didn’t last on it very much longer. “alternative” comics that I bought.

MF: That’s right. Well, you’d have to Although that word—alternative— ask Steve about the timing. My sense wasn’t being used at the time and is that Steve did not get forced off the neither was “independent.” “Groundbook for that storyline [for the relevel” was what you were using, a play cord, Englehart left Captain America on words based on the underground for entirely different reasons—RA]. comics. You weren’t really underground, Certainly Roy Thomas, or whoever nor were you a mainstream publisher. was the editor-in-fact [Stan was the You were ground-level. editor-in-chief—RA], was reading I’d ordered a copy of Jim Sterthe material. At the time, 1973–74, anko’s Mediascene or Comixscene [he whenever it was that Englehart was changed the name and focus of the tabdoing that, Stan was really not editloid on a regular basis—RA] and he had ing the stuff at all. For all intents a bunch of ads in the back, selling the and purposes, Roy came on and fanzines and whatnot of the era. I was 19 was doing the bulk of the editing or so. I ordered the first four or five from about 1969 on. He slowly Friedrich moves to Marvel, writing westerns. His issues of Star*Reach, mostly because first Marvel superhero writing gig was on Iron Man. moved up the ladder, not that there Iron Man, Outlaw Kid ™ and © Marvel Characters, Inc. Frank Brunner, whom I’d liked on was much of a ladder to move up, Dr. Strange, was doing the covers for and took on more and more responsibilities. By the end of some of them. What I really liked about Star*Reach, right off the 1960s, Roy was pretty much the one coordinating the the bat, was that not only were the stories more mature in conwriting. Roy got the actual editor title when Stan moved on tent than the average comic of the time, but that the quality to Hollywood in 1971 or 1972. I had maybe two conversa- of writing was more mature as well. Comics of the 1970s had tions with Stan during the five or six years that I worked at characters who talked forever! Just jabbered constantly! Even Marvel. He never looked at anything I wrote. Or talked to the books considered to be the great ones of the period, such as me about it. We, the writers, were always dealing with Roy. Tomb of Dracula, etc., were very long-winded. Part of that 20

(above) Berni Wrightson art from I’ll Be Damned #4. (right) More Wrightson art, this time from Scream Door #1. © respective owners.

was the influence of Stan Lee, because that’s his style. His Spider-Man wisecracked though every one of his fights. It’s not that the writers who followed him were bad, or that Lee himself was bad. They weren’t and he wasn’t. There were some good writers working on those books. It was just, I suppose, the style of the time. It worked for Stan, so it should work for everything! But the characters in Star*Reach talked like people talked.

MF: Well, the short story form, and that’s what Star*Reach was—comic short stories—forces you to bring things down to what you can do in a very limited amount of pages. Marvel had no real restrictions on how long the story was. They were basically unending stories. People could do year-anda-half stories and it didn’t matter if you had characters just talking for three pages.

RA: I don’t mind talking-head pages, as long as they’re talking about something interesting. I do dislike characters making long speeches during scenes where they would logically be out of breath and not doing a monologue.

MF: When you’ve only got eight pages to tell your story, you just can’t spend two pages talking. You’ve got to move the story along. I think that’s what made a lot of the difference. Of course, we were very consciously going after an older reader. We assumed the readers were adult.

RA: Personally, I thank you for that. At the time I was trying to become a more discerning reader, picking harder, more thoughtful material to read, and your stories fit right into that.

The mainstream comics just weren’t doing it for me anymore.

I wasn’t a big fan of the undergrounds at the time, although I’ve come to appreciate them more as time goes on. But I should note that the undergrounds also avoided that verbose, longwinded dialogue that marred many of the mainstream books for me. Like Star*Reach, the undergrounds tended to tell the story and tell it very quickly. I also discovered that I really enjoyed anthology comics. I still do. It’s a case of, “If you don’t like this particular story, there’s a new one only a page or so away!”

I’ve never really lost that love for the anthology, whether it be a comic or prose collection.

MF: See, there were other alternative comics before mine.

Bernie Wrightson, Bruce Jones, all of them did that type of work. Not as polished as the mainstream books, but the content was very different from what DC or Marvel or even the undergrounds were doing. That’s what fueled interest in Star*Reach. The artists themselves wanted to do fantasy and science fiction. The publishers didn’t; they wanted to do superheroes. Where could someone like Bernie Wrightson go? Bernie didn’t want to do The Flash or Spider-Man. 21

Barry Windsor-Smith’s opening double-page spread ran in Savage Sword of Conan #16. Inks by Tim Conrad and script by Roy Thomas.

Bran Mak Morn ™ and © Robert E. Howard Properties, LLC.

RA: His style is like Will Eisner’s in that his strong suit isn’t drawing convincing superheroes. When he or Eisner did superhero comics, the characters would all look like they were wearing actual clothes instead of skin-tight costumes.

MF: [laughs] That’s right! So that was part of the interest.

Just being able to put out stuff that nobody else was putting out. I started thinking about Star*Reach in 1972, and the secret behind its origin was about the story that never got published in Star*Reach. It was a Roy Thomas/Barry Windsor-Smith adaptation of a Robert E. Howard character called Bran Mak Morn.

RA: Was that “Worms of the Earth”? I remember that Barry did about nine or ten pages of that adaptation, and then Tim Conrad finished the story.

MF: Yeah, that’s it. Barry did a few pages and then gave up on it. After a while Roy gave up on it too. I think Roy wanted to declare a little bit of independence from Marvel.

He was having one of his periodic ongoing disagreements with management and, at one point, the idea of doing this 22

Robert E. Howard story—which Marvel didn’t have the rights to—sounded good to him. Marvel was only doing Conan and Kull at that point. They weren’t doing the minor Howard characters.

So Roy talked to Barry about doing this story for me and I got very excited. I found the money and said, “I can pay you X amount,” then it never got finished. For whatever reasons, only a few pages got drawn. In the meantime, Marvel began doing the Conan black-and-white magazine; first Savage Tales and, later, Savage Sword. I think Roy realized that this was something that Marvel would do now and he could get in trouble if it were published elsewhere, so he got Tim Conrad to finish the story, and it ended up in Savage Sword some years later. [I should note here that I talked to Roy Thomas regarding the origins of “Worms of the Earth,” and he had no recollection of this at all, although he did say it might be possible. Barry Windsor-Smith didn’t reply to my email inquiries. However, the known timeline of Windsor-Smith’s work on the first nine or ten pages (1972–73) does fit Mike’s recollections—RA]

At some point I gave up waiting for “Worms of the Earth” and started talking to Jim Starlin and Howard Chaykin.

They were really close friends at the time. I don’t remember who I talked to first. It probably would have been Starlin, because he and I had been roommates for a while. I was still working for Marvel at this point and was continuing to have a working relationship with him. He’d get into a bind scripting and he’d call me up, and I’d quickly write something he’d gotten way behind on. Out of that conversation I probably would have told him about the thing that Roy and Barry were doing. Jim and Howard got interested in doing this stuff and wound up in the first issue.

Howard had done a lot of work for DC, maybe not so much at the time for Marvel. He and I had pitched a project to Marvel, an adaptation of “Beowulf,” that Roy really liked but Stan Lee didn’t think he could sell, so they didn’t go forward with it. Chaykin would probably have been working in Neal Adams’ studio at that point, but I’m not sure of that.

RA: I’ve talked to Walt Simonson about his story in the first issue of Star*Reach and found out that his story for Star*Reach #1 had been done when he was in college. The writer, Ed

Hicks, was actually a college buddy of his. That first issue also had Chaykin’s “Cody Starbuck,” which was a rehashed version, although it was much more mature in approach, of his DC strip “Ironwolf,” as well as two or three stories by Starlin and several humorous fish strips by Steve Skeates. I wasn’t really familiar with Skeates at the time, although he’d had a long career as a scripter for the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and for Charlton and Warren, as well as for DC. MF: True, but he’d never drawn anything.

RA: And his cartoony/underground style didn’t look like anybody else’s either. Certainly not in the commercial comic sense, anyway.

MF: The way it was originally set up was that Star*Reach #1 was going to be a 32-page comic with 16 pages by Starlin and 16 pages by Chaykin. They did their stories, and then I changed my mind at the last minute and decided to make it a 48-page comic. I’m not entirely sure of the reasoning behind that except that I, as a collector, had really liked the comics from the late 1940s through the early 1950s that had been 48 pages. I really thought that the 32-page comic was just too small for an anthology series. There just wasn’t enough room for variety.

Howard Chaykin’s Cody Starbuck (left) and writer Steve Skeates’ comedy effort (right) both from Star*Reach #1.

Cody Starbuck ™ and © Howard Chaykin. Suburban Fish © Steve Skeates.

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The opening page of Jim Starlin’s “…The Birth of Death” story from Star*Reach #1.

Death © Jim Starlin.

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I don’t remember who I talked to, it could have been either Chaykin or Starlin, that I’d decided to add another 16 pages. Did they know anyone who’s got a story? Well, somebody said, “I know this guy, Walt Simonson.” Simonson was just starting out and was a very interesting artist. They got back to me and said he’s got a twelve-page story. I was still four pages short, and that’s where Steve Skeates came in.

RA: Skeates had done some of those same types of fish stories for a fanzine called Phase in 1971. It was a 64-page fanzine that sold for an ungodly amount of money in 1971. I think it was priced at $5.00 or more, which was a tremendous amount of money for a comic at the time. Newsstand comics were still 15 cents. Which may be a good reason that there wasn’t an issue #2….

MF: I don’t remember that part at all. Skeates was a writer, of course. He wrote Aquaman for DC during the time that I was working there.

RA: Now, it was a full year before the next issue came out.

MF: Yep. RA: The first one reads a lot like the fanzines and prozines of the day, except that it’s longer than most of those at 48 pages.

The second one was a little different in that you included newer artists. Ones I’d never seen before, who were quite talented.

John Workman, in particular, had a notable debut.

MF: That may have been his first published work. I’m not sure. He had a lot of little stuff appearing right around that time. Neal Adams did the cover for a story that Dick Giordano and I worked on.

RA: How did your financial plan work as far as selling the book? At the time, there were a few comic shops on both coasts, but not that many.

MF: I didn’t really have one. For the first couple of years, I was just going from one issue to the next. I did realize that the comic stores were emerging, particularly here in the Bay area, where they first appeared in some sort of quantity. I knew Bud Plant pretty well. At the time, he was a co-owner of a couple of stores, as well as a mail order distribution service. Bud knew Phil Seuling, back in New York, who was a major champion of comic shops. Bud and Phil were good buddies.

The first weekend I sold Star*Reach #1 was at a one-day comic show in Berkeley. I was living down in Hayward, which is about 20 miles from there. I came up, brought the comics, and sold them to Bud Plant and some to Last Gasp—the underground publisher and distributor. The book was such an instant success that day that the both of them came back for big reorders. Like on Monday. The show was on Saturday and on Monday they were both back calling me for a lot more comics. I covered my printing costs within the first week. Then a week or so later Phil

John Workman’s Star*Reach debut.

Key Club © John Workman.

Seuling got in touch with me, wanting copies. He’d gotten my number from Bud. Basically, people got in touch with me. I didn’t know who was out there. I didn’t really have a plan. Later on I advertised in the Comic’s Buyers Guide, but I don’t remember that I did for that first issue. I think it was all word of mouth. It wasn’t until the second or third issue that I started putting ads out. Mostly people came to me and said, “Hey, this is great!”

It took me a while to realize that I needed to sell only to distributors. I didn’t really want to deal directly with store owners. That was a key strategic decision that I’ve never regretted because that helped build up the modern day business that’s enabled comics to survive at all. By selling directly to the distributors it was, at the same time, strengthening them.

I really was just going from issue to issue. I couldn’t get the people who’d done the first issue to do another for a while. Starlin, Chaykin, and Simonson were all in high demand by the end of 1974. I couldn’t match DC or Marvel’s rates. I didn’t have the money to buy two or three issues of material in advance. I had a hard time making a longterm commitment to people when Marvel could offer you 25

a book a month. At my best, when I was hitting my peak, I was only putting a book out eight issues a year. And that’s only if you consider Imagine as an alternate issue of the Star*Reach book. I couldn’t offer the stability that a creator could get from Marvel or DC. RA: I’ve always felt you really settled into what the book was going to be with #4 or #5. The first couple, three issues seemed to be tryout issues of sorts.

MF: Right. Right. By #4 I think we hit our stride. By #6– 8, I hit the epitome of what I was looking for. There was the wonderful Elric story that Moorcock allowed us to do.

Robert Gould, who drew that story, is still doing Elric covers and book covers. He’s a great artist.

RA: What happened to Eric Kimball, who wrote that Elric story?

MF: No idea. Gould and Kimball were buddies. The Elric story just showed up in the mail one day. A total surprise.

I tried to get additional work from them, and all I got was a brief one-page story. They weren’t able to do more. That story, though, was the biggest and most pleasant surprise I got the full time I was publishing.

RA: It was a beautifully done story. It fit in well with the emerging themes of Star*Reach and had gorgeous artwork.

MF: The cover came later. That was interesting too. I don’t remember now how I got Jeff Jones to do that cover. It’s Bernie Wrightson, painted as an albino, who’s the model, which was funny. Then we had Barry Smith as the next cover artist.

RA: Star*Reach, Imagine, and Quack! all had impressive covers for the most part.

MF: Frank Brunner and I were neighbors for a time in Oakland. He did some good covers for me.

(above and right) Early ads for the Friedrich-coined “ground-level” comics. (below) The Last Gasp version of Pudge, Girl Blimp, which Friedrich would reprint. © Star*Reach Productions.

Pudge, Girl Blimp ™ and © Lee Marrs

RA: I remember not particularly caring for Lee Marrs’ work in the early issues, but then she did a story called, “Waters of Requital,” which was quite a step forward in her work. It was not just the improvement in the art but that it was a very good dramatic story. I was quite impressed with that one.

MF: That’s the story where she turned the corner in terms of maturity. She did the graphic novel Stark’s Quest for me, and we also published a number of her stories in Epic Illustrated and Heavy Metal. Those were intended for Star*Reach, created for Star*Reach, but I was not able to publish them. My representing those stories and the stories

by Ken Steacy and Craig Russell were what helped start my representation business, along with Mark Evanier and Steve Gerber. Lee’s solo book, Pudge, Girl Blimp, is what led me to her material. I ended up publishing two issues of that magazine and reprinting the first issue as well.

RA: Thank you for sending me the Pudge books, by the way. I’ve never read them before and they’re quite funny. One question I wanted to ask was about the rabbit character by Steve Leialoha. In the early fantasy stories, he’s called Newton, the Rabbit Wonder, and in the later, western stories he’s called Rick Rabbit. Were they the same character or two different rabbit characters?

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A page from Robert Gould’s impressive comics debut with Michael Moorcock’s Elric in Star*Reach #6.

Elric © Michael Moorcock.

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MF: Well, if you really look at those stories, with the exception of the extended western story, every story was completely different from the one before it, regardless of the name the rabbit went under. I asked him at the time and he just sort of shrugged. I expect his answer today would be the same. My favorite one of those would have been the western one. That one was really fun.

RA: What prompted the creation of Quack!? Was it just that Frank Brunner was interested in doing a version of Howard the Duck that Brunner himself could own?

MF: Well, that’s what started it, the whole Howard the Duck thing. Howard was a big success right out of the gate, and Frank was interested in doing this one story, so that launched Quack!. I just assumed that there would be a huge interest in this type of story, so I created an ongoing title, but Howard the Duck and stories like that turned out to be a relative flash in the pan. It lasted only about a year.

There was some good material in Quack! though. Some of Dave Sim’s early work. This was all his pre-Cerebus material. I think he’d written me a science-fiction story first.

That’s what led me to connect with him at first. I’d met him as a fanzine publisher initially. He interviewed me

Frank Brunner’s creation, the Duckaneer, put the quack in Quack!

The Duckaneer © Frank Brunner.

about Star*Reach and then talked about the stuff that he was interested in doing. So he did the “I’m God!” story, which I really liked a lot. It’s one of my favorites. I think it’s very funny.

A Dave Sim/Fabio Gasbarri team-up from Star*Reach #7.

I’m God! © Dave Sim and Fabio Gasbarri.

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RA: I think Sim had done a lot of fanzine work up in Canada, but his only two credits in the U.S. before his appearances in Star*Reach and Quack! were a story that appeared in the last issue of either Skywald’s Psycho or Nightmare and a great story called “The Shadow of the Axe” that Russ Heath illustrated. That one appeared in the May 1976 issue of Creepy. He didn’t draw either one of those stories. Later he did a fanzine story, a parody, about a negative encounter he’d had with Jim Warren. For that story, Sim copied the layouts and panels of Bernie Wrightson’s story, “The Reaper of Love.” Only where Bernie’s story had a child killing his parents, Sim’s version had the child killing Jim Warren and Warren editor Bill DuBay! The next story I saw the Sim byline on was “I’m God!” and I remember thinking he was a very impressive writer and decided to make him one of those comic writers that I’d follow around to wherever they went. I really didn’t know him as an artist at all at the time.

MF: Nobody’s going to beat his 300-issue epic-length run on Cerebus. For me and Quack!, he did “The Beavers,” which tried to be a comedy, and he wrote a number of other stories for us. He also wrote and drew one serious story for us, “Cosmix,” which was really good.

Dave was the fellow who turned me onto Gene Day, because they were good buddies. I think Gene’s appearances in Star*Reach were his first appearances in the States, although he too had done work in Canada. [Actually Day had done several one-page pieces for Skywald as well—RA] About a year and a half after Gene’s work began appearing in Star*Reach he was working for Marvel. Mark Gruenwald, from Marvel, called me up and asked for contact info.

Gene was a tremendous artist.

Michael Gilbert did work for Star*Reach.

It took a while for him to hit his stride. The first story of his that really had an impact on me was “A Dream of Milk and Honey.”

I thought that was really great.

RA: It’s a shame that story’s never been reprinted. It’s a great story, one I’d like to see back in print. Your last Star*Reach publication to date was the trade collection, Within Our Reach, from 1991. It was a flip book. I remember that I liked the side that reminded me of Star*Reach quite a lot, but the other, superhero side with Spider-Man and what have you was quite a bit less interesting.

MF: That’s how I felt at the time too. The side with the Concrete story and Craig Russell’s material was the better of the two, and I’d put the good stuff together for exactly that reason. The independent material was very good, and the material

dealing with established characters was so-so at best. I felt very much the same way you did.

RA: Back to the original Star*Reach, I recall what I believe were editorial differences between yourself and Scott Shaw!, who was doing a serial in Quack!, that provoked a rather angry statement by you in one of your editorials.

MF: Well, he’d never turn anything in. It wasn’t editorial differences. Scott just never turned anything in. I just lost my cool in print. You’ve really got to push my button at the wrong time for me to do something public like that.

He pushed it. But it’s all right. I got over it a long time ago.

Scott’s a great talent.

(above) Michael Gilbert’s work for Star*Reach grew over the course of the series. (left) The last—to date—Star*Reach publication.

A Dream of Milk & Honey © Michael T. Gilbert. Spider-Man ™ and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

29

(above) Steve Leialoha inking Jim Starlin from Warlock #15. (below) Linda Lovecraft enters the scene.

Warlock ™ and © Marvel Characters, Inc. Linda Lovecraft ™ and © Mike Vosburg.

RA: I think that was the first time that someone provided in a comic, in print, the reason why a particular artist or writer was not appearing. It’s different today with the Internet and instant responses, but back then, usually a creator would just stop appearing, and the reason was either undisclosed or not revealed until years later.

MF: Well, he just wasn’t doing the work and I’d had it.

RA: Steve Leialoha did a lot of work for you. What can you tell us about him?

MF: Steve was working at Marvel, inking Jim Starlin’s Warlock and what not, before he worked for Star*Reach. Starlin, Frank Brunner, and I had met Leialoha simultaneously at a little mini-con down in San Jose where he was showing his portfolio. Immediately Brunner and Starlin said, “We’ve got to get you to work on our stuff!” They got him hired at Marvel. I couldn’t offer him the rates he got there, but he was interested in keeping his own thing going as well, so he would work for me as time permitted on the other stuff. He was a pretty fast artist.

RA: In my book on the black-andwhite horror magazines, Horror Comics in Black and White, I noted that Leialoha, as did a lot of future pros, made his first appearance in comics on one of the Warren Publication’s fan pages with fan art.

After his artwork appeared there, he sent in a letter about the experience and included a little ad stating that he was willing to work for anybody on anything.

I don’t know if he got any work off of it, but it took a lot of balls to do that, and it was funny to boot! [laughs] MF: [laughs] I really like that artwork by that new fellow, me! [laughs] 30

RA: Mike Vosburg did a character for you by the name of Linda Lovecraft, whose name he changed slightly to Lori Lovecraft when he revived the character in the early 1990s. Anyway, the co-writer on the stories that ran in Star*Reach was a Mary Skrenes. I remember reading somewhere that she may have written stories under the name of Virgil North, because at that time, the early to mid-1970s, there were very few female comic writers, except in the undergrounds and possibly in the romance comics.

The Virgil North byline pops up on a number of stories that were illustrated by Bernie Wrightson, Jeff Jones, Alan Weiss, etc. Mary, under her own name, co-wrote Omega the Unknown with Steve Gerber. Do you know anything about her or Virgil North?

MF: She was from Las Vegas. I lost track of her a long time ago.

I know she wrote for a while under a penname but I don’t know what it was.

RA: I know Virgil North was a penname for a woman who wanted to write comics for DC, but they wouldn’t hire women as writers at the time.

MF: It’s been too long a time, but I suspect you’re on the right track.

She’s from the right time period, and she eventually did write stories under her own name. See, if she or Virgil North wrote stories for Alan Weiss, then that would work, because Alan was from Las Vegas too. I think he and Mary had gone to high school together or something like that. They had been friends for a while. I think he’s the one who introduced her in New York. I’m pretty sure you’ve got it just about nailed down.

[As it turns out, Mary Skrenes was indeed Virgil North—RA]

RA: The story “Sherlock Duck,” from #4 of Star*Reach, appeared to have a page missing in it. How did that happen?

MF: Bob Smith was the artist on that. He was a good friend of John Workman. It was a joke. It was intended as a joke, leaving out the entire climax. I had completely forgotten about that. I guess it didn’t work for you. Oh well, I won’t do that again. [laughs] RA: Thanks! What can you tell us about Len Wein’s and Howard Chaykin’s “Gideon Faust” series?

MF: Well, there were three stories. Only one of them actually appeared in Star*Reach. The other two came out in color in Heavy Metal after Star*Reach ended. They are almost the same story, told three different times. [laughs] The first one was the best.

The issue that first Faust story appeared in also featured the first appearance of “The Gods of Mount Olympus.”

That material was originally self-published by the writer.

He put out this very large tabloid or newspaper-sized edition of these stories. The first two or three of them anyway.

But he was having distribution trouble, and so I offered to reprint them in comic book size. They were actually reprints when they appeared in Star*Reach. Eventually the artist, Joe Staton, completely redrew one of them for the comics. I printed four of them if I remember, and John Workman was the artist for the last one.

RA: I was tremendously impressed by those stories. Staton’s artwork was stunning, and the stories were the original Greek myths delivered straight, without any superhero over-trappings or with any censorship of the actual myths. I don’t remember the writer doing anything else in comics, which was a shame, because those stories were certainly memorable. I’d buy a book done that way.

MF: I noticed from your commentaries that you missed some of the first editions. Each of those issues had an editorial in each initial publication. Each of those editorials was always dealing with topical material, which is why I dropped them in favor of simple title pages when I reprinted the issues.

RA: Yeah, I tried to include reprint information when I knew about it. Sometimes that wasn’t possible. My copy of #4, for example, has the titlepage for #10 in it.

MF: Oh, really? Wow. That’s a mistake I don’t remember catching. I must have been printing #10 and the reprint of #4 at the same time and the plates got mixed up. I had a small printer, in the middle of Central Valley, who was just barely hanging on. I couldn’t afford to go to anybody else. There were not a whole lot of printers at the time who were willing to print independent comics. I was constantly having to deal with these kinds of production problems.

I had one book where the way the stories broke… it was

The first Gods of Mount Olympus story was reprinted in Star*Reach.

Gods of Mount Olympus © Johnny Achziger and Joe Staton.

folded backwards. So that, with 48 pages, he had page 25 appear as page one! It was just a coincidence that it worked and the stories appeared without a split or break. That was very strange. I had to make a decision then: do I accept this and get the book out, because I was always late? Do I get the book out, or do I make them print them over again?

I think what I did on that one was that I went ahead and released them with the contents in the wrong order the first time around, and then I corrected the pages later when I reprinted the book.

RA: Do you remember the issue that happened to?

MF: It was a late issue—#8, #9, or #10. Somewhere in there. I’d have to go through the actual issues to find that.

I always tried to list which printing of a particular issue was on the inside cover. But, of course, if you don’t have the very last printing you wouldn’t necessarily know how many printings there were. Of the first three issues I think they were all reprinted at least three times. For #6 through maybe #8 there was at least one reprinting. I don’t think anything after that got past first printings.

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The two color versions of Parsifal—the first printing (left) and the corrected second printing (right).

Parsifal © Patrick Mason and P. Craig Russell

RA: You did do some reprintings on later issues, because when you did your first color stories—it may have been a Marshall Rogers story— MF: Oh! That’s one of the things I wanted to clear up for you.

The biggest mistake I ever made was to go with the initial release of the Cody Starbuck and Parsifal color comics. You have the originals, but I don’t think you ever saw what I would call the reprints. Those books were a complete printing disaster.

The printer used the wrong paper and the wrong press. I was financially strapped at this point and I made the wrong decision. I released those things. They were terrible! I got the printer to go back and print them the way they were supposed to be printed, but by then the damage had been done. Everyone’s first impression, like yours, was of this muddy looking mess.

RA: Actually, I may have the reprinted version of Cody Starbuck. The paper on it is white. My copy of Parsifal looks okay except the paper is noticeably more yellow, almost brown, and the color is muddy looking.

MF: The Marshall Rogers story you mentioned never got reprinted. If you compare the reproduction of the color in Star*Reach #13 with the quality of the reproduction on the 32

Rogers story, which appeared in Imagine #1, the differences are striking.

RA: I’ve got a copy of Imagine #1 with a Frank Cirocco cover, yet I’ve seen ads with a Marshall Rogers cover also. I’ve assumed that the Rogers cover was the first printing and my copy is a reprint issue with Cirocco’s back cover reused as the “new” cover.

MF: Oh, well, then you’re right. The Cirocco one is a reprint cover for the corrected color. Star*Reach #12 was Mike Nasser’s story. He goes by a different name now. That’s the one that never got reprinted. I was getting confused. Both of them were wordless strips. The Marshall Rogers one did get reprinted, so you have the correct version. Then Steve Leialoha’s “Quicksilver Serpent” began in color. It was supposed to be a series, but only one or two episodes appeared.

RA: Star*Reach published the first manga to appear in America.

How did that come about?

MF: I’ve never met the Japanese artist I published, although we did present a fair amount of his work. Oddly enough, he’s not a comic book artist in Japan. He was basically a fan artist over there. He could not make his living as an artist in

Japan because his work was considered too American! If you look at it now, it was probably the first combination of manga and American comics. His work didn’t quite fit anywhere. But, yeah, there’s a book, Manga! Manga!, which certifies that the first appearance of manga in the United States was in Star*Reach. I had no idea that that was true.

RA: I’ve no knowledge of Manga! Manga! [subtitled The World of Japanese Comics, by Frederik L. Schodt—RA]. I just was checking credits and couldn’t find any earlier Japanese artist or work appearing in the U.S. Sanho Kim did an enormous amount of work for Charlton and Warren, but his work isn’t technically manga, since he is a Korean.

MF: Yes, I came across Manga! Manga! in 1982, and until then I had no idea that those stories in 1977 were considered the first ones in the States. I thought Barefoot Gen, the nuclear holocaust book series, was the first manga to appear Stateside.

RA: Really? When I was researching, I thought I had Barefoot Gen as appearing no earlier than 1979 or 1980 in the U.S. MF: Well, perhaps Star*Reach was the first then. Did you see the newer Barefoot Gen editions? I just picked some up at the San Diego Comic-Con a couple of weeks ago. They’ve been reprinted and totally re-translated. They’re much more readable than the original translated editions, which could be rather difficult to follow.

RA: I’ll have to look those up. Now, Jeff Bonivert also had his debut in Star*Reach….

MF: Jeff is credited as being the slowest cartoonist on the planet.

He’s probably drawn less than a dozen stories in his career, and I published two of them.

RA: In recent years he’s been doing adaptations for the Graphic Classics line of books. Poe and Lovecraft and the like. His art style looks a bit different. Not as elaborate or ornate as in the 1970s but still pretty darn cool. It’s still unlike nearly every other artist around.

MF: Yeah, I saw one of those books he did a couple of years ago that was pretty good.

RA: He has an interesting approach to art. I was quite impressed with his Star*Reach work. He’d also done two or three stories for Michael Gilbert’s fanzine around that time as well.

MF: Jeff probably came my way because of his association with Michael. I reprinted a story or two from Michael’s fanzine as well.

I also published the first of Craig Russell’s opera adaptations.

That’s the stuff that has lasted the longest, both for Craig and for Star*Reach. They’re still in print today.

RA: You wouldn’t have thought at the time that adapting opera would be a wise move.

MF: It was a bizarre idea! How do you adapt something that’s aural into a visual form? It makes no sense. And not just aural, but sung aural! It makes no sense, and yet the material is so powerful that it works. He’s been doing those adaptations since 1977, and it’s all still in print. A lot of stuff has fallen away, but that stuff has lasted.

(top) Manga makes its U.S. debut! (bottom) Jeff Bonivert’s ornate style.

Bushi © Satoshi Hirota and Mukaide. My Fears © Jeff Bonivert.

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Ken Steacy’s work in the Canadian fanzine Orb led to him working for Star*Reach.

Electric Warrior © Ken Steacy and Kerri Ellison

RA: I guess congratulations are in order, just for you being the first to recognize the quality and publish it.

MF: Well, I was working on the assumption that professional artists knew best what they wanted to do. I would go to these people and say, “You can do whatever you want to do.” That’s what Craig wanted to do. It didn’t make any sense to me, but if that’s what he wanted to do, then do it! Sure enough, it turned out to be the right thing for him to do.

RA: He was just coming off “Killraven” and the Dr. Strange Annual at the time, where his artwork had gone from promising to mature in a relatively short period of time. You’d worked with him fairly early in his career, on “Ant-Man.” MF: Right, I wrote the first story he penciled that was his first solo work. He’d done some earlier work as an assistant for Dan Adkins—layouts, inking, finished pencils—but “Ant-Man” was his first solo job. It’s interesting, though, that even his early opera work holds up very nicely today.

Even though he’s gotten much better over the years, he’s really there with that first adaptation.

Ken Steacy appeared in those issues also. I became aware of him from Orb, a Canadian fanzine. I was very impressed with Orb and the artists who worked for it. That’s also where I came across Dean Motter. Actually, I contacted Ken, and then he and Dean replied as a team. That’s how I met Dean.

RA: Yeah, I’d never heard of Dean until the first installment of “The Sacred and the Profane” appeared in #9. That version, the first one, is actually the version that I prefer. [See my notes for #9 for more on the two different versions—RA] 34

MF: I don’t think the revised, second version holds up as well. I like the relaxed storytelling better, but I didn’t think the artwork was as solid as the first version.

RA: Odd, I had the opposite reaction. I liked the artwork in the second version just fine, but I thought the writing on the first version to be superior to the second. Dean had done some changes in the storyline that I thought blurred the point of the novel. I thought it lost a bit of focus. Still, it’s a great story either way. I’d like to see a reprinting of the second color version, an interview with the creators about the two different versions, then a reprinting of the first, black-and-white version as one volume. That would be ideal!

Was it the first modern graphic novel? I’m aware of Gil Kane’s His Name Is Savage from 1968, but that is actually a novella. Will Eisner’s A Contract with God came out about six months after “Sacred and the Profane” concluded. Earlier Al Hewetson and Jesus Suso Rigo had done a horror serial, “The Saga of the Victims,” that Hewetson actually described as a graphic novel during the course of publication. Hewetson’s remarks on that story in 1974 had the first use of the term “graphic novel” that I’ve seen in print. “The Saga of the Victims” didn’t get concluded for decades however, due to Skywald’s collapse.

MF: Well, the one that I’m most aware of was Jack Katz’s The First Kingdom. It wasn’t finished at that point, but Katz intended that comic to be considered as an extended epic novel. He may have cut it short a bit. He was talking about it at the time as a graphic novel. Will Eisner would have heard the term graphic novel from Jack Katz. Katz was the one who pushed that term, “graphic novel,” into

The original Star*Reach (left) and redone Epic Illustrated (right) versions of “The Sacred and the Profane.”

The Sacred and the Profane © Dean Motter and Ken Steacy

acceptance. He was telling everybody that graphic novels were the future; that, “I’m the future. I’m doing graphic novels. You should do graphic novels.” He was telling everybody they should be doing graphic novels. He was right. He was 30 years ahead of his time, but he was right.

RA: You were also willing to experiment with some odd art approaches. I remember that stained glass story you published….

MF: Mickey Schwaberow was a fanzine artist from here in the area that I had known quite a bit earlier. He had this

idea… I don’t think it works very well, but it was an interesting idea… to tell the story in a series of full-page stainedglass illustrations.

He also did a fantasy serial for us that never got finished. It was sort of a combination of me going out of business and him not having a lot of time to work on it.

By that time, my economics were beginning to deteriorate. I wasn’t able to offer much to anybody. It was getting harder and harder at that point to get people to contribute. It was actually the publishing of the bad color books and segments that killed the company. I so got myself in the hole doing that.

35

RA: If it had been three years later, you’d have had a major success.

MF: You don’t know the half of it. I had, in writing, a license to create an original Batman graphic novel—the first Batman graphic novel—to be done by Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers right after their incredible run in Detective Comics. I had written permission from DC, signed by Paul Levitz. I’d only done a couple of stories in color at that point, but I just didn’t have the resources to pay the artist to do it in color. And the creators refused to allow it to be done in black-and-white. I’d wanted it to be done originally in blackand-white like Sabre had been done by Eclipse [another early independent publisher—RA]. My inspiration was to do a Sabre-like graphic novel with Batman. They upped the ante.

Said it needed to be in color, and I just couldn’t afford to do that anymore. So the project died.

In retrospect, I would have beaten the Marvel Graphic Novel line by two years. I’d have beaten most graphic novels by a couple of years. I went to Marvel and helped Jim Shooter, from the marketing side, to launch their successful graphic novel line. I gave him the marketing support internally to create that program. I just gave the support behind the scenes. I knew that the market was ready for it. If I’d had the money to do the Batman book, though, the history of comics might be quite different.

been selling constantly just stopped going. I went through my best period and my worst period as a publisher within a year. It was very, very fast.

In retrospect, what I should have done was simply increase the frequency of Star*Reach and not launched Imagine. They really were the same magazine anyway. But I was making it up as I went along so…. [laughs] There was one thing I wanted to ask you. You mentioned in your bibliography that I may have published Dave Stevens’ first story. I don’t really remember that.

RA: He’s in the first issue of Quack!. I believe it’s a finished pencil and full inking job. That’s one of the first appearances of his that I’ve found, at least under his own name, in comics.

He worked as an assistant with Russ Manning on Tarzan, starting in 1975, but he was uncredited there. He did a comic story intended for Japan, called “Aurora,” which first appeared in this country in Bruce Jones’ Alien Worlds comic in the early 1980s, although it was drawn in 1976 or 1977. But the Quack! credit is just the earliest mention of his name that I could come up with.

It’s possible he has an earlier credit, but I don’t know of any.

MF: Really!? He worked with Scott Shaw on that issue of Quack!. I was aware that he was around for a while, but maybe that’s the Russ Manning connection. I knew Gene Day and John Workman had gotten their debuts with me, but it hadn’t really registered about Dave Stevens.

RA: Towards the end you switched your format, going to magazine size and reducing pages in each A story illustrated in the form issue to 32. The size wasn’t too of stained glass designs by Mickey Schwaberow. troublesome, but the quality of the RA: Well, it’s possible that he has Seriah & Damon © Mickey Schwaberow strips themselves seemed to suffer. earlier credits and I just haven’t MF: I was not a happy camper towards the end. I had got found them yet. But for now I’m going to let my speculation into a negative cycle and couldn’t figure my way out of it. stand. [Thanks to the research by Eric Nolen-Weathington, it It happened very quickly. In May 1977, Star Wars came turns out that Dave Stevens did do a five-page story called out, and everything with the word “Star” in the title began “Teran,” written and edited by David Chamberlain, for the to sell like crazy. So, in the summer of 1977, I just sold fanzine Nuff Said? #2 in 1972. However, Quack! still remains everything. That’s when I decided to launch Imagine. What his first paying credited appearance—RA] I didn’t know was that Star Wars surge was going to attract I know you have to go, so I want to thank you for taking so a whole slew of publishers into the field with similar titles much time to answer my questions. Do you have any last words and themes. So, six months later the increased amount of on the subject? competition caused a significant cutback in initial orders, MF: This has been fun. You’ve brought back a lot of pleasand my reprint policy just fell off the shelf. Stuff that had ant memories. Thanks for talking with me.

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What might have been…. Art from Marshall Rogers’ 1980 Batman portfolio—the result of a try-out effort for the abandoned Batman graphic novel to be published by Star*Reach Productions?

Batman ™ and © DC Comics

37

Chapter Four

The Star*Reach checklist

Star*Reach 1. cover: Howard Chaykin/back cover: Jim Starlin (Apr. 1974) • Editorial [Mike Friedrich/Lee Marrs] 2/3p [text article, frontis] • Observations [Mike Friedrich/Neal Adams] 1/3p [frontis] • …The Birth of Death [Jim Starlin] 8p • Death Building [Jim Starlin/Jim Starlin and Al Milgrom] 7p • Fish Myths [Steve Skeates] 2p • Suburban Fish [Steve Skeates] 2p • A Tale of Sword & Sorcery [Ed Hicks/ Walt Simonson] 12p • Cody Starbuck [Howard Chaykin] 16p • The Origin of God! [Jim Starlin] 1p

Notes: $.75 for 48 pages. Publisher and editor: Mike Friedrich. Starlin’s cover was originally intended for the front cover, and when the issue was reprinted in Nov. 1975, the covers were reversed. I much prefer Starlin’s cover as a front cover. After all, who doesn’t like hot, naked, green alien babes?

The order of the stories was also rearranged in subsequent printings. The reprintings are dated Nov. 1975, Apr. 1977, and Mar. 1978.

“Observations” is in comic strip format, and the art looks like Adams whipped it out in about three minutes. Both it and the editorial were dropped after the first printing and replaced (in 1977) with a title page drawing

by Becky Wilson. This first issue was originally planned as a standard 32-page comic with just the Starlin and Chaykin material appearing, but Friedrich expanded the book shortly before publication. The Hicks/ Simonson story was actually done when Simonson was in college (Hicks was a college buddy of his) and intended for a college newspaper. Because of the different requirements for tabloid and comic book page sizes, Simonson added the mini-strip of the falling man at the bottom of each page, the only part of the story actually done for the Star*Reach presentation. Steve Skeates, a long-time comic writer, had previously published similar “fish tales” in the fanzine Phase in 1971. The best story here would be Starlin’s “…The Birth of Death,” while Starlin, Chaykin, and Simonson share best art honors. Even Skeates’ quirky art is fun to look at. An impressive first issue.

2. cover: Neal Adams/back cover: Lee

Marrs (Apr. 1975) Jim Starlin’s one-pager from Star*Reach #1.

The Origin of God! © Jim Starlin

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• Creativity Unchained [Mike Friedrich/ Lee Marrs] 1p [text article, frontis]

• Stephanie Starr: In the Light of Future Days… [Mike Friedrich/Dick Giordano] 20p • Earthprobe: All a World of Dreamers [Mal Warwick/Lee Marrs] 11p • The Return of the Fish [Steve Skeates] 2p • I’ve Got the Power! [Jim Starlin/Jim Starlin and Al Milgrom] 3p • The Visitor… [Jim Starlin/Jim Starlin and Al Milgrom] 3p • Key Club [John Workman] 8p • Reincarnalation [Mike Vosburg] 1p Notes: $1.25 for 48 pages. Adams’ cover is quite striking. Stephanie Starr was originally intended for a DC title and was altered (with much nudity added) for its appearance here. This issue was reprinted, with

Friedrich and Dick Giordano present Stepanie Starr.

Stephanie Starr ™ and © Mike Friedrich and the Estate of Dick Giordano

39

Friedrich’s editorial replaced by the title page art of Becky Wilson, in Oct. 1976 and Dec. 1977. Since my copy is one of the later reprintings, I suspect but cannot confirm that the stories were rearranged, as they were in #1, for these reprintings. John Workman made his professional comics debut here and also provided the best story and art with his delightful “Key Club.” Other good story work appeared from Jim Starlin, Mike Vosburg, and the Friedrich/Giordano team. If one doesn’t consider Steve Skeates’ fish stories to be a serial (and I don’t), than the hippie SF comedy “Earthprobe” was Star*Reach’s first ongoing storyline.

3. cover: Frank Brunner (Oct. 1975) [wraparound cover] • Editorial [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis] • Dragonus: The Wizard’s Venom [Frank Brunner] 10p • I Hunger and I Wait… [Mark A. Worden/Mark Cohen] 5p [poem] • Earthprobe: On the Shoals of Space [Mal Warwick/Mal Walwick and Lee Marrs] 12p • And Sleep the Long Night in Peace!

[Mal Warwick/Bob Smith and John Workman] 7p

• Linda Lovecraft: High Priestess of Sexual Fantasy [Mike Vosburg] 9p • Wooden Ships on the Water [Mike Friedrich/Steve Leialoha] 5p [from the song by David Crosby, Steven Stills, and Paul Kantner] Notes: Brunner’s story is a sequel to “Dragonus,” which appeared in Phase #1 (Sept. 1971) and was reprinted in Marvel’s black-and-white magazine Monsters Unleashed in Nov. 1973. Vosburg’s “Linda Lovecraft” series is a forerunner to his recent Lori Lovecraft series. It was clearly inspired by the stories of H.P. Lovecraft, with a tip of the hat to the porn “actress” Linda Lovelace. “I Hunger and I Wait” is a poem in comic form, while “Wooden Ships on the Water” has a story woven around the song lyrics from the Crosby, Stills, and Nash song. Brunner’s wraparound cover, featuring Dragonus, is quite striking, and his sword-and-sorcery effort featured the best story and art for this issue, but fine work also appears from Leialoha, Vosburg, Friedrich, Worden, and Cohen. On the “Earthprobe” story, Mal Warwick provided layouts with Lee Marrs providing the finished art. Reprintings of this title, with Friedrich’s editorial replaced by Becky Wilson’s title page art, appeared in July 1977 and June 1978.

4. cover: Howard Chaykin (Mar. 1976) [wraparound cover] • Editorial [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis] • Starbuck [Howard Chaykin] 11p • Linda Lovecraft: The White Slavers of Scrofula! [Mary Skrenes/Mike Vosburg] 10p • Marginal Incident [Steve Leialoha] 8p • Sherlock Duck: The Adventure of the Animated Government [Bob Smith] 5p • Earthprobe: Hidden Worlds, Hidden Dreams [Mal Warwick and Lee Marrs/ Lee Marrs] 11p • Clik! [John Workman] 4p

Frank Brunner’s “Dragonus.”

Dragonus © Frank Brunner

40

Notes: My copy of this issue is a reprint, but the title page that replaces Friedrich’s original editorial is a misprint of Star*Reach #10’s title page, so I’ve no information at this time on reprint dates. The “Sherlock Duck” story appears to have a missing page, as the page numbers go from 1–4 to

page 6, but Mike Friedrich tells me that that was a deliberate joke. “Sherlock Duck” would also appear to be a preview of sorts to Star*Reach’s upcoming Quack! comic.

Chaykin’s “Starbuck” features a much older looking Cody Starbuck than in his first appearance in #1. “Clik!” was a last-minute replacement for another Workman illustrated story, “Comicbook Writer,” that was to have been scripted by Gerry Conway.

When Conway became the new editor-inchief of the Marvel line, he couldn’t finish his story, and Workman’s solo effort, “Clik!” was substituted. With this issue Star*Reach began a fairly regular quarterly schedule.

Best artwork and story here belong to Steve Leialoha’s gentle “Marginal Incident,” while other interesting art and stories appear from Chaykin, Vosburg, Workman, and Marrs.

Mary Skrenes becomes the new scripter on Mike Vosburg’s “Linda Lovecraft” series.

The “Earthprobe” entry was noticeably more serious in its final appearance.

5. cover: Howard Chaykin (July 1976) [wraparound cover] • Editorial [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis] • Gideon Faust, Warlock at Large [Len Wein/Howard Chaykin] 12p • The Gods of Mount Olympus in Ancient Mythology: The Beginning of All Things [Johnny Achziger/Joe Staton] 16p • A Nice Place to Live, But… [Frank Brunner] 1p • Mandy, The Girl with the Most Comics in America [John Workman] 1p • Waters of Requital [Lee Marrs] 8p • Linda Lovecraft: Midnight in the Medina [Mary Skrenes/Mike Vosburg] 10p

A nice one-pager from John Workman.

Mandy © John Workman

Notes: Chaykin delivers a great cover for the debut of the interesting Gideon Faust. Two more Gideon Faust stories appeared in Heavy Metal in 1979 and 1981, both in color. “The Gods of Mount Olympus” is technically reprinted from Johnny Achziger’s self-published tabloid-sized fanzine of the same title. However, it is somewhat rewritten and largely redrawn for its appearance here. Regardless of its origins, the story and art (particularly Staton’s art) are superb; the best in an already strong issue. Lee Marrs’ storytelling ability takes a noticeable upward swing here. With this

issue Star*Reach really began to come into its own. Reprinted in Apr. 1977 and June 1978 with Friedrich’s original editorial replaced by Becky Wilson’s title page art.

6. cover: Jeff Jones (Oct. 1976) • Editorial [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis] • Elric of Melnibone: The Prisoner of Pan Tang [Eric Kimball/Robert Gould] 20p [from the character created by Michael Moorcock]

• Childsong [Gary Petras/Gene Day and Steve Leialoha] 3p • The Gods of Mount Olympus in Ancient Mythology: Zeus and Prometheus [Johnny Achziger/Joe Staton] 15p • Out of Space, Out of Time [Gary Lyda] 8p Notes: Jones’ cover is a superb rendering of Elric, with Bernie Wrightson serving as the model. It is repeated sans copy on the back cover. The Kimball/Gould Elric story 41

(above) More “Elric” art from Robert Gould. (below) Gary Lyda’s debut in Star*Reach #6.

Elric ™ and © Michael Moorcock. Out of Space, Out of Time © Gary Lyda.

was sent in out of the blue, and Friedrich had to obtain Elric creator Michael Moorcock’s permission to allow its appearance.

This set up the decades-long adaptations of the various Elric novels, all initially under Friedrich’s supervision, at Star*Reach, Heavy Metal, Marvel/Epic, and First. Kimball and Gould were college buddies. The story credits notes the story is based on an idea by Steven Grant, so perhaps he was a college buddy of the two as well. While this striking story tended to overshadow the remaining contents, there’s not a weak story here. This is a very strong issue. There were reprintings of this issue, but I don’t have the info on them since this was the first Star*Reach issue I bought as it was published.

7. cover: Barry Windsor-Smith (Jan. 1977) [wraparound cover] • Editorial [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis] • I’m God! [Dave Sim/Fabio Gasbarri] 8p • The Bushi [Sitoshi Hirota/Masaichi Mukaide] 8p • The Gods of Mount Olympus in Ancient Mythology: Apollo and Artemis [Johnny Achziger/Joe Staton] 9p • Headtrips [Lee Marrs] 10p • My Fears [Jeff Bonivert] 4p • Skywalker [Mike Vosburg and Steve Englehart/Mike Vosburg] 11p Notes: Windsor-Smith’s cover is an early version of his beautiful Apollo and Artemis print. Sim’s story is very well done, and it, combined with his superb story “The Shadow of the Axe” (art by Russ Heath and printed in Creepy #79 in May 1976), convinced me that he was someone to watch for long before Cerebus appeared. “The

42

(above) Joe Staton artwork for “Gods of Mount Olympus in Ancient Mythology: Apollo and Artemis” from Star*Reach #7. (right) Lee Marrs makes a breakthrough with “Headtrips.”.

Gods of Mount Olympus in Ancient Mythology © Johnny Achziger and Joe Staton Headtrips © Lee Marrs

Bushi” is the first manga story/artwork to appear in the U.S., making this issue a major collector’s item. Lee Marrs really comes into her own as a writer/artist with her fine story, “Headtrips.” Best story is Sim’s effort; best art belongs to Joe Staton with impressive work also appearing from Jeff Bonivert, Vosburg, Englehart, Gasbarri, and Marrs.

This issue was also reprinted. In fact, all of the Star*Reach issues through #10 or so were probably reprinted at least once.

• Divine Wind [Gene Day] 6p

Notes: Russell’s cover is made up of colored panels taken from the interior story.

This was Russell’s first opera adaptation.

Some of his most stunning work has appeared in his opera adaptations over the last four decades. Ken Steacy makes his American debut, though he had appeared in the Canadian fanzine Orb. Gene Day had appeared extensively in various Canadian fanzines, including Orb, but had made his American debut with art work for the Skywald horror line. “The Gods of Mount Olympus,” one of my favorite serials, changes its artist for its last appearance. Best artwork was John Workman’s on “Gods of Mount Olympus,” while the best story honor goes to Patrick Mason and Craig Russell’s opera adaptation.

Notes: “The Sacred and the Profane” was originally intended for the lead feature in the first issue of Andromeda, but when that indy comic was delayed, Friedrich picked up the feature. This was probably the strongest story to run in Star*Reach and provided the best story and art for this issue. It was also arguably the first true original graphic novel to be completed in the 1970s. “Seriah & Damon” is composed of eight full-page stained glass window designs. “Divine Wind” is another very good story, reminding me somewhat of a Sam Glanzman’s “U.S.S. Stevens” story.

• Interface [Ken Steacy] 19p

9. cover: Ken Steacy (June 1977) [wraparound cover]

10. cover: Frank Brunner (Sept. 1977) [wraparound cover]

• “All We Are Saying Is…” [Mal Warwick and Mike Friedrich/Gene Day] 6p

• Editorial [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis]

• Editorial [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis]

• There’s Banging up in Bangor [Gene Day] 3p [poem]

• The Sacred and the Profane: Figure of Menace [Dean Motter/Ken Steacy] 15p

• The Gods of Mount Olympus in Ancient Mythology: Aphrodite [Johnny Achziger/John Workman] 9p

• Homestone [Yves Regis Francois/Raye Horne and Danny Bulanadi] 11p

• Parsifal, part 2 [Patrick C. Mason/P. Craig Russell] 10p [from the opera by Richard Wagner]

8. cover: P. Craig Russell (Apr. 1977) [wraparound cover] • Editorial [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis] • Parsifal: His Journey [Patrick C. Mason/P. Craig Russell] 10p [from the opera by Richard Wagner]

• Crazy Lady!? [John Workman] 1p

• Seriah & Damon [Mickey Schwaberow] 8p

• Worlds Within, Worlds Without…

[Michael Gilbert] 8p

• Linda Lovecraft: Nymphonecromania [Mike Vosburg] 14p • Mariah [Mike Friedrich/Lee Marrs] 8p 43

A page from “The Sacred and the Profane,” illustrated by Ken Steacy.

The Sacred and the Profane © Dean Motter and Ken Steacy

44

Pages from Gene Day’s great World War II tale, “Divine Wind,” and “Samurai.”

Divine Wind, Samurai © Gene Day

• The Sacred and the Profane: Pattern of Wounds [Dean Motter/Ken Steacy] 15p • Aquarian [Steve Leialoha] 1p Notes: “Parsifal,” which is cover featured, would be continued and concluded in the Parsifal color one-shot in 1978. A very strong issue without a weak spot anywhere.

Everything here is of high quality. Reprinted in June 1978 with new title page art by Fabio Gasbarri replacing Freidrich’s editorial.

11. cover: Ken Steacy (Dec. 1977) [wraparound cover] • Editorial [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis] • The Sacred and the Profane: Plague Fugues [Dean Motter/Ken Steacy] 19p • Stark’s Quest: The Sensor [Lee Marrs] 14p • Samurai [Gene Day] 7p • Tempus Fugit: Out One Ear and in the Other [Gary Lyda] 8p

Notes: Two new serials begin this issue from Lee Marrs and Gary Lyda. Both are quite good, although Marrs’ is much more accessible to the reader. Neither, unfortunately, has ever been collected, although I think “Stark’s Quest” in particular would look spectacular in a collected color volume.

• The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth [Roger Zelazny/Gray Morrow] 13p [text story]

back in pages was probably due to the advent of color pages. Brunner’s cover is repeated sans copy on the back cover. In his editorial Friedrich announces a new comic anthology, Imagine, and two color comic specials— Parsifal and Cody Starbuck. Zelazny’s story is a publishing tie-in with the Byron Priess’ publication of the collection “The Illustrated Roger Zelazny.” The first appearance of interior color arrives, looking very muddy and washed out. The expenses of doing, and correcting, color would eventually cause the demise of the company. Gilbert’s story is a reprinted effort from his own fanzine.

• Replay [Michael Gilbert] 3p [reprinted from New Platz Comics: Amazing Adult Fantasies #2 (1976)]

13. cover: Steve Leialoha (Aug. 1978) [wraparound cover]

12. cover: Frank Brunner (Mar. 1978) • Editorial [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis]

• The Old/New/Final Testament [Mike Nasser] 8p [color] • The Sacred and the Profane: Vessels of the Past [Dean Motter/Ken Steacy] 16p Notes: Now $1.50 for 40 pages. The cut-

• Editorial [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis] • The Sacred and the Profane: Final Deliverance [Dean Motter/Ken Steacy] 16p • The Quicksilver Serpent [Steve Leialoha] 8p [color] 45

• Tempus Fugit: Second Venture [Gary Lyda] 8p • Tempus Fugit: Genesis Revisited [Gary Lyda] 8p Notes: In an attempt to remain on schedule, both #13 (which was two months late) and #14 (one month early) are published during the same month.

Friedrich apologizes for this issue’s lateness and blames it on a major contributor who “finked” out, which probably explains why two chapters of Gary Lyda’s serial appeared. The new color serial, “The Quicksilver Serpent,” is never completed.

Too bad, as it looked quite promising.

Best story this issue, and the best serial that Star*Reach ever published, is the con-

clusion of “The Sacred and the Profane,” a stunning achievement on the creators’ part, and an important part of comic history.

14. cover: Ken Steacy (Aug. 1978) [wraparound cover] • Editorial [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis] • Stark’s Quest: Touching [Lee Marrs] 16p • Counterpoint Communion [Dean Motter/Ken Steacy] 8p [color] • Tempus Fugit: Genesis Revisited, part 2 [Gary Lyda] 16p Notes: Published the same month as #13. “Counterpoint Communion” is a color sequel or coda (which has never been

collected or reprinted) to “The Sacred and the Profane.” Marrs’ “Stark’s Quest” gets better and better with each installment.

However, this is its last appearance until #18.

15. cover: Steve Leialoha (Dec. 1978) [wraparound cover] • Editorial [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis] • The Mission [Lee Marrs/Masaichi Mukaide] 9p • Warriors! [Gene Day] 7p • The Quicksilver Serpent, part 2 [Steve Leialoha] 8p [color] • Tempus Fugit: Tempus Fugitives [Gary Lyda] 16p Notes: $1.75. This was the last comicsized, 48-page issue. It also featured the last appearance of “The Quicksilver Serpent,” which was cover featured. The interesting time travel serial “Tempus Fugit” concludes.

16. cover: Paul Rivoche and Ken Steacy (Apr. 1979) [wraparound cover] • Editorial [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis] • Stark’s Quest [Lee Marrs] 16p • Murphy’s Law [Ken Steacy and Jeffrey Morgan/Ken Steacy and Don Marshall] 16p Notes: The magazine-sized format begins, with interior content reduced to 32 pages. Friedrich’s money woes are becoming quite apparent. Interior color was dropped and completed color stories were re-sold and moved to either Heavy Metal or its upcoming Marvel rival, Epic Illustrated.

Both of the lengthy stories this issue are quite good.

17. cover: Jeff Bonivert (July 1979) • Editorial [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis] • The Raven [Edgar Allan Poe/Jeff Bonivert] 7p [poem]

© Jeff Bonivert

• Inter Flight [Stephen Konz] 5p

46

• Chilly [George Szostek] 6p [reprinted from Brainstorm Fantasy Comix #1 (Summer 1977)] • GZ-15 [Stephen Konz] 14p Notes: Easily the worst comic Star*Reach ever published. If not for Jeff

Bonivert’s superb art on his presentation of Poe’s poem, this issue would be a complete write-off. “Inter Flight” is a slight effort, and both “Chilly” and “GZ-15” are wordless strips that cheat the reader since nothing interesting happens in either one.

“Chilly” is also printed so dark that it is hard to make out what, if anything, is going on. Unlike most Star*Reach comics, there is no art on the back cover, and the solid white coloring there makes many, if not all, issues appear dirty after all this time. It is possible this issue was the original intended site for Craig Russell’s cover and color adaptation of “Siegfried and the Dragon,” which ended up, somewhat altered, in Epic Illustrated.

(above) Lee Marrs’ “Stark’s Quest” ended along with the Star*Reach series itself. (right) The first Star*Reach Productions issue of Marrs’ Pudge, Girl Blimp contained reprinted material.

18. cover: Lee Marrs (Oct. 1979) [wraparound cover]

• The Big Fat Rip-Off [Lee Marrs] 4p

• Editorial [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis]

Notes: $1.50 for 32 pages. Magazinesize issue. Reprinted from the original Last Gasp edition (Jan. 1974), it was reprinted yet again in June 1978. Pudge was much more of an underground comic than the other Star*Reach publications. It told the story of a 17-yearold fat girl who moved to San Francisco during the height of the counter-cultural revolution of the early 1970s. Somewhat dated, but quite amusing. A major theme running through all three issues is Pudge’s frantic attempts to lose her virginity.

• Stark’s Quest: Decision [Lee Marrs] 16p • The Soldier Who Guards the Gate of the City [Masaichi Makaide] 2p • Crashing [Steven Grant/Masaichi Mukaide] 12p Notes: Final issue. The sturdy “Stark’s Quest” is concluded. This was a much better issue than the dismal previous one.

Pudge, Girl Blimp

Pudge Girl Blimp ™ and © Lee Marrs

• The Case of the Veneral Virgin [Lee Marrs] 4p • Mei-Lin Luftwaffle [Lee Marrs] 10p • Who Was Dat Self I Was You With?

[Lee Marrs] 3p • The Group [Lee Marrs] 2p • Cyberfenetics [Lee Marrs] 3p

1. cover: Lee Marrs (Jan. 1976) [wraparound cover]

2. cover: Lee Marrs (? 1975) [wraparound cover]

• Editorial [Lee Marrs] 1p [text article, frontis]

• She Was Still a… Virgin [Lee Marrs] 1p [frontis]

• The Further Fattening Adventures of Pudge, Girl Blimp [Lee Marrs] 6p

• Further the Fattening Adventures, Pudge, Girl Blimp [Lee Marrs] 6p

• Git Uh Job, Chapter One: Brother, Can You Spare a Rebate? [Lee Marrs] 2p • Meanwhile… Out There Mars [Lee Marrs] 2p • Git Uh Job, Chapter Two: The Screen Queen [Lee Marrs] 10p • What Ever Happened To… [Lee Marrs] 2p • Git Uh Job, Chapter Three: Got Them Part-Time Temporary Deduction Blues [Lee Marrs] 4p • Mei-Lin Luftwaffe [Lee Marrs] 6p • TV Twinkies: I Think I’ll Dump Him… [Lee Marrs] 1p • Git Uh Job, Chapter Four: The Pay’s So Low, This Must Be the Underground [Lee Marrs] 5p • That’s No Pimple, That’s Your 2nd Charka [Lee Marrs] 2p • The Group Dynamic [Lee Marrs] 2p • Am I Gay or Only Cheerful? [Lee Marrs] 2p • Fiscal Interuptus [Lee Marrs] 4p Notes: $1.00 for 48 pages. Comic-sized issue. Richard Nixon appears on the front cover. Since an ad for Star*Reach #2 is on the inside back cover, one would probably be safe in stating that this issue appeared in the latter half of 1975.

47

(above) Panels from Ted Richards’ “E-Z Wolf.” (below) Scott Shaw!’s “You-All Gibbon” from Quack! #1.

E-Z Wolf © Ted Richardson. You-All Gibbon © Scott Shaw!

3. cover: Lee Marrs (? 1977) [wraparound cover] • She Was Still a…Virgin [Lee Marrs] 1p [frontis]

1. cover: Frank Brunner/back cover: Alan Kupperberg (July 1976)

• This Can’t Be Right… It Feels Too Good [Lee Marrs] 7p

• Editorial [Frank Brunner and Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis]

• Midnight at the Oasis [Lee Marrs] 3p

• Duckaneer [Frank Brunner/Frank Brunner and Steve Leialoha] 11p

• The New Street: Campaign Capers [Lee Marrs] 4p • A Visit to Homebase (Some of My Best Friends…) [Lee Marrs] 1p • Laid at Last [Lee Marrs] 4p • The Morning After [Lee Marrs] 2p • Movin’ On: Group Transformation [Lee Marrs] 1p • Funny Thing Happened on the Way To (During) [Lee Marrs] 4p • On the Campaign Trail [Lee Marrs] 3p • The Patter of Li’l Feet… of Clay [Lee Marrs] 3p • Before and After [Lee Marrs] 2p • Mei-Lin Luftwaffle: A New World [Lee Marrs] 3p • Bye Bye Martians [Lee Marrs] 1p • Can I Interest You in a Climax? [Lee Marrs] 4p • Loose Ends [Lee Marrs] 1p • The Close Call [Lee Marrs] 4p • After All, Tomorrow Is Another…

[Lee Marrs] 1p Notes: $1.25 for 48 pages. Final magazine-sized issue. Captain Kangaroo and Woody Allen appear on the back cover.

Pudge’s most recent appearance was in 2005, in Dark Horse’s anthology Sexy Chix.

48

Quack!

• The Wraith [Michael Gilbert] 5p • You-All Gibbon [Scott Shaw!] 7p • E.Z. Wolf: Smokey Mountain High [Ted Richards] 1p

• E.Z. Wolf [Ted Richards] 1p • On the Skids [Howard Chaykin/Alan Kupperberg] 10p • Duckula [Scott Shaw!] 1p • Kosmo Cat: The Case of the Purloined Periodicals [Mark Evanier/Scott Shaw! and Dave Stevens] 12p Notes: $1.25 for 48 pages. Publisher and editor: Mike Friedrich. A photo of Jan Brunner (Frank’s wife) was included on the editorial page. “Duckaneer” was Brunner’s response to not being allowed to plot (or

(above) Steve Leialoha’s Newton, the Rabbit Wonder arrives! (right) An interesting “talking heads” page

by Michael Gilbert from Quack! #2 .

Newton the Rabbit Wonder © Steve Leialoha.

The Wraith ™ and © Michael T. Gilbert.

write) Marvel’s Howard the Duck. Michael Gilbert’s “The Wraith,” a funny animal version of Will Eisner’s The Spirit, debuted. I’ve found no earlier evidence of Dave Stevens’ name appearing in comics outside of the fanzine Nuff Said? (although he worked as an uncredited assistant with Russ Manning on Tarzan for several years prior to this) so, for now, I’m posting this as Stevens’ professional debut. At least one reprinting of this title occurred in Oct. 1976. Scott Shaw’s “You-All Gibbon” was a take-off on the leading health food guru of the time, Euell Gibbons, who had recently died. Shaw also has a policy to put an exclamation point on the end of his name. The best story here was easily Brunner’s “Duckaneer,” although I also liked the work by Michael Gilbert and Ted Richards. This seems a rather odd title to find Howard Chaykin in, but he appears to be having fun.

2. cover: Steve Leialoha/back cover: Scott Shaw! (Jan. 1977) • Editorial [Mike Friedrich and Sergio Aragonés/Sergio Aragonés] 1p [text article, frontis]

• A Fish Shtick: Be True to Your School [Steve Skeates] 3p

• A Job Well Done [Ken Macklin] 5p

• On the Skids!: A Day at the Rat-Race [Mary Skrenes, Steve Gerber, Alan Weiss, and Alan Kupperberg/Alan Kupperberg] 10p

Notes: Duckula, who appeared on the back cover, correctly noted that there were no ducks in this issue of Quack! Best story here was the Leialoha/Aragonés tale of “Newton, the Rabbit Wonder,” while Michael Gilbert supplied the best artwork.

Steve Skeates’ fish stories returned.

• How to Recognize an Oregon Bobcat [Dot Bucher] 1p • Tales of the Oregon Bobcat [Dot Bucher] 1p

• Newton, the Rabbit Wonder! [Steve Leialoha and Sergio Aragonés] 10p

• Tales of the Oregon Bobcat [Dot Bucher] 1p

• The Wraith: The Cure [Michael Gilbert] 7p

• You-All Gibbon: The Incredible, Edible Invasion of Earth! [Scott Shaw!] 10p

3. cover: Dave Sim and Steve Leialoha/ back cover: Steve Leialoha (Apr. 1977) • Editorial [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis] • The Beavers [Dave Sim] 4p 49

Don Bucher’s Oregon Bobcat.

Oregon Bobcat © Don Bucher

50

• The Wraith: Duck Death [Michael Gilbert] 12p • E.Z. Wolf as Wolfjack: The Case of the Missing Quack [Ted Richards/ Ted Richards, Larry Gonick, and J. Michael Leonard] 10p • You-All Gibbon: Pig-Foot, the Awful Boar! [Scott Shaw!] 6p • Deserter [Ken Macklin] 8p • Newton, the Rabbit Wonder Meets the Barbarian Bunny [Steve Leialoha/ Steve Leialoha and Alex Niño] 8p Notes: The “Newton, the Rabbit Wonder” story is a spoof of Michael Moorcock’s Elric. The Beavers are cover-featured. Best story here is Gilbert’s “Wraith” effort, but good work also appears from Ken Macklin, Steve Leialoha, Alex Niño, and Ted Richards. Larry Gonick is best known today for his excellent ongoing The History of the Cartoon Universe series, which relates the history of the world and is one of the best educational comic book series in existence.

4. cover: Steve Leialoha/back cover: Michael Gilbert (July 1977) • Editorial [Mike Friedrich/Steve Leialoha] 1p [frontis, text article] • Rick Rabbit: Home on the Range, Rabbit! [Steve Leialoha] 10p • The Beavers [Dave Sim] 11p • On the Skids!: Into the Breach! [Alan Kupperberg] 7p • Tales of the Oregon Bobcat: Bounce on the Wild Side! [Dot Bucher] 6p • Tales of the Oregon Bobcat [Dot Bucher] 1p • Tales of the Oregon Bobcat [Dot Bucher] 1p • The Wraith’s Pal, Inspector Mulchberry [Michael Gilbert] 1p • The Wraith: The Fall of the House of Silver [Michael Gilbert] 11p Notes: In a rather terse note, Friedrich confirms that this issue’s installment of “On the Skids” is the last, even though the last page of the current story advertises a next installment. Leialoha’s Rick Rabbit is not the same rabbit character as the earlier Newton, although, as rabbits, they look quite a lot alike. Newton does appear in this episode of Rick Rabbit though, narrating the main story, so they are appar-

Michael Gilbert’s fine “Wraith” splash page from Quack! #3.

The Wraith ™ and © Michael T. Gilbert

ently different rabbits after all. The best story and art is again Gilbert’s “Wraith” story, an excellent take-off on the classic Poe story, with good work also appearing from Dot Bucher and Steve Leialoha.

5. cover: Michael Gilbert/back cover: Ken Macklin (Sept. 1977) • Editorial [Mike Friedrich/Michael Gilbert] 1p [frontis, text article] • The Wraith: The Reality Wraith [Michael Gilbert] 16p • Tales of the Oregon Bobcat: At Last, Long Love! [Dot Bucher] 6p

• The Beavers [Dave Sim] 11p • Planet of the Ducks [Ken Macklin] 10p • A Bird in the Hand! [Gene Day] 4p • …And Now for Something Completely Different… [Steve Leialoha] 1p Notes: Friedrich promises a format change, as he feels that Quack! hasn’t found an identity. It was to begin with #7, but the comic was cancelled with #6. Leialoha’s one-pager is an explanation for the absence of the Rick Rabbit installment, and is told by Newton, the Rabbit Wonder. Best story and art again go to Michael 51

Gilbert’s ingenious installment of “The Wraith,” with strong work also appearing from Ken Macklin and Dot Bucher.

6. cover: Ted Richards/back cover: Steve Leialoha (Dec. 1977) • Editorial [Mike Friedrich] 1p [frontis, text article] • The Quark, Son of Quack [Ted Richards/Ted Richards, J. Michael Leonard, and Larry Gonick] 10p • Rick Rabbit: Into the Motherlode [Steve Leialoha] 10p

• You-All Gibbon [Mike Friedrich/Scott Shaw!] 1p [text article] • Duckaneer [Frank Brunner/Frank Brunner & Steve Leialoha] 11p reprinted from Quack! #1 (July 1976) • The Fleet Foot Foogle! [Lee Mars] 8p • The Wraith: Fear [Michael Gilbert] 5p • The Wraith: A Christmas Carol [Michael Gilbert/Michael Gilbert, Ted Richards, Ken Macklin, Scott Shaw!, Frank Brunner, Steve Leialoha, Lee Marrs, Al Gordon, and Mary McAllister] 3p

Notes: Although Friedrich promises the seventh issue in six months’ time with a new format consisting of longer strips by Michael Gilbert, Ted Richards, and Steve Leialoha, this is the final issue. Leialoha’s “Rick Rabbit” storyline would be concluded in Eclipse Magazine #2 in 1981.

Gilbert’s “Wraith” strip appeared again with a new installment (or the installment originally meant for Quack! #7) in 1983 in his own Strange Brew comic collection one-shot. “The Duckaneer” reprint was required when Scott Shaw!’s installment of “You-All Gibbon” was not completed.

Friedrich’s angry note regarding this is quite interesting reading. The last page of “The Wraith: A Christmas Carol” was in the form of a Christmas card with characters and art from current and previous Quack! contributors appearing. Although it wasn’t intended as such, that page is a rather nice way for this title to say goodbye to the reader.

Imagine 1. cover: Marshall Rogers (Apr. 1978) • Editorial [Mike Friedrich] 1p [frontis, text article] • Flightmare [Neal Adams/Frank Cirocco] 10p • Anticipation [Dave Sim/Fabio Gasbarri] 5p • Making It [Lee Marrs] 1p • Disputed Sacrifice [Marshall Rogers] 8p [color] • The Nimrod Fusion [Steven Grant/ Rich Larson] 9p • The Garbage Men [Gene Day/Fabio Gasbarri] 7p

Michael Gilbert and company’s fine “Wraith” splash page from Quack! #3.

The Wraith ™ and © Michael T. Gilbert

52

Notes: $1.50 for 40 pages. The second attempt in a Star*Reach title to use interior color wasn’t printed any better than the first over in Star*Reach #12. The intended original cover was never completed, and Rogers’ cover, a last-minute reprinting of an interior panel, was dropped when the issue was quickly reprinted. Frank Cirocco did the cover for the second printing (the cover most often seen) and that cover was repeated on the back cover sans copy. Friedrich’s intention with this second anthology was to hold Star*Reach for science-fiction and fantasy stories and use

Imagine for a general all-purpose comic where western, detective, and superhero strips could appear. This never actually happened, and Imagine basically became just an alternative issue of Star*Reach.

Pretty good issues though. Best story here is Dave Sim’s glimpse into the mind of a spree killer. Best art is probably Fabio Gasbarri’s (Where did he go? His art was quite good.) work on both “Anticipation” and “The Garbage Men.” Good work also appeared from Adams, Cirocco, Rogers, and Larson.

(above) The makeshift original cover to Imagine #1, which was later replaced. (right) Trina Robbins and Steve Leialoha art from Imagine #2.

Drug Fiends of the Martian Moon © Trina Robbins and Steve Leialoha

2. cover: P. Craig Russell (June 1978) [repeated sans copy on the back cover] • Editorial [Mike Friedrich] 1p [frontis, text article] • Black Crow [Lee Marrs/Mike Vosburg] 12p • Speed! [Gene Day] 4p • The Avatar and the Chimera [P. Craig Russell] 8p [color] • Days of Future Past [Gene Day] 6p • Drug Fiends of the Martian Moon [Trina Robbins/Trina Robbins and Steve Leialoha] 7p • Encounter at the Crazy Cat Saloon [Michael Gilbert] 3p

Notes: The lead character in “Black Crow” is a thinly disguised riff on singer Joni Mitchell. Best art and story honors go to Craig Russell’s beautiful color installment of “The Avatar and the Chimera,” but everybody here has a strong entry. The Robbins/Leialoha art team-up was an interesting combo.

3. cover: P. Craig Russell/back cover: Steve Leialoha (Aug. 1978) • Editorial [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis] • The Spider Thread [Masaichi Mukaide] 4p [from the story by Atutagama] • Songs to Aging Children Come…

[Mike Vosburg and Paul Levitz/Mike Vosburg] 10p • Ersatz [Lee Marrs] 2p • The Avatar and the Chimera, part 2 [P. Craig Russell] 8p • Nebula: Gavin’s Ring [Mickey Schwaberow] 11p • Fear of Death! [Dorothy Bucher/Dorothy Bucher and Michael Gilbert] 2p • Vignette: A Soft and Gentle Rain [Michael Gilbert] 3p Notes: The new serial, “Nebula,” is never completed. “Ersatz” is a gentle spoof of famed French cartoonist Moebius, by Lee Marrs. Best artwork here again goes to 53

The Art of Imagine(ation)! (clockwise from top left) Michael Gilbert’s cover to Imagine #5; a page from “Nebula: Gavin’s Ring” by Mickey Schwaberow for Imagine #3; Dave Sim’s title page for “Cosmix” from Imagine #4; the title page of “Vignette: A Soft and Gentle Rain” from Imagine #3; the opening splash panel of “The Summoning,” written by Paul Levitz with art by Steve Ditko; from Imagine #4; and the first page of Masaichi Mukaide’s “The Spider Thread” adaptation from Imagine #3.

Nebula © Mickey Schwaberow Cosmix © Dave Sim Vignette: A Soft and Gentle Rain © Michael T. Gilbert The Summoning © Paul Levitz and Steve Ditko The Spider Thread © Masaichi Mukaide

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Artwork from P. Craig Russell’s “The Avatar and the Chimera.”

The Avatar and the Chimera © P. Craig Russell

Craig Russell, but the best story is Michael Gilbert’s gentle, odd little vignette. There’s also good work from everybody else in this issue. This was Imagine’s best issue overall.

5. cover: Michael Gilbert (Apr. 1979)

• The Dewcatcher [Stephen Konz] 6p

• Editorial [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis]

• Nebula: Bones & Spheres [Mickey Schwaberow] 8p

• A Sprig of Thaxin [Paul Kirchner] 16p

4. cover: Steve Ditko/back cover: John Allison (Nov. 1978)

• A Dream of Milk and Honey, part 2 [Michael Gilbert] 16p

• Nebula: Beware of Ashenwaste, My Son [Mickey Schwaberow] 5p

• Editorial [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis]

• Ravens [Eric Kimball/Robert Gould] 1p [on back cover]

• A Dream of Milk and Honey [Michael Gilbert] 16p • The Summoning [Paul Levitz/Steve Ditko] 8p [color] • The Awakening of Tamaki [Lee Marrs/ Masaichi Mukaide] 12p • Cosmix [Dave Sim] 4p Notes: $1.75. This was the last comicsized issue. Good work appears from Dave Sim and Steve Ditko, while Michael Gilbert delivers a heart-breaking story, possibly the best work he’s done to date. A very strong issue.

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Notes: Magazine-sized format with comic content reduced to 32 pages for the same $1.75. Gilbert’s “A Dream of Milk and Honey” concludes. This is such a good story that it’s both a crime and a shame that it’s never been reprinted.

6. cover: Stephen Konz (July 1979) • Editorial [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis] • The Song of Asmodeus [Dean Motter and Ken Steacy] 11p • Salvation [Masaichi Mukaide] 2p

• Siegfried [P. Craig Russell] 1p [color, on back cover] Notes: Final issue. Konz’s cover is quite blah. The “Siegfried” page is the original final page of the story. Originally intended for Imagine, Friedrich and Russell ended up publishing the altered tale in Epic Illustrated #2 (Summer 1980) with the intended cover for Imagine becoming the printed eighth page. Best story and art here belongs to Dean Motter’s and Ken Steacy’s “The Song of Asmodeus.” “Nebula,” in its final appearance, was quirky and interesting. Too bad it was never finished.

Parsifal nn. cover: P. Craig Russell (May 1978) [repeated sans copy on the back cover] • Editorial [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis] • Parsifal: His Journey [Patrick C. Mason/ P. Craig Russell] 10p [color, reprinted from Star*Reach #8 (Apr. 1977)] • Parsifal: His Temptations [Patrick C. Mason/P. Craig Russell] 10p [color, reprinted from Star*Reach #10 (Sept.

1977)]

• Parsifal: His Victory [Patrick C. Mason/ P. Craig Russell] 11p [color, entire story from the opera by Richard Wagner] • Addendum [Patrick C. Mason and P. Craig Russell/P. Craig Russell] 1p [color, text article] Notes: $2.00 for 32 pages. Both Friedrich and Russell were very disappointed with the color reproduction in this first all-color comic. The color was corrected in later reprintings. Regardless, this is a beautiful book and an impressive start to Russell’s now nearly 40-year effort in adapting opera to comics.

Cody Starbuck nn. cover: Howard Chaykin (July 1978) [wraparound cover] • Editorial [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis] • Cody Starbuck [Howard Chaykin] 32p [color] • Cody Starbuck Portfolio Ad [Howard Chaykin] 1p [on inside back cover] Notes: $2.00 for 32 pages. As with Parsifal, the original printing has muddy color and discolored paper.

This was corrected in later reprinting. This installment of Cody Starbuck contained much more graphic violence and sex than earlier Starbuck stories or, indeed, any previous Star*Reach titles. Starbuck’s tales were continued in 1981 in the pages of Heavy Metal.

Alter Ego 11. cover: Marie Severin and Bill Everett/ back cover: Moebius (June 1978) • Welcome to Alter Ego [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article] • The Altered Ego: A Final Bow [Roy Thomas] 1p [text article] • Gir/Moebius: An Interview with Jean Giraud [Mal Burns, Moebius, and Mike Friedrich/Moebius] 7p [text article] • Everett on Everett: An Interview by Roy Thomas [Roy Thomas and Bill Everett/Bill Everett] 22p [text article] • Bill Everett: The Ancient Sub-Mariner [Roy Thomas] 1p [text article]

A page from Cody Starbuck.

Notes: $.? for 32 pages. Editors: Roy Thomas and Mike Friedrich. The cover’s colors were hand separated by Michael Gilbert, who today does a regular column for the revived comics history magazine. Much of the material for this issue was done years earlier, and this was intended to be the final issue. However, Thomas revived the magazine in 1999 with a new #1. It is still being published today and is the premiere comics history magazine for Golden and Silver Age collectors.

Cody Starbuck ™ and © Howard Chaykin

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Star*Reach’s Greatest Hits

• Waters of Requital [Lee Marrs] 8p [reprinted from Star*Reach #5 (July 1976)]

• Reincarnalation [Mike Vosburg] 1p [reprinted from Star*Reach #2 (Apr. 1975)]

1. cover: Frank Brunner (Sept. 1979)

• Worlds Within, Worlds Without [Michael Gilbert] 8p [reprinted from Star*Reach #9 (June 1977)]

• My Fears [Jeff Bonivert] 4p [reprinted from Star*Reach #7 (Jan. 1977)]

• Foreword [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article] • Elric of Melnibone [Frank Brunner] 20p [color, from the story by Michael Moorcock] • Elric: The Prisoner of Pan Tang [Eric Kimball/Robert Gould] 20p [reprinted from Star*Reach #6 (Oct. 1976) • Dragonus: The Wizard’s Venom [Frank Brunner] 10p [reprinted from Star*Reach #3 (Oct. 1975)] • Cody Starbuck [Howard Chaykin] 16p [reprinted from Star*Reach #1 (Apr. 1974)] • I’m God! [Dave Sim/Fabio Gasbarri] 8p [reprinted from Star*Reach #7 (Jan. 1977)]

• Skywalker [Mike Vosburg and Steve Englehart/Mike Vosburg] 11p [reprinted from Star*Reach #7 (Jan. 1977)] Notes: $6.95 for 112 pages. Brunner’s painted Elric story was originally intended to appear in a stand-alone graphic collection, paired with an Elric adaptation by Roy Thomas and Craig Russell. Friedrich’s money troubles ended up putting the kibosh to that. Brunner’s pages also appeared at the same time in Heavy Metal (Sept. and Nov. 1979). Section headings are listed as either 1) Swashbucklers, 2) Alien Contact, or 3) Inner Space with page borders by Lee Marrs. This was a good collection of stories from the first half of Star*Reach’s run.

Within Our Reach 1. cover: Paul Chadwick/alternate cover: Norm Breyfogle (Nov. 1991) [a flip book format] • The Gift of the Magi [P. Craig Russell] 12p [from the story by O. Henry] • So This Is Christmas [Lovern Kindzierski/Tim Sale] 6p • Van Gogh: The Man Suicided by Society [Antonin Artaud/Rafael Kayanan] 5p • Home for Christmas [Shair/Eric Shanower] 4p • Concrete: American Christmas [Paul Chadwick/Paul Chadwick and Jed Hotchkiss] 8p • Star*Reach: The Business of Comics Art, the Art of Comics Business [Mike Friedrich] 2p [text article] Alternate flip side: • Spider-Man: A Wolf at the Door [David Ross, Roy Thomas, and Dann Thomas/Jeff Butler and Gary Kato] 8p • The Happy Prince [Oscar Wilde] 6p [text story] • Brother Elf: A Gift of Peace [Ron Fortier/Gary Kato] 8p

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Frank Brunner’s sketch and finished cover for Star*Reach’s Greatest Hits.

• Sherlock Holmes: The Season of Forgiveness [Martin Powell/Patrick Oliffe] 8p

Elric ™ and © Michael Moorcock

• Santa’s Ashram [Norm Breyfogle] 7p

Craig Russell’s “Gift of the Magi” from Within Our Reach (left) and Frank Cirocco’s cover to Star*Reach Classics #1 (right).

Gift of the Magi adaptation © P. Craig Russell

• Creator Biographies [various] 2p [text article] Notes: $7.95 for 80 pages. This was published in color and in a flipbook format. All proceeds were intended for the AIDS charity AmFAR or for the environmental group, Sempervirens. This is the last publication to date from Star*Reach. The Spider-Man side of the book is noticeably inferior in story and art to the Concrete side. Best story and art is Craig Russell’s adaptation of O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi,” but good work also appears from Shair, Eric Shanower,

Paul Chadwick, and Norm Breyfogle. This was nicely done and a welcome postscript for the old comic line.

Extras: Although Star*Reach essentially folded in 1979, some stories continued to appear—notably the two Gideon Faust stories and the Cody Starbuck serial mentioned above. Both characters’ new adventures appeared in Heavy Metal. Three Lee Marrs stories appeared in various issues of Heavy Metal or Epic Illustrated. The “Siegfried” story by P. Craig Russell appeared in Marvel’s Epic Illustrated, as did the re-

worked serialization of “The Sacred and the Profane.” Eclipse Comics published that version of “The Sacred and the Profane” as a stand-alone graphic novel in 1987. Eclipse also published six issues of Star*Reach Classics in 1984. That title reprinted some of the better stories from Star*Reach, Imagine, and Quack! all in color, as well as reprinting Craig Russell’s Parsifal one-shot as the final issue. Currently Russell’s opera adaptations fill three large hardcover volumes from NBM Publishing, as well as a two-volume collection of The Ring of the Nibelung from Dark Horse Comics. Several mini-series of Michael Moorcock’s sword-and-sorcery character Elric appeared as well, from Epic and First, through the 1980s and early 1990s. The first two of those Elric serials had artwork by two Star*Reach alumni, P. Craig Russell and Michael Gilbert. In recent years DC has published an original Elric graphic novel written by Elric creator Michael Moorcock with art by Walt Simonson. A new Elric title is being published by IDW Publishing.

Star*Reach Classics 1. cover: Frank Cirocco (Mar. 1984) • Star*Reach Revisited [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis] 59

• …The Birth of Death! [Jim Starlin] 8p [reprinted from Star*Reach #1 (Apr. 1974)] • Death Building [Jim Starlin/Jim Starlin and Al Milgrom] 7p [reprinted from Star*Reach #1 (Apr. 1974)] • The Origin of God! [Jim Starlin] 1p [reprinted from Star*Reach #1 (Apr. 1974)] • Cosmix [Dave Sim] 4p [reprinted from Imagine #4 (Nov. 1978)]

Steve Leialoha and Alex Niño] 8p [reprinted from Quack! #3 (Apr. 1977)]

• The Star*Reach Checklist, part 4 [?]

1p [on inside back cover]

• Divine Wind [Gene Day] 6p [reprinted from Star*Reach #9 (June 1977)]

• Star*Reach Covers [Ken Steacy, Frank Brunner, Marshall Rogers, Frank Cirocco, P. Craig Russell] 1p [on back cover—covers from Star*Reach #9–11, Imagine #1–3]

• The Star*Reach Checklist, part 3 [?]

1p [on inside back cover] • Star*Reach Covers [Jeff Jones, Barry Windsor-Smith, P. Craig Russell, Steve Leialoha, Michael Gilbert, Ted Richards] 1p [on back cover—covers from Star*Reach #6–7 and Quack! #4–6]

• Flightmare [Neal Adams/ Frank Cirocco] 10p [reprinted from Imagine #1 (Apr. 1978)] • The Star*Reach Checklist [?]

1p [on inside back cover]

• I’m God! [Dave Sim/Fabio Gasbarri] 8p [reprinted from Star*Reach #7 (Jan. 1977)] • The Star*Reach Checklist, part 5 [?] 1p [on inside back cover] • Star*Reach Covers [Frank Brunner, Steve Leialoha, Ken Steacy, Steve Ditko, Michael Gilbert, and Stephen Konz] 1p [on back cover—covers from Star*Reach #12–16 and Imagine #4–6]

• Star*Reach Revisited [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis] • Stephanie Starr [Mike Friedrich/Dick Giordano] 20p [reprinted from Star*Reach #2 (Apr. 1975); art reworked to remove most of the nudity]

6. cover: P. Craig Russell (Aug. 1984)

• Newton, the Rabbit Wonder! [Sergio Aragonés/Steve Leialoha] 10p [reprinted from Quack! #2 (Jan. 1977)]

3. cover: P. Craig Russell (May 1984) • Star*Reach Revisited [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis] • The Avatar and the Chimera [P. Craig Russell] 16p [reprinted from Imagine #2–3 (June and Aug. 1978)] • [Newton, the] Rabbit Wonder Meets the Barbarbian Bunny [Steve Leialoha/ 60

• Gideon Faust, Warlock at Large [Len Wein/Howard Chaykin] 12p [reprinted from Star*Reach #5 (July 1976)]

• Ersatz [Lee Marrs] 2p [reprinted from Imagine #3 (Aug. 1978)]

2. cover: Dick Giordano (Apr. 1984)

• Star*Reach covers [Frank Brunner, Howard Chaykin, Steve Leialoha, Dave Sim] 1p [on back cover—covers from Star*Reach #3–5 and Quack! #1–3]

• Star*Reach Revisited [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis]

• The Summoning [Paul Levitz/ Steve Ditko] 8p [reprinted from Imagine #4 (Nov. 1978)]

• Star*Reach Covers [Howard Chaykin, Jim Starlin, Neal Adams, Lee Marrs] 1p [on back cover—covers from both printings of Star*Reach #1, Star*Reach #2, and Pudge, Girl Blimp #1–3]

• The Star*Reach Checklist, part 2 [?] 1p [on inside back cover]

5. cover: Howard Chaykin (July 1984)

Duckaneer © Frank Brunner

4. cover: Frank Brunner (June 1984) • Star*Reach Revisited [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis] • Duckaneer [Frank Brunner/Frank Brunner & Steve Leialoha] 11p [reprinted from Quack! #1 (July 1976)] • 3) Skywalker [Mike Vosburg and Steve Englehart/Mike Vosburg] 11p [reprinted from Star*Reach #7 (Jan. 1977)] • Free Ways [Lee Marrs] 8p [reprinted from Heavy Metal #Vol. 3, #4 (Aug. 1977)]

• Star*Reach Revisited [Mike Friedrich] 1p [text article, frontis] • Parsifal [Patrick Mason/P. Craig Russell] 31p [from the opera

by Richard Wagner, reprinted from Star*Reach #8 (Apr. 1977), Star*Reach #10 (Sept. 1977), and Parsifal #nn (May 1978) • Addendum [P. Craig Russell] 1p [text article, reprinted from Parsifal #nn (May 1978)] • The Star*Reach Checklist, part 6 [?]

1p [on inside back cover] • Star*Reach Covers [Dean Motter and Ken Steacy, Jeff Bonivert, Lee Marrs, Frank Brunner, Howard Chaykin, P. Craig Russell] 1p [on back cover— covers from Star*Reach #16–18, Star*Reach’s Greatest Hits, Cody Starbuck #nn, and Parsifal #nn]

Chapter Five

The Stars of Star*Reach

An Interview with lee marrs Lee Marrs’ career began as an assistant for Golden Age artist Tex Blaisdell. She became one of the founding female members of the underground comix movement of the early 1970s and was one of the few artists who moved freely between underground and mainstream work. Besides her Star*Reach material, she did humorous strips for both DC’s Plop! and Marvel’s Crazy. She also wrote stories for Wonder Woman, Batman, Zatanna, “The Viking Prince,” Indiana Jones, and individual stories for DC’s Weird Mystery Tales and House of Secrets.

had all kinds of different ideas and had gotten to know— through Alternative Feature Services—a number of the underground comic people, including Gilbert Sheldon, who did the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers.

I brought him a lot of the work I had done and asked, “What do you suggest?” His advice was to come up with a character, or a set of characters, about whom you could do lots and lots of stories. That was the way to really get into this field. Not to do a bunch of different stories with different characters in different genres, but to develop a character and keep going with that.

I came up with a storyline featuring a central character: a teenybopper intellectual who was an outsider—very Mad magazine existentialist. But once I started working on it, penciling that character, she became someone else. She became the

RICHARD ARNDT: Welcome! To start off, what led to your underground strip, “Pudge, Girl Blimp”?

LEE MARRS: When I moved out to California, I was working as a television graphic artist. The television studios were having cutbacks, and, within a month of moving out here, I was laid off along with a couple of other people who had just been hired. I was doing a variety of art jobs and ran into a couple of guys who wanted to start an alternative features service for college newspapers and community newspapers. So one of the things we did, in addition to my doing cartoons and illustrations, was that we started running cartoon strips and comic pages in the papers.

That got me aware of underground comics, which I had never heard of on the East Coast. I saw people doing their very own stories, developing their very own characters and keeping the rights to them. The idea that there was no money in these kinds of Lee Marrs has a drink in this jam piece of self-illustrations by the creators of Wimmen’s Comix. strips was not clear yet. [laughs] So I © respective owners

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Pudge, Girl Blimp character. I started with someone else and the character changed herself and just came alive with her own personality. I thought to myself that I had all these friends just starting out with life experiences that had not seen the light of day in print, books, short stories, anywhere. So the idea of taking all their stories and having them happen to one character seemed like a possibility for endless stories—years of stories.

I finished up one story and went to Ron Turner, the publisher at Last Gasp Eco-Funnies. He was interested in publishing the book. Well, not actually publishing the book, but he said, “Look, there’s a bunch of women getting together to put out an anthology book. Why don’t you meet with them.” Now, I already knew Trina Robbins, because we had hired her to do a Panthea series for the Alternative Feature Service. She was going to be one of the people in the book.

So I got in with the Wimmen’s Comix folks as a founding mommy. But it was obvious that the Pudge story didn’t really fit in with the editorial direction of Wimmen’s Comix #1. So then I heard from Ron that if the women’s comic anthology did well then we would see about Pudge. Wimmen’s Comix #1 actually sold very well, so I worked up the first book, the first issue of The Further Fattening Adventures of Pudge, Girl Blimp.

Pudge was one of the most straightforward books around.

Nobody edited it. It was one of the most direct things I’ve ever done, and it really seems to have struck a chord with people.

The most rewarding aspect of doing the series has been the genuine resonance it struck in so many people’s hearts.

But I had created a character whose main characteristic was naiveté. So it turned out that she really didn’t have endless numbers of stories. It would be false, I think, to have continued without her gaining some experience and wisdom. After a time, she would have just seemed stupid to just continually have that kind of attitude. I ended the strip after three issues.

She actually has appeared in other forms in lots of other places as a comic strip, as a character in a comic strip or in women’s TV newsletters, and in various fundraisers for various causes, doing some short stories with her. But the idea of continuing her as an ongoing book, in my mind, was limited. There just wasn’t enough of a storyline to sustain that.

RA: Much of the underlying themes, even in stories where it wasn’t explicitly talked about, was Pudge’s continual quest to lose her virginity. And in the last issue she lost it, so it did seem a natural place to end the ongoing series.

LM: Yes, exactly! There weren’t six seasons of stories there. And I’ve always hated things that carried on after their expiration date.

RA: I guess I should note here that I actually just read the complete series a couple of weeks RA: In 1975 you started doing ago, and I thought they were the science-fiction hippie series, Marrs’ back cover to Star*Reach #2—Earthprobe! quite charming and, in a rather “Earthprobe,” with Mal WarEarthprobe © Mal Warwick and Lee Marrs. odd way, quite down-to-earth. I wick in Star*Reach…. enjoyed them a lot. They’re time capsules now of the 1970s but LM: Yeah, Mal was writing them and I was drawing them. an interesting look at that time. Plus, they’re still quite funny. We really didn’t work well together. I was living with him LM: Thanks very much. Good to hear that. It’s interesting at the time. He was a good science-fiction writer. It seemed to me that, of all the decades of comics I’ve done, Pudge like a good idea, but he and I had such different ideas about seems to have struck the biggest chord. I’ve got miles of what made a good story that the awkwardness of that series letters from all kinds of people. Most of the people reading was quite clear. It came out in the quality of the work. We comics at the time were pre-teen boys. They loved her as be- didn’t do any more stories together. ing like them! Everybody thinks that the party, you know, is happening in some other person’s apartment. “The action RA: I noticed that you scripted the last episode from Mal’s is wherever I’m not.” So teenage boys identified with her plot. Usually, you can figure out that there is something going non-hip status, with her not really understanding what was on backstage when the writer starts doing the art or the artist going on. Fatness was only a symbol. starts writing the book.

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From the second installment of “Stark’s Quest.”

Stark’s Quest © Lee Marrs.

LM: Yeah, when that happens there’s something going on.

Well, I had always written and drawn my own stories. I’ve nearly always written most of my own material, and I’d started doing that in the undergrounds. Many editors in the mainstream see me as someone who can both write and draw her own material, but mostly for humorous stuff. At a certain point… I could write adventure things, but nobody liked my drawing style for adventure stories, except for Mike Friedrich.

So I started doing science-fiction stuff for Mike. It’s important to remember that no company was doing science fiction at the time in mainstream comics. I mean, they did some scifi stuff in a superhero style or Barry Windsor-Smith’s Conan in a fantasy style, but not straight science fiction.

RA: I’ve noted the mainstream publishers’ reluctance at the time to do straight science fiction as well. I quite liked your stories “Waters of Requital,” “Headtrips,” and your serial “Stark’s Quest,” all of which were science-fiction stories that you did for Star*Reach.

LM: Well, thank you. “Stark’s Quest” was one of my favorites, really. Mike Friedrich’s publishing venture folded right when he was planning to gather some of the work that had appeared in Star*Reach and put it out again in a more elaborate form, like some of the other science-fiction comics magazines that were popping up. He hadn’t started his agency yet, so quite a few things sort of fell between the cracks. Some of the work I did that was to have appeared in Star*Reach ended up in Heavy Metal, and then later I sold some of my stuff to Epic Illustrated, to Archie Goodwin, who also liked my graphic style.

I actually re-did the first chapter of “Stark’s Quest” in color, later on, but Mike didn’t find a place for it.

RA: That’s a shame because I always thought it would have made a pretty good collection.

LM: I thought so too. As an agent, Mike was a really straightforward creative person, in the sense of doing deals, making contracts, that kind of stuff, but he was not ever a traditionally aggressive agent. At least, not in the sense of running around trying to find where some project could go. If an opportunity appeared, he would recognize it and go for it, but he was not the type of person to pound pavements looking for an opening. Graphic novels, as such, didn’t exist in book companies’ universes. So it would have taken some enormous persuading.

I actually think “Stark’s Quest” would make a good movie. There’s certainly enough action in the plot. So… hmm… who do I know who knows Uma Thurman?

RA: How did you meet Friedrich?

LM: How I got hooked up with Mike was that I met him in New York when we were both visiting. He was just getting ready to move back to California and the Bay area. It was like, “Oh, you’re from California!” At that time, he was going to start an art agency with some of the artists who had moved to California from New York. He told me that maybe when I got back to California I could maybe work for the art agency too, maybe. I’d always worked in other fields than comics. I’d worked for advertising agencies, that kind of thing. So I went in to see them, but was unimpressed with what they had in mind. I didn’t think it would 63

(left) A Mike Friedrich/Lee Marrs team-up. (right and next page) Lee’s humor work, a tale from Quack! #6 and Imagine #3.

Mariah © Mike Friedrich and Lee Marrs. Ersatz, The Fleet Foot Foogle © Lee Marrs.

fly, and it didn’t. But later, he was going to set up Star*Reach and he put out a call for stories. I answered the call.

RA: You actually did quite a lot of work for Star*Reach. There were two serials and a fair number of one-off stories.

LM: Mike was very open to ideas. Unlike many publishers, he didn’t have a strict editorial policy. I worked really fast and Mike had a pretty reasonable publishing schedule.

He had an issue come out every three or four months, so it wasn’t hard to put out that many pages. Most of the books I worked on that were commercial came out every month, so for those you really had to bust your hand to make deadlines. I was dependable. There was some kind of formula about comics—I don’t know who said it first—that states that artists and writers get regular work if they’re easy to work with, or that they’re any good, or that they can make the deadlines, or any combination of the three. If you could do all three you were gold. I could usually manage two out of three.

RA: Do you have any particular story of your own that you personally think is really good?

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LM: I really liked “Stark’s Quest.” In looking back, I really wish that one had got around more. There were some other individual stories that I really liked a lot. I did one called “My Deadly, My Love” for Wimmen’s Comix. For me, that hit a lot of good notes, making fun of the woman-injeopardy type of story along with real estate development and a sort of cruel but attractive lesbian love story all in one clump.

RA: It’s too bad “Stark’s Quest” didn’t make it into Epic Illustrated as one of their color serials.

LM: Yeah, but I don’t think they were really interested in anything that had been published anywhere before. Unless it was a heavily redone version, such as “The Sacred and the Profane.”

I’ve been thinking about putting out the Pudge, Girl Blimp series as a graphic novel. All three issues collected, plus the other appearances that she’s made over the years as one of those print on demand things. Pudge actually was going to be a graphic novel in the early 1980s. St. Martin’s Press was interested in doing it. The editor was really gungho, and it proceeded pretty far along the process, but then

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Some of Marrs’ work for Star*Reach ended up in Epic Illustrated and—as with this panel from “Free Ways”—in Heavy Metal.

Free Ways © Lee Marrs.

when it came time for the sales department meeting where they try to figure out where to sell this or that book, they thought the college market and bookstores would be the logical place to put it, but with all the nudity and sex, they didn’t think they could place it in that market. For about six months they pondered it then let it drop.

RA: There must have been a big change in the college market from when I was going to school [circa 1974–78] because that’s all we bought!

LM: [laughs] I know! I think it was the difference between what a New York company thinks versus what’s really going on. I’m sure it was their distributors they were thinking of. But… I got a lot of free trips to New York out of it and some really terrific lunches so…. [laughs] The trouble with publishers is that distribution is everything. That’s been the key to all kinds of stuff not being successful. If somebody is enthusiastic enough, clever enough to find the audience, the work can become very popular.

But you need a fanatic to do that because the distributors operate under entirely different criteria. They’re about moving product in large enough quantity to make them money with as little effort as possible. They’re kind of lazy in regard to the actual product and where best to sell it. This is, of course, one of the wonderful assets of web comics—no middlemen.

RA: You did recently have a new Pudge story in Dark Horse’s Sexy Chix book.

LM: I did a Pudge story for Diana Schutz, who’s a complete Pudge fan—she’s always loved Pudge, so she begged me to not just do a story but to do a Pudge story. I did a story called “Hurricane Eye for the Straight Girl.” It’s a story of Pudge being a volunteer at one of the rescue home66

less shelters after Hurricane Katrina and the adventures she has with one of the rescue boats. It was a lot of fun to do.

RA: I appreciate you taking the time to chat. It was nice of you.

LM: I enjoyed doing it.

A Mini-Interview with Steve Leialoha Steve Leialoha’s professional career began as an inker on Jim Starlin’s Warlock. Over the years he’s been the inker or penciler on a staggering number of titles, the best of which would include Spider-Woman, Howard the Duck, Jack of Fables, and his current work on Fables.

RICHARD ARNDT: We’re welcoming master artist Steve Leialoha. Tell us, Steve, which comic creators did you like as a kid just starting out?

STEVE LEIALOHA: All the usual for a kid in the early ’60s: Kane, Infantino, Anderson, Kirby, Kubert, Ditko were but some of the artists I avidly followed. I bought most everything that came out.

RA: The first time I noticed your work was as a crackerjack inker on such titles as Warlock, Howard the Duck, and the like. How did you get your professional break into comics?

SL: My first mainstream work was as an inker on Warlock and Howard the Duck. I was lucky enough to come along just as Jim Starlin and Frank Brunner were looking for inkers. The first regular penciling I did was on Spider-Woman.

RA: Come to think of it, it’s rare to see you inked by anybody but yourself.

SL: If I’m penciling I usually ink myself, though I’ve had other artists ink my work from time to time.

RA: The story “Marginal Incident” appeared in an early issue of Star*Reach. At the time it appeared I was reading a great deal of Edgar Pangborn’s novels and stories and was struck by the similarities in tone between your story and Pangborn’s work.

Can you tell us the genesis behind that story?

SL: I don’t remember the specifics, but I was trying to evoke the sort of sensibility that Pangborn evoked, though it didn’t derive from him specifically. My influences then were also Ray Bradbury, R. A. Lafferty and the French BD artists. After “Marginal Incident” I received a nice note from Bradbury with a few words of encouragement.

RA: You did quite a lot of work for Star*Reach, even while you were working full-time for Marvel, something many artists couldn’t or wouldn’t be able to do. What was it about Star*Reach that attracted you?

SL: As an anthology book, Star*Reach offered an opportunity to do stories of a more personal nature, which is what appealed to me the most. That and the fact that Mike Friedrich was an encouraging and enthusiastic editor.

RA: A silly question, perhaps, but were Rick Rabbit and Newton, the Rabbit Wonder the same rabbit or different hares?

SL: Yes, they were.

RA: Oh, now that’s just a cruel answer! [laughs] You’ve had a long and varied career in mainstream books. What do you consider the high points in terms of comics that you enjoyed working on?

SL: They all had something that appealed to me at the time I did them, from crass commercialism—Secret Wars II: I figured someone had to make all that money, and it might as well be me—to wanting to work with the people involved—Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: it was all worth it for the pleasant sushi lunch I had with Douglas Adams.

Despite technical problems—a week to ink a book—Star Wars had a lot of nice fringe benefits as well, while Howard the Duck was a lot of fun to be involved with because Gene Colan was one of my favorite pencilers to ink.

Newton the Wonder Rabbit and Rick Rabbit—one and the same?

Newton the Wonder Rabbit, Rick Rabbit © Steve Leialoha

RA: On the other side of the coin, which books do you wish had turned out a bit better than the end result?

SL: That’s a common wish on every book, but I would have liked to have redone some of Hitchhiker’s Guide after the aforementioned lunch. Marvin would have looked very different.

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It also seems unlikely that the Byron Preiss project I did some work on, I, Robot, based on the Harlan Ellison film script, will ever see the light of day. Ah well. At least I got more lunches out of that one.

RA: Please tell us about your current projects.

SL: I’m enjoying my current work on Fables as everyone is great to work with, and it’s actually a book I would buy even if I weren’t involved with it.

RA: Any final words?

SL: This is a good place to stop. I’ve got deadlines to meet….

A Mini-Interview with Walt Simonson Walt Simonson is one of the legendary artists whom we’re still fortunate to have doing comics today! He got his start doing short pieces for Joe Kubert’s war line at DC and Gold Key’s Twilight Zone series, and broke out with his trendsetting work on DC’s “Manhunter” with writer Archie Goodwin. Since then he’s worked on dozens of titles, including Thor, “Dr. Fate,” Orion, Metal Men, Elric, Batman, “Captain Fear,” X-Factor, and many more.

RA: You appeared in Star*Reach #1 with a very amusing sword-and-sorcery spoof. It was written by Ed Hicks. Who was Ed Hicks? By the way, I really enjoyed the little running/ tripping man who appeared at the bottom of each page and who squashed himself on the panel border on the last page.

Reminded me a bit of James Tiptree’s “The Man Who Walked Home.” How did you get involved with Star*Reach?

WS: Ed Hicks was a friend of mine at RISD and the swordand-sorcery spoof was something we did together over the break between the end of classes and graduation in May 1972. It was really just done for fun without any thought of having it published. I happened to have it on hand when Mike Friedrich, who was starting up Star*Reach, got in touch with me and several of my friends—Howard Chaykin and Jim Starlin, among others—in his search for material to publish. I already had the story finished, but because it hadn’t been done with publication in mind, it wasn’t quite the right proportions for a comic book. So I drew the little strip of the running man beneath it to fill the proportions out correctly. I hadn’t read Tiptree’s story then—although it became one of my favorites later—but I’ve always loved animation, and a Walter T. Foster book on animation by Preston Blair inspired me to draw the little strip as I did.

The original ending to Ed Hicks’ and Walt Simonson’s fantasy spoof “A Tale of Sword and Sorcery.” Walter wasn’t satisfied with the punchline, so he altered the artwork in one spot and rewrote the dialogue. For the published ending, see the comics section of this book. © Ed Hicks and Walt Simonson

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An Interview with Mike Vosburg Mike Vosburg began his comics career on fanzines, then moved to professional work in both the undergrounds and mainstream comics. His mainstream work included G.I. Joe, Spider-Man, and Dracula, among other strips for Marvel Comics while also working for DC, Gold Key, and Chalton. In recent years he has concentrated on storyboard work for films and music videos but has also found the time to self-publish several volumes of Lori Lovecraft and his most recent work, Retrowood.

RA: Thanks for agreeing to the interview. Mike, can you fill us in a little on your background?

MV: Well, I was one of the original Detroit comic ghetto guys. There was myself, Al Milgrom, Jim Starlin, Rich Buckler, Terry Austin, and Mike Nasser— there were a bunch of us! It was a good training ground for beginners in that you had a bunch of guys to run your work by, in terms of what you were doing and how you were progressing at the time.

I know, for me, drawing comics was a fantasy. I grew up in Pontiac, Michigan, and it wasn’t until I saw Jim Starlin get work that it actually dawned on me that being a comic artist could actually happen. Working alongside those guys was what got me my start in the professional field.

In comics I worked mostly for the big two, Marvel and DC, for about ten years or so. I bounced around a lot, doing a lot of stuff, but I didn’t do much past six or eight issues of anything. Did some Spider-Man [Marvel] Team-Up things, “Morbius,” that sort of thing for Marvel early on. Later I worked on G.I. Joe for a year, did John Carter [Warlord] of Mars.

For DC I did Starfire, which was a lot of fun. Starfire was one of those books where they had different incarnations of her—superhero, etc. When I was doing her, she was a barbarian girl. Every issue had a new writer, so every issue of the book took off in a new direction. That always helped the sales, I’m sure! [chuckles] I also did a number of issues of Howard Chaykin’s American Flagg! for First Comics.

Then I got wise and I got a good paying gig.

I moved out here to California and started working in animation for various companies and projects. Probably among the most visible things I’ve done were all the mock-up comic covers that the Crypt Keeper displayed from

(left) Vosburg provided the cover art as well as the interiors for this issue of Starfire— featuring the second (of three) DC character to go by that name. (below) Mike Vosburg inked by fellow Star*Reach contributer Steve Leialoha on Marvel Team-Up. Starfire ™ and © DC Comics.

Clea, Satana, Spider-Man ™ and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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(left) One of Mike Vosburg’s faux Tales from the Crypt covers used in the cut scenes for the TV show. (right) Vosburg storyboards for the film The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Tales from the Crypt ™ and © Tales from the Crypt Holdings The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe © Walden Media

the TV show Tales from the Crypt. He’d introduce the story, and they’d cut to a faux version of an EC cover, and those would be mine. That was my job for a number of years.

More recently I’ve been doing storyboards for music videos. I’ve storyboarded videos for Eminem, Marilyn Manson, Gwen Stefani, Dr. Dre—a bunch of people. The last big thing I worked on was [as] the lead storyboard artist on The Chronicles of Narnia and Prince Caspian.

I still work in comics too. I’m doing another—she’s not called Linda Lovecraft anymore, but Lori Lovecraft—but it’s another Lori Lovecraft graphic novel that will be coming out within six months to a year.

RA: Cool! I’ve always liked that character.

MV: I’m surprised that you’ve seen them! [laughs] RA: Actually, that’s the part of your comics career that I’m most familiar with. I’ve been a fan of Lori Lovecraft since she was named Linda, back in the 1970s.

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MV: Yeah, that was the stuff that I was doing for Star*Reach at the time. That was her name back then—a play off H. P. Lovecraft and the porn actress Linda Lovelace. But I decided I had to change her name because I was always getting people coming up to me and saying, “Hey! You’re the guy who does that Linda Lovelace comic!” Neither the Linda nor Lori versions were porn books, and I felt that I needed some product identification that actually applied to the comic I was drawing, so I changed her name. I also thought that the name Lori had a more mystical feel to it, like Lorelei.

RA: I was a huge Star*Reach fan, and Linda Lovecraft was one of my favorite characters. I especially liked the way you combined the mystic storylines of a Dr. Strange or Dr. Fate type character with the erotic or cheesecake market. I think I ought to note that your material was and still is somewhat more innocent than the type of erotica that routinely appears today.

The 1970s adult film market was quite a bit different than it

is today. Back then, the adult filmmakers appeared to be actually working on the concept that adult porn could also have a story. That concept has generally been pretty much abandoned, but there were some interesting attempts to revive that in recent years. Mixing adult film references and H. P. Lovecraft was new at the time. I don’t think anybody had tried that before.

For me, it was a pretty interesting approach to horror. Lots of [mostly] implied sex but none of the grossness that often marred the underground comix.

MV: Yeah, for me it was more that I really wanted to do something whimsical. I had worked in underground comix—that’s where I got my first start—but you hit the nail on the head. Underground comix were either a political statement or pornography or both. At the time I really wasn’t interested in doing either of those types of stories. Nowadays, I’m afraid I might be great at underground comix, because I have a lot of feelings politically.

RA: Well… thanks. [laughs] No, I know what you’re saying….

MV: “My own personal stuff is reasonable, but what you like is weird and dirty.” You just can’t win with that. People ask me, usually with Lori or Linda Lovecraft, if I like drawing pornography, and I think to myself that the only pornography that I ever drew was G.I. Joe.

RA: Everybody does these days.

MV: The other problem, and I found this with more recent Lori versions, is that, when you’re dealing with erotic material, half the people want to put you in jail just for doing it and the other half don’t want to buy it because it’s too tame. It’s pretty hard to find an audience there.

RA: [laughs] Actually, I’ve never considered either version of Ms. Lovecraft as porn, simply kinda sexy, a bawdy romp.

Nothing to really make you cringe.

MV: The other problem is that there’s nothing, or not much anyways, in either “Linda” or Lori that you probably wouldn’t find in any popular woman’s magazine, because that’s usually where I go for my swipes. The problem is that by their nature, by the fact that they are comic books, that in and of itself means that, for some people, the medium is for kids only. There’s resistance to the subject matter under those limits. It’s just not acceptable for some people that comics deal with any type of sexuality, under any circumstances, period. It’s a cultural thing, and every culture has that thinking to some degree, even if the specific things are different in each culture. That applies whether it’s Japanese or American or European culture.

RA: It’s like erotic novels. For a while in the late 1960s and early 1970s, some of them were actually half-way decently written and about a lot of different topics. Now they’re all kink. There’s nothing inbetween or even to the left or right of that. That’s fine if that’s all you like, but it’s like ice cream—every so often it’s fun to try a different flavor.

MV: And the problem is, “What I like in erotic material is sensual, but what you like is perverted.”

RA: Well, to move this back to Star*Reach a little more—how did you find out about Star*Reach and how did you submit your work there?

MV: That goes back to the Detroit Comic Mafia again. When I was working in comics and going into New York, the guys I would stay with were Al Milgrom and Jim Starlin. Mike Friedrich, who was the Star*Reach editor, at one time was renting a place with 71

Starlin, Bill DuBay—I don’t remember exactly who all, but they had a big house out on Staten Island. That’s where I met Mike. He saw the material I was doing beyond the commercial, mainstream stuff and apparently thought that my work had potential for his new book. I can’t say I’m a big fan of Mike’s, but one thing he did see was the whole potential fan market for fan-oriented books. Books that, if you were a fan, you would be looking for. That’s basically what Star*Reach was. Underground comix were great, but they weren’t for the average comic reader. They were for potheads and freaks and whatever….

RA: True. About the only place you saw them in my neck of the woods were headshops. Might have been different in the big city though.

MV: Right. Certainly those two groups of comic/comix readers overlapped, but there was a much bigger base of comic book readers than that of underground comix fans. One of the things you need to remember about comics is that for a long time they were the undiscovered treasure trove of talent.

You had your Eisners and your Kuberts and your Toths, guys who were and are magnificent creative people in the field, but nobody outside the field knew who they were.

What happened when comics got discovered, well, you can’t go to the movies now without seeing one or two previews for movies that originated in comics. There’s a huge amount of Hollywood production that is essentially comics-generated movies. Comics publishers, when I started out, basically had a large group of talented, creative people in their pockets. The creators had nowhere else to go. But, because of poor management and greed, the comic companies really held onto the concept of sharecropper labor, what we’ll offer you is it, just this and nothing more.

Then what happened to most people in comics is….

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RA: They left.

MV: They left because you had guys like Frank Miller who could produce material that they could own. The comic companies were greedy and would only sell it if they had a big chunk of it, or all of it. I kind of negatively say that comics haven’t had a fresh idea since Jack Kirby left. Look at Marvel Comics today. They’ve managed to build an entire empire that’s based on simply rehashing different concepts of Jack Kirby. Anything that was truly innovative or exciting might work in things like movies, but comics themselves have never found a way to sell it. Hellboy, for example, I’m sure has done well, but Hellboy is not a major success in comics. It’s certainly no bestseller. I remember talking to Max Collins and telling him that the Lori Lovecraft comics I publish myself don’t sell any more copies than the comic fanzines I did back in the 1960s. He told me that I wasn’t alone, that when he did Road to Perdition, it sold something like 2,500 copies.

You look at that book.

It’s a gorgeous book.

The fact that they were able to turn it into an Oscar-contending movie is noteworthy. It didn’t get nominated, but it had some great movie buzz. It might be the best adaptation of comic material that I’ve seen. I’m not impressed with what Hollywood has done with most comic adaptations. I’m not a fan of the Batman movies [It should be noted that this interview with Mike took place before the Chris Nolan trilogy of Batman films appeared—RA].

RA: I think the Batman cartoons have been done well. Not so much the original series of movies.

MV: Yeah, the Batman cartoons have a little more going for them. The guys doing them seem to actually like and read the comics. The movies [dealing with superheroes have traditionally] always been done by people who claim to like

Isis appeared first on the TV screen before coming to the pages of DC Comics— pencils by Mike Vosburg and inks by Vince Colletta.

Isis ™ and © DC Comics

the comics, but I’ve never been sure that they’re really aware of what kind of material the comics have. That campy, overthe-top approach is one all the superhero movies seem to fall into at some point. In some ways it’s ignorance and in some ways a lack of respect for the material. The movie people also seem to display a problem with translating [superhero] comics to another medium.

RA: A good comic book artist or writer knows that a comic can’t be all thunder and lightning. Can’t be all bombast. There has to be those quiet moments, those silent moments, or it’s all just flash. It’s also been noticeable that many of the best movie adaptations, the ones that work the best as movies, have been those films like American Splendor, Road to Perdition, A History of Violence, V for Vendetta, Ghost World, etc., that aren’t superhero-based. The story’s more important than the spectacle.

MV: Right! The biggest problem with the superhero is that you can do one in a comic book and everyone buys into the concept. The guy has special powers and he wears a costume. The first problem you have with Batman on the screen is that the average guy can look at the actor up there in the costume and say, “That ain’t Batman.” With the wrong actor in the role, no amount of fancy effects is going to convince the viewer that that’s Batman. Even beyond that, it’s that the movie goer doesn’t buy the costume and the world that costume would work in. The first thing any movie producer, director, writer has to do is solve that disbelief for the viewer.

RA: What works in comics, and what works in animation as well, doesn’t work in real life because in real life people simply wouldn’t put on those kinds of clothes.

MV: Well, they would but they’d be spending a lot of time in a shrink’s office.

RA: The closer to the real world, our world, that superhero movies get, the harder it can be to believe them. If someone actually put on all the black leather, quite frankly, they simply wouldn’t be able to move.

MV: Yeah, or as I like to refer to that first Batman movie with Michael Keaton—“Frankenbat.”

RA: I’ve always thought that the actors doing Batman, Daredevil, the X-Men, and the like must get a terrible case of chaffing at the end of a day. [laughter] If you put on actual leather and try moving and leaping and running, it’s going to hurt like hell. So you have a problem there, and when you get into the Spandex suits, it’s even sillier.

MV: On the other hand, I loved the adaptation of the Sin City stories. The difference, I think, is that it was made by someone who really does love comics—how they look, the peculiar rules and stylizations that the books use. Someone who loves comics and understands them, as opposed to someone who wasn’t one of those kids waiting every Wednesday at the newsstands to pick up the new comics.

The only real criticism that I had for Sin City is that they were almost too respectful to the original material. Particularly with the dialogue. It would have been better with less comic book style dialogue.

Course, none of this is about Star*Reach.

RA: True enough.

MV: One of the problems, and this leads into Star*Reach, is that what often happened to an artist when I got into 73

comics was that you got typed. You were a penciler or you were an inker. At the time, you’d say you drew comics, and those people who knew something about the business would always ask if you were a penciler or an inker. I just regarded myself as an artist, and appearing in Star*Reach allowed the editorial folks to see that I could do both.

MV: Oh, I did, but I think that’s a matter of taste.

RA: Exactly. I know I’m in the minority there. But in general, Frank Miller inks himself the best. Steve Leialoha inks his own pencils the best. John Romita inks his own pencils best. Mike Ploog… and so on.

MV: I think the biggest difference is actually the other way RA: True enough. I’ve always thought that most pencilers were around. Most of the pencilers could ink their own work, their own best inkers, in general. I did have one exceptation. I but that biggest problem was that many of the inkers I never liked John Buscema’s inking on his own material. knew could handle the tools, but they weren’t always great at drawing or designing pages. But the really great inkers, like Wally Wood, Dick Giordano, you mentioned Leialoha, Klaus Janson, Terry Austin, were great artists in their own right. They could design a page. They could tell a story.

Many inkers couldn’t do that.

Comics, of course, aren’t the only genre to have that problem.

Willie Nelson, for example, wrote songs for other singers for years before the powers that be realized he could record his own material and be a success at it. Bob Dylan didn’t have a big pop hit for at least four or five years after he started recording. The best artists have a large measure of control on what they produce. The best painters, the best singers, the best movie makers, the best comic artists and writers, generally do their best with as little front office interference as possible.

But the biggest problem with artistic quality is that to make money in the old days you had to churn it out. With periodicals you have to make that deadline. I look at guys like Joe Kubert, Alex Toth, Jack Kirby, John Buscema and, damn, these guys were turning out 30 to 40 pages a month during their prime. Sometimes more! With Kubert, he not only drew that much, he was inking the great majority of it himself.

And it wasn’t like they were hacking it out. Their work was of very high quality. I’m not certain there’s anybody working in comics today Vosburg on Howard Chaykin’s American Flagg!, with inks by Richard Ory and Tony Van deWalle. who could do that.

American Flagg! ™ and © Howard Chaykin 74

Part of that, of course, is the way that comics have evolved.

They’re more anal and less interesting. The love of the genre and its possibilities often doesn’t seem to be there.

RA: I think I know what you mean. I’ve done an article on the 1970s independents and fanzines, and even though some of the art is strictly amateur hour, there’s a great deal of enthusiasm displayed in those books. Much of the mainstream material today… well, it seems largely written by committee. Tony Isabella wrote to me a few weeks back, and he mentioned that many of the books he was reviewing seemed to be inked by four or five different inkers for each issue. The inconsistency from page to page is incredibly annoying.

MV: Well, you know, that’s probably deadline problems, but even back in the day, The Spirit was drawn by five people. Eisner was penciling, somebody else was inking backgrounds, somebody else was doing buildings, another was scripting, lettering, what have you. It was piecemeal work that way. But they still had Eisner as an art director, going over the work and saying, “This is how it should work.” The creative mind was also the boss.

When I worked with Howard Chaykin on American Flagg!, that was pretty much the system that we used. We always had a “shop.” He was writing, I was penciling, inking, and designing.

We had someone else doing backgrounds, someone else doing coloring. The whole process was broken down that way. That’s just what you had to do a lot of times, just to meet your deadlines.

That was where the beauty of those Star*Reach pieces was.

You rarely had a deadline. The good thing about working on those stories was that when they were done, you just turned them in. No “we needed them last week.” Mike had material there for several months at a time. I remember a couple of stories I did for him. I finished them, looked at them, then completely took them apart and redid them. A luxury you could never do for a mainstream book at the time. Again, for me, they were the chance for me to show other people what I could do if I didn’t need to work. They were a very important part of how I emerged from being a talented, promising newcomer to what I actually did in the field as a professional.

RA: Now when you revived “Linda Lovecraft” as Lori Lovecraft in the late 1990s, you did three or four issues to start off?

MV: We did three or four individual issues which made up the bulk of the first graphic novel, along with a fifth story that was only in the graphic novel. For the second collection we did two new books, and those were put together with a long 40-page story which is a third section to the two earlier tales. Also, in the most recent books, I did a feature called “Voodoo Mansion” that will appear in the volume as well as the Lori material.

RA: What publishing company are those coming out from?

MV: I’m self-publishing them. One of the problems that caused me to go into self-publishing was that the profits were so miniscule with regular publishing that once the publisher took his cut there wasn’t much to go to the creators.

Opening pages of the first and fourth volumes of Lori Lovecraft.

Lori Lovecraft ™ and © Mike Vosburg

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RA: That’s a shame, because I like both versions.

MV: Well, I don’t take it personally. It’s not just me. It’s the whole industry. The people who are interested in comics aren’t kids anymore. For kids, if it doesn’t move, it’s not entertainment to a lot of them. You really are producing material for an evershrinking audience. In a sense, what you’re doing in comics nowadays is producing visual screenplays in the hope that someone will be interested in them. In that regard, they make sense.

I tend to look at a lot of comic stuff nowadays, but I don’t read a lot of comic stuff. We were talking earlier about pencilers who inked their own works. I take it a bit further in terms of graphic stories. I like guys who do the whole package. The biggest problem now is that it is so time consuming to do that type of complete work, that unless you’re independently wealthy, you’re not going to have the opportunity to work on something like that. Walt Simonson could probably do it. Chaykin, Miller… I’m not really familiar with the younger artists who might fit into that.

RA: There are a number of artists who are quite good at it. Carla Speed McNeil, Linda Medley, Colleen Doran, and the like. Eric Shanower’s [Age of Bronze] series. Darwyn Cooke is excellent.

MV: I’ve seen Cooke’s material.

(above) A page from Vosburg’s self-published noir graphic novel Retrowood. (right) Vosburg has also repackaged his old Lori Lovecraft material and now self-publishes it along with new Lori stories.

Lori Lovecraft, Retrowood ™ and © Mike Vosburg

Actually, you have to have another motivation to do self-published comics besides money. We always used to call it playing the comic book lottery.

The winners are guys like Frank Miller or Mike Mignola with their own creations that seem to make a profit year after year. Comics just don’t really pay for themselves anymore. At least the way the market is now. I don’t see, even on a regular basis, a comic bringing in anywhere near the money I would be making at almost any other art endeavor that I could be working at.

For me, comics are my hobby. I like doing them a lot better than a lot of jobs that I do sometimes, but I’m under no illusion that they will ever pay the rent for me. The sad fact is that I’ve probably made more money from the “Linda Lovecraft” stories that I did for Star*Reach back in the 1970s than I have made total on the Lori Lovecraft material that I’m doing today.

Especially for the amount of time that I’ve put into it.

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RA: Yeah, Cooke’s work on The Spirit was darn good.

MV: Well, I both admired him and feared for him [on that series]. He was really in a no-win situation there. You know, nobody remembers all the bad Spirit stories. All we remember are the brilliant stories by Eisner, so Cooke’s stories simply can’t be as good as the worst of the Spirit stories. They’ve got to be as good as the good stuff. And the Eisner stuff was produced, the stuff I’m reading right now in the archives was produced the year I was born. The stories that Eisner was doing were for a vastly different audience. They were for a postwar audience with a different sensibility, and we’re way beyond that way of thinking today. Cooke was smart in using an updated approach just for that reason.

The research needed for a period piece is daunting.

Would this character do this at this time, etc.? I recently [in 2011] self-published a noir detective book called Retrowood. It’s a condensation of the history and geography of the last 80 years encapsulized in the city of Retrowood.

Outwardly it’s a film noir version of Hollywood in the ’30s and ’40s, but I’m not shackled by the research of a period piece…. I want to create more a sense and feeling of the time than a documentary approach. My hero is a private

eye who is trying to move up in the existing order… until he starts to see the consequences of his upward mobility.

You know, there’s always somebody who knows more about the period than you do too. Alex Toth was a wizard on that sort of thing. Of course, he could back it up.

RA: Back to the Star*Reach material, you had a co-scripter for a number of the “Linda Lovelace” stories. Her name was Mary Skrenes.

MV: Mary was good friends with Steve Skeates. The reason Mary was working with me was that I was supposed to be writing stories about this incredibly sexy woman, and I really didn’t have a clue about who she should be. [laughs] I really turned to Mary in that respect.

I wanted her to inject a little more real life into the character so that she wasn’t just a pin-up character. I didn’t want Linda to be a one-joke story. So Mary did some interesting things with the character in the stories she did.

RA: The last “Linda Lovelace” story, which came out about a year after the first three, was totally done by you, and it was considerably more mature and thoughtful in the writing… actually quite philosophical.

MV: Which one was that one? The minute you said mature and thoughtful you lost me. [laughs] Was it the Mad Arab story?

RA: The story I was referring to was called My own favorite “Linda Lovecraft” story—from Star*Reach #10.

“Nymphonecronamia.” I thought that was Lori Lovecraft ™ and © Mike Vosburg a big jump forward for you in terms of story.

MV: I probably had more time to think about the mate- wants to do is destroy the world. Blahh. Not as interestrial on that one. What I was trying to do with Linda was ing. So the first Lori Lovecraft story I did was kind of a make her a real character. In fact why that story was nev- remake of the original Mummy film, as was the fourth er included in a “Linda Lovecraft” collection is because “Linda” story. Both the last “Linda” story and the first Lori “Nymphonecronamia” is essentially an earlier version of story were takes on that same idea. the first Lori Lovecraft story, “My Favorite Redhead,” and Linda enters a dimension and encounters a character like even then it wasn’t really my idea. Have you ever seen the Abdul Alhazred and kind of has to fight her way out. It was original The Mummy, the Boris Karloff film? Here was a basically the Mummy story with Linda/Lori as the girl he guy who A) sets himself up for eternal damnation because thinks is his old girlfriend. Those stories are really similar. he has this mad thing for this woman, and B) has been Sometimes it’s easier to swipe and rework your own stuff. dead 3,000 years, and what’s the first thing he’s got to do There certainly wasn’t enough known about the Star*Reach when he is reanimated? He’s got to go find this woman. stuff that would make redoing the story readily apparent.

Now that’s an interesting character. [laughs] In the 1990s To be honest, I never really knew what kind of numremake he comes to life after 3,000 years and what he bers that Star*Reach sold. I got the reports from Mike all 77

“Skywalker” from Vosburg with scripting by Steve Englehart.

Skywalker © Mike Vosburg and Steve Englehart

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(above) Panels from the Joni Mitchell-inspired tale “Black Crow” from Imagine #2. (below) A panel from Lori Lovecraft: My Favorite Redhead.

Black Crow © Mike Vosburg and Lee Marrs. Lori Lovecraft ™ and © Mike Vosburg.

the time as to how many copies the issues sold, but I really can’t remember what those numbers were. I also did a story for Mike called “Skywalker” that Steve Englehart scripted. I knew George Lucas was a comics fan, and my story came out some time before his Star Wars movie debuted, but I couldn’t very well complain about Lucas using the name because I’d swiped it from singer Buffy St. Marie. I’m sure Lucas was familiar with Star*Reach however, because that’s how Howard Chaykin wound up doing the first Star Wars adaptation. Lucas had seen and was a big fan of Chaykin’s “Cody Starbuck.”

At the time that “Skywalker” came out, there was a whole series of mystical slanted stories. We’d all get together, smoke pot, and read Carlos Castaneda. All those stories were a satire on that Castaneda material, Don Juan and the rest.

RA: There was also a story in Imagine or Star*Reach where the lead character looked exactly like Joni Mitchell.

MV: Yeah, Lee Marrs scripted that. It was a bit of a disappointment to me. It was called “Black Crow,” and it had some of the same characters as “Skywalker.” It was about an Indian shaman who was madly in love with this pop singer.

He’d be in one persona and she’d get bored with him, so he’d change into another persona so he could attract her all over again. The whole idea that I thought would be neat would be to take the dialogue and base it on Joni Mitchell songs. You could take the dialogue almost directly from her songs.

But something happened when we were doing the story, and the singer actually became Joni Mitchell. She started singing actual Joni Mitchell songs. It confused what the story was about. Was it about the singer Joni Mitchell? It kept the story from going where it probably should have gone because it was no longer a fictional account but a sort of warped documentary. It would have been a more interesting story if it’d been a total fiction. Like with all collaborations, there were some wonderful things that Lee did, but the whole point of the story seemed lost to me. I would rather it’d been in a different direction. I’m sure she felt much the same way about my drawings—like, geez, why did he draw this? [laughs] Don’t get me wrong, Lee’s a very nice person. Looking at stuff that I did, I can see it and say, “Boy, that was a dumb idea.” With this story, I think it would have been a better story if we’d stuck with the original concept.

RA: Well, that seems to cover just about all of your Star*Reach work.

MV: Anyway, life is good. We have a First Wednesday thing for cartoonists here, sort of like the First Friday gatherings that they used to do in New York. I always look forward to those. I also have a website called www.vozart.com where you can order the comics or original art.

RA: Thanks for all the information! It’s much appreciated.

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An Interview with P. Craig Russell!

P. Craig Russell began his career in the early 1970s as an assistant with Dan Adkins. His first published credit was for a werewolf story in Marvel’s Chamber of Chills #1 (Nov. 1972). Since then he’s worked as a penciler and/or inker on “Ant-Man,” Conan, Master of Kung-Fu, “Morbius,” “Killraven,” Dr. Strange, Batman, Robin, Sandman, Fables, and many others, though most notably on Michael Moorcock’s fantasy character Elric and Russell’s own various adaptations of opera, the works of Oscar Wilde, and the works of Neil Gaiman. This interview was conducted May 20, 2012.

RA: Thank you for agreeing to this interview.

CR: Oh, you’re welcome.

they said, “Don’t worry. We’ll find something else for you,” but Doc Strange was a one-shot, and when Star*Reach came along, I was able to do the kind of stories that I wanted to do, so I wasn’t in any hurry to do any Marvel work for a while because I had Star*Reach.

RA: I noticed that when you were working at Star*Reach, most of your mainstream work appeared to be inking jobs. No pencils or pencil/ink work.

CR: Yeah, when I was working for Star*Reach and Eclipse, neither of them paid the rates that were comparable to Marvel. So for my bread-and-butter money, those inking jobs were great gigs to have. I could do the X-Men for a couple of months, and then I could do the projects that I wanted to do but that didn’t really pay the bills.

RA: Can you give us a little information about your background and how you got into comics?

CR: Well, I’m from Ohio— Wellsville, Ohio, a little town on the Ohio River.

I got involved in comics professionally through Dan Adkins. Dan was an inker at Marvel Comics and had also been Wally Wood’s assistant for a number of years. He was living back in Ohio in a town called East Liverpool, which was only about two miles from my hometown. I was going to the University of Cincinnati at the time, and I went to meet him my sophomore Panels from P. Craig Russell’s final issue of “Killraven” for Amazing Adventures. year. I would have been Killraven ™ and © Marvel Characters, Inc. about 19 years old, I guess.

He told me if I would work with him for six months he RA: Exactly who is Patrick Mason, who scripted “Parsifal” could get me into Marvel Comics. After a couple more and several other parts of your many opera adaptations? semesters of college, that’s what I did. I worked for him CR: Patrick was and is a friend of mine. We grew up tofor six months and got my foot in the door. gether in Wellsville, Ohio. My dad had the shoe store. His dad had the TV repair shop. Patrick is on voice faculty at RA: Now, in regards to Star*Reach, it was towards the end the University of Colorado at Boulder. He’s one year older or just after the end of your work on “Killraven”/“War of the than me. We worked together on the Nibelung series. He Worlds” that you started appearing in Mike Friedrich’s inde- did the translation of “The Magic Flute” for me. We’ve pendent Star*Reach comic. done several small and several large projects together over CR: Actually, I finished the “Killraven” series, then I did the years. Since he’s a classical singer, he really knows lanthe Dr. Strange Annual, and it was after that book that I guages, so he can translate German for me, which is great. did the Star*Reach issues with “Parsifal.” That was just after The “Parsifal” piece from Star*Reach, our first opera adapI’d quit at Marvel. I’d finished the “Killraven” series, and tation, was a prose piece that he wrote based on the opera.

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Not a script but a full prose retelling. He gave it to me and said I may want to do something with it. That’s just when Star*Reach was starting, and they were open for all kinds of different comics notions, so I said, “I’ll do this!”

RA: How did you get in touch with Mike Friedrich? Was it the connection from your time together on Marvel’s “Ant-Man”?

CR: Well, we’d had that relationship. We’d talked together a few times when I was in Cincinnati and then later when I was in New York, I guess. He just approached me. I don’t remember exactly, but it was just some phone call, and he told me what he was doing and asked if I was interested in being part of it.

“Parsifal” was intended to run in Star*Reach in three parts, all in black-and-white. However, only the first two installments appeared in Star*Reach. All three parts were then later collected as a one-shot 32-page color comic book.

The one-shot was the worst printing you’ve ever seen. Mike later reprinted it on the right paper and with the color corrected. The first printing though was yellow and brown and murky. It was just dreadful. I still have copies of it. When it came out, it looked like a 40-year-old comic book. [laughs]

CR: Yeah, I guess that could do it. It must have been expensive.

RA: And it wasn’t just your book. Howard Chaykin’s one-shot color book, Cody Starbuck, had the same problem. Those issues of Star*Reach and Imagine that first had the color segment in the middle of the book were also very murky and brown and had to be redone.

RA: I have both versions, and you’re right. The paper on the first edition is actually somewhat brown. It’s not white at all.

CR: Yeah! Where did they find brown paper! It looks a bit like butcher paper! To Mike’s credit, though, he had it redone, and it was very nice, the final version.

RA: Mike told me the same story, and he also mentioned that having to redo those issues, combined with the sheer cost of color to begin with, was what killed Star*Reach and its sister magazine Imagine financially.

(above) A page from Dr. Strange Annual #1 (Jan. 1976). (left) A house ad for the Parsifal one-shot.

Dr. Strange ™ and © Marvel Characters, Inc. Parsifal © P. Craig Russell.

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CR: Yeah, Mike’s first two color books, mine and Chaykin’s were just… awful. Now, when I did the color sections in Imagine, those turned out very nice, so by that time he’d licked the problem, whatever it was. I was very happy with the way my story “The Avatar and the Chimera” turned out [Imagine #2 and 3].

RA: One thing I wanted to mention is that your work seems fully matured from Star*Reach on.

CR: Yeah, my student years were over. I’d finally gotten my act together enough so that by the Star*Reach stuff I was more in control of what I was doing… and bringing in a lot of influences from outside comics. The French symbolist painters of the 19th century and early 20th century, book illustrations—Dulac and Rackham and all those cats that influenced Charles Vess and Michael Kaluta and all those guys.

That late 19th and early 20th century artistic influence really had an impact on a lot of comic artists at that time.

RA: Especially among the “Young Turks” of the early 1970s.

CR: Yeah! For some reason, and I don’t know why with that generation, but we were all very much excited about that sort of thing and bringing it into our work.

RA: Perhaps because there was such a relatively small number of young artists at that time in comics and they tended to see each other a lot and share their influences?

CR: Perhaps, but I didn’t do that.

I didn’t hang out, and I don’t really know why. I was a shy, backward kid.

Windsor-Smith, I just realized, is only two years older than I am, although he was light years ahead of me in development at that age. I found those guys very intimidating. Although Kaluta was the nicest of the bunch. Both he and Bernie Wrightson were very approachable. Just real downhome guys to talk to. But I really didn’t hang out with them.

Or Charles Vess. My group of friends was Don McGregor and Dave Kraft and John David Warner. They’re all writers!

And that’s who I kinda ran around with, professionally.

RA: This is something that’s always rather puzzled me. Why was the last page of your story “Siegfried and the Dragon” replaced with a splash page?

CR: I have no idea! For some reason Mike Friedrich thought it was an ambiguous ending where Siegfried walked into the cave, so he took my cover for that issue and used it 82

The opening page of “The Avatar and the Chimera” (above) along with the front cover (left) and back cover (next page) of the issue of Imagine in which the story appeared.

The Avatar and the Chimera © P. Craig Russell

as the last page. It was his comic, and I was still young and didn’t put up much of a fight. Then it, the story itself, didn’t appear in Star*Reach. It was sold to Marvel and appeared in Epic Illustrated.

RA: The original last page did appear as the back cover of Imagine #6, the last issue. It was actually printed a year before the story actually appeared. That made it a little confusing.

CR: Yeah, I bet! Was it on the last issue of Star*Reach or Imagine?

RA: Imagine. It was one of the issues that were printed magazine size.

CR: Yeah, that story has never actually appeared as a complete piece in its intended eight-page format. I don’t know. [laughs] That story was really my first stab at the “Ring of the

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When the eight-page “Siegfried and the Dragon” finally appeared in Epic Illustrated, this page was substituted for the original page 8.

Siegfried and the Dragon © P. Craig Russell

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Nibelung,” and for me, it was “Okay, I’ll do this part, and when I get to do the whole thing, this part will be done.”

But it was 20 years before I got around to doing the whole Ring Cycle. My style had changed enough that I couldn’t use “Siegfried.” Those pages wouldn’t have matched anything I was drawing. I did use some of the layouts for the final Ring book. Mostly just because I could. I used the page design, and that made its way into the final version.

RA: Mike was the first person to suggest the book on Star*Reach that I’m writing, and he’s been very helpful in the preparation.

CR: Did he by chance give you the background on the Elric material, because I’m not sure of who did what when and all that?

RA: The first Elric adaptation was by Roy Thomas and Barry Smith for the Conan/Elric team-up in the color Conan comic back in 1972. Mike’s involvement came in 1976 when two college buddies, Robert Gould and Eric Kimball, sent him an original Elric story, not an adaptation, that Mike had to get Michael Moorcock to approve and allow to be published.

Moorcock must have liked what he saw because Gould, of course, would go on to become the cover painter for the Elric series for quite a number of years and one of the more accomplished book cover artists in the business. But at the time, I

RA: How did you get involved with Michael Moorcock’s Elric material? That was started at Star*Reach, then moved to both Heavy Metal, with Frank Brunner’s artwork, and then Epic Illustrated, with your artwork for a few issues, and then your story was finished off in one of the early graphic novels for the Epic line.

CR: That started out, for me, as a 90-page book for Star*Reach. I was doing an adaptation of “The Dreaming City,” and Frank Brunner was doing a 20- or 30-page story, I forget which one, but the book went through several changes. One of which was a fight we got in over who was going to do the cover. Brunner wanted to do the cover, and I was saying that I was doing two-thirds of the book and I wanted to do the cover.

Somehow or other we got split off. It was now going to be a 50-page book for another publisher. Someone who actually wasn’t in comics. I remember meeting the guy in New York, and then that fell through and my section was eventually sold to Marvel as a graphic novel. [Actually almost all early graphic “novels” were actually novellas. Few ran beyond 64 pages—RA] The first two chapters appeared as a preview in Epic Illustrated.

This would have been probably 1981, as I was working on it in 1979–80. Then I did “While the Gods Laugh,” which was intended to appear complete in Epic Illustrated. We knew that’s where it was going to go when we did it.

That was all though Mike Friedrich.

He’d gotten the licensing rights to Elric.

We were doing a lot of work together back then. He’s been part of my career since “Ant-Man,” then on the Star*Reach books and though his agency. He’s sort of retired now, but he’s still doing some work because my career and the contracts are so tied in with him over the years that A Star*Reach production in the pages of Marvel’s Epic Illustrated—“Elric.” he still follows up on some of that.

Elric ©Michael Moorcock

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More pages from P. Craig Russell’s “The Avatar and the Chimera” (left) and “Elric” (right).

The Avatar and the Chimera © P. Craig Russell. Elric © Michael Moorcock.

think he was a total novice, still in college, and that Elric story was his professional debut.

The Star*Reach cover for the story was by Jeff Jones—a really striking portrait with Bernie Wrightson as the model posing for Elric. Steven Grant, the comic book writer, had some kind of influence on that story as well. Apparently Moorcock also liked Mike’s presentation and publication of the story and licensed Friedrich to do actual comic adaptations of the character.

Frank Brunner’s adaptation appeared at nearly the same time in both Heavy Metal and one of the last publication of Star*Reach’s—the collection Star*Reach’s Greatest Hits in late 1979. His 20 pages were painted.

Mike had run into money problems and couldn’t really publish either one of the adaptations on his own.

CR: That must be why that other guy came in. The one that I had to meet. I remember now—Brunner did the cover for that Star*Reach’s Greatest Hits collection.

I really liked Jones’ Star*Reach cover. That was really sweet.

RA: Jones was very good at doing very commercial barbarian paintings in an odd sort of way. His barbarians didn’t look anything like Frazetta’s barbarian work, which was a very in86

novative notion at the time, since there were tons of Frazetta clones who would put the naked girl at the bottom of the page, crouching down on a pile of dead guys, while the hero stood above her swinging a giant battle-axe. Jones’ work was very dynamic and eye-catching, yet very moody and very mysterious at the same time. They were tough-minded paintings with a gentler, fantasy-like edge.

CR: Yeah, there was a poetic element to it, like Frazetta [’s own work]. It’s not just steroid-heads. There’s a glimpse of an entirely different world that the two of them would create strictly through the use of paint. It’s very difficult to do. Very few people can really get that other world in their paintings. What Jones could do so well was use negative space. Nobody used negative space like he did. He did black-and-white drawings, and the white spaces were as interesting as what he actually drew. There are large areas of white in his drawings. Where other people would fill up everything with detail, he knew just where to have nothing there.

RA: In some ways that’s a sort of Toth approach to a page.

CR: Yeah, that would be an artist to compare that to.

RA: Not that their artwork looked anything alike, but both of them positioned the white spaces in their pages to, as you said, give you something to look at that wasn’t really there.

CR: Style-wise they were two very dissimilar artists, but that approach, I think, comes, perhaps, from a common perception. The adaptations [of literary works] at Star*Reach and Epic and what not have certainly influenced my career.

Now I’m doing Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, which is basically The Jungle Book set in a graveyard.

RA: Oh, cool. I’ll be sure to get that when it comes out. I’m a big fan of Gaiman, and your version of Coraline is great.

It does very well with students at my middle school library.

CR: Great, that’s good to know.

I’m trying to get Barry Windsor-Smith to do a chapter on it. I sent him an email the other day to see if he wanted to do the last chapter. It would be about 16 pages with a year-long deadline, but I haven’t heard anything back yet. I don’t want to get my hopes up, but I thought I would ask. Neil Gaiman mentioned to me today in an email, “Nobody draws trees like Barry Windsor-Smith.”

RA: That’s true, he’s got that drawing of the floating ghost in front of that batch of trees, and your attention isn’t even really focused on the ghost. Your eye keeps going past it to all those damn beautiful trees. I hope you get him. You’ve got nothing to lose by asking.

CR: That’s right. I’m doing the script and layouts, and it will run 352 pages. Kevin Nowlan’s doing one. Scott Hampton. Jill Thompson. Tony Harris. We’ve got a bunch of good guys working on this book. Tony was one of the first people I asked. In fact, I was just working on his chapter earlier today. He’s doing “The Hounds of God,” and it runs 46 pages that I’m laying out right now. I’m doing it the Harvey Kurtzman way—ruling the panel borders, lettering everything, drawing in the word balloons, and then sketching in the layouts, designing the page, sounding out the

basic body language and expressions and stuff, so that each artist knows what goes where. They’ll then do the finished black-and-white artwork. I’ll do one of the stories myself.

I think I’m going to do the second chapter of the book. If Barry decides against it, I might do the last chapter myself as well.

RA: Well, I hope you get him because that would be really cool, but if not, it sounds like it will be a great book.

CR: Scott Hampton’s going to be doing the second to last chapter, the longest one, about 100 pages, and to follow that up with Windsor-Smith would be sweet.

RA: I love Scott Hampton’s stuff too.

I remember the first story of his I ever saw. It was a story called “The Inheritors” that appeared in Alien Worlds [#3 (July 1983)]. It was written by Bruce Jones. It was a beautiful story with simply stunning art. Later I went back and caught his debut in a Warren magazine—Vampirella, I think. It was a little threepager, but it was very cool too.

CR: I couldn’t be happier to have Scott in the book. After The Graveyard Book I’m planning on adapting Lois Lowry’s The Giver. That one will run 178 pages.

RA: That’s a great book! Another one to look forward to! Well, it’s running late and I know you’ve got to go. I really appreciate you doing this interview.

CR: And thank you. Bye.

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Chapter Six

The independents during Star*reach’s run

D

uring Star*Reach’s 1974–79 run, a number of worthy (and some not so worthy) independent comics appeared to challenge Star*Reach’s dominance of independent publishing.

The most noteworthy are as follows:

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Hot Stuf’ (1974–78) Published by Sal Quartuccio, this independent comic matched Star*Reach’s quality and format for much of its run.

The first two issues were magazinesized, but then the title changed to the same comic size as Star*Reach.

However, Hot Stuf ’ was no simple imitator but maintained its own editorial identity throughout its run. There is no hint of amateur hour in this title (nor was there in Star*Reach). The storytelling and art are done by professionals or those who were good enough to appear professional in their early efforts. Sterling, and often quite stunning work appeared from a lengthy list of contributors including Ken Barr, Richard Corben, Rich Buckler, Neal Adams, Bil Maher (and whatever happened to this fellow—his art was intriguing and his storytelling decent), Ernie Colón, Gray Morrow (early chapters of Orion—reprinted in 2012— appeared here), Robert Kline, Herb Arnold, Jan Strnad, Alex Toth, Tim Kirk, Rich Larson, Tim Boxell, and Michael Kaluta.

I should note that Rich Larson has maintained his relationship with publisher Sal Quartuccio. Quartuccio continues to publish some very well done cheesecake-style artbooks with Larson being one of the leading contributors.

Orb (1974–76) A Canadian independent title, published by James Waley and Matt Rust, Orb was probably the most influential Canadian fanzine to appear during this time period. Mike Friedrich was impressed enough to send in a fan letter and to contact Ken Steacy (and through him, Dean Motter) after Steacy’s professional debut here.

Besides Steacy and Motter’s efforts, Orb also featured strong work from Gene Day, Jim Craig, Bruce Bezaire, John Allison, Ronn Sutton, Mary Skrenes, Steve Skeates, and T. Casey Brennan. Although there is also a fairly large amount of amateur art and stories appearing, this title is still well worth looking for and purchasing.

Grave Tales (1974) Published by Bruce Hamilton and edited by witzend publisher/editor Bill Pearson, this was a one-shot title, although it was not intended to be so. Its main claim to fame was that it introduced Don Newton, who’d been doing spectacular pin-up pieces for the fanzines, and was his professional debut as an artist. Charlton was impressed enough with his work and this title to offer Pearson an editorial position and Newton regular work on their mystery titles, which in turn led to his stunning work on Chalton’s Phantom and DC’s Batman.

Big Apple Comix (1975) Published and edited by Flo Steinberg, in many ways this was more of an underground comic (as you can tell by the title) than a ground-level title, but it did include strong examples of each. Steinberg was Marvel’s Girl Friday in the 1960s and Warren’s Captain Company’s coordinator during the 1970s.

By all accounts Steinberg is a sweet lady, so the sheer raunchiness of this title may come as a shock for a first-time reader. Be warned—there is a lot of explicit sex here. Still, it is well done raunchiness and features a time-capsule look at New York circa 1975.

Stong work appears here from Mike Ploog, Wally Wood, Archie Goodwin, Alan Weiss, Al Williamson, Neal Adams, Larry Hama, Herb Trimpe, Marie Severin, and Paul Kirchner.

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Dr. Wirtham’s Comix & Stories (1975-87) Publisher and editor: Clifford Neal. The Dr. Wirtham of the title was, of course, Fredric Wertham (1895–1981), who was a major leader of the anti-comics crusade of the 1950s. This title started life as a self-published solo effort by Neal himself— using the name Oisif Eqaux—but by issue #2 Neal was inviting other contributors as well. It started out as an underground effort but evolved to include a mix of both ground-level and underground stories in its later run. Besides Neal’s own efforts (he was a good artist and a fair writer) strong early efforts appeared from Steve Bissette, Rick Veitch, Doug Potter, Larry Rippee, underground giant Greg Irons, Rich Larson, Michael Gilbert, and Gary Dumm.

Issue #3 was primarily a horror title—and a pretty darn good one. Other issues were broader in their scope. This title is perhaps most noted for the bizarre story, “The Tell-Tale Fart,” by Bissette and Veitch, which managed to combine Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Schultz, and juvenile humor in one truly bizarre mixture. Another good story, also by Bissette and Veitch, was “Cell Food,” a superior SF tale that appeared in #6.

Tesserae (1977) Published by Graphic Stories Guild of UCSC and edited by Mark Clegg and Charles Boatner, this one-shot effort debuted as #7! Apparently the first six issues were titled All-Slug Comics, a title I’ve never read nor seen advertised for sale, but which were apparently comics efforts. Tesserae was more of a fanzine than a prozine, and much of the work reflects an amateur magazine, but it did feature early work from Brent Anderson, Steve Oliff, Ken Macklin (his professional debut), and Tony Salmons. This title later inspired the magazine-size Dragon’s Teeth title in the 1980s.

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FaErie Star (1977) Published and edited by John David Cothren, Faerie Star was a ground-level one-shot that featured strong work from Gene Day, Dave Sim,Will Meugniot, and Ken Raney. Raney’s artwork is highly influenced by Barry Windsor-Smith’s work circa 1973 and is good enough to make me wonder why a major comics company didn’t grab him for mainstream work.

Andromeda (1977–79) Published by Bill Paul, edited by Dean Motter, this SF effort was one of the strongest titles of the 1970s.

Each issue featured an adaptation of a major SF story from the likes of Arthur C. Clarke, James Tiptree Jr., Alan Dean Foster, Jack Vance, Walter M. Miller, and A. E. van Vogt. The Tiptree adaptation was particularly well done. There were also numerous solo tales.

The main Star*Reach connection was that the Motter/Steacy serial, “The Sacred and the Profane,” was supposed to begin its run in the first issue of this title but was switched to Star*Reach when Andromeda’s first issue was delayed. Strong to excellent work appears from Dean Motter, Ken Steacy, Paul Rivoche, John Allison, Gene Day, Don Marshall, Tom Nesbitt, and Tony Meers. All six issues are worth collecting.

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The Horns of Elfland (1979) Self-published by Charles Vess, it features two heavily illustrated prose stories and one standard comic tale.

Beautiful early artwork by Vess points out that, even as his artwork has matured, he knew exactly the type of stories he wanted to illustrate and has done so throughout much of his career.

Future Day (1979) A Gene Day solo effort that is unique for being a hardcover, magazine-sized book. Several of the stories contained within are reprints from various fanzines and independent titles, including one from Imagine. They may, in fact, all be reprints. Still, Day was very good very early in his career and this is a fine collection, well worth tracking down.

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Chapter Seven Star*reach during its run

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o a great extent, Star*Reach’s influences during its run could really only be seen in hindsight. One result that could be seen directly during that time was Gene Day’s move from obsure fan artist to a major mainstream artist, first as an inker on Marvel’s Master of Kung Fu, then as the full artist on that strip as well as an inker, usually over Carmine Infantino’s pencils, on Star Wars. By the time of his premature death in 1982, he was gearing up to take over one of the Batman titles for DC. Howard Chaykin continued to mature and grow, both as an artist and a writer, although during this time period he was rarely the lead artist on a mainstream book. Much of his work appeared in back stories, black-and-white efforts, and on an increasing number of paperback and book assignments.

Craig Russell’s solo art efforts were at Star*Reach and the new independent publisher Eclipse. For the mainstream companies at this time, his contributions were largely as an inker.

Lee Marrs found success at the big two companies, not as the dramatic SF writer/ artist she was at Star*Reach but doing humor strips for DC’s Plop! and Marvel’s black-and-white magazine Crazy.

Simonson moved directly into the mainstream. Prior to his college effort appearing in Star*Reach #1, he’d already done a number of stories for DC’s war anthologies. Fame came just prior to his Star*Reach debut when he teamed up with writer Archie Goodwin to do a backup strip in Detective Comics featuring an updated version of the old 1940s super-

Gene Day’s cover art for Master of Kung Fu #104.

Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu ™ and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

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hero Manhunter. He continued on in comics illustrating “Dr. Fate,” Hercules Unbound, Thor, “Hulk,” and other characters. His work on Jack Kirby’s Fourth World and Orion is particularly noteworthy.

Robert Gould became an acclaimed book cover artist with one of his most acclaimed successes being his Elric covers for Ace Books, which maintained his connection with Star*Reach.

(above) Elric by a more experienced Robert Gould. (right) Dave Stevens and the great Rocketeer!

Elric © Michael Moorcock.

The Rocketeer ™ and © the estate of Dave Stevens.

John Workman moved to an editorial position at Heavy Metal and followed that by becoming one of the best letterers in the business. His work on Walt Simonson’s version of Thor was particularly noteworthy.

Dave Stevens debuted his classic Rocketeer in 1982 and became one of the best cover artists in the business.

Other Star*Reach contributors had varying successes in both mainstream and independent companies as the 1970s faded. As an influence on the comics business as a whole, Friedrich’s gradual success and rapid decline provided both promising milestones and inspiration as well as warning signs for future independent publishers. His initial success was based on providing writers and artists the opportunity to do material they really wanted to do, and which gave those writers and artists the enthusiasm to continue when the monetary gains were not immediately there.

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This is something the mainstream publishers have always had a difficulty with. Their philosophy of, “If it doesn’t sell once and right off the bat, than we won’t try it twice,” can have a deadening effect on creativity.

But Friedrich also succeeded because he gave the readers something that the readers didn’t realize they’d been missing.

The best writers and artists doing the best stories they were capable of at the time. Almost every innovation and success in comics has come about for exactly that reason—from the early superhero success of the 1930s to EC Comics’ reign in the early 1950s to the success of Warren’s black-and-white titles in the 1960s—the best successes in terms of creator/reader enthusiasm have come from writers and artists getting the chance to do what they really want to do, editors and publishers who knew enough to get out of the way and let that happen and, finally, the readers reaping the benefits of that enthusiasm and showing it by buying the comics.

Friedrich also demonstrated something that I mentioned in chapter one and will reemphasize here. You have to get your product, your magazine, your artwork, your story out to readers on a regular basis! Friedrich followed a schedule, which no other independent publisher in the 1970s did. Every three months something, whether it was Star*Reach itself, Imagine, Quack!, etc., was coming. You could depend on it. That dependability builds trust with the reader/buyer and so that, if down the road a minor delay happens, they’re willing to give you the benefit of the doubt and not cancel orders or forget you. Many new publishers, whether they publish comics or books, have the right idea at the right time, have the right people producing material at the right time, but, due to inexperience, lack of funds, work ethics, or any number of variables simply can’t get the product out to consumers within either the promised time or in a timely manner.

No matter how good what you’re selling is, you can’t build trust or returning customers if you’re not faithful to the notion of regular and timely publication. Even Friedrich’s last few tottering issues came out on time.

Star*Reach built that trust and readers responded to it.

Chapter Eight the collapse

S

tar*Reach collapsed primarily due to a lack of funding. It was, as a publishing entity, largely a one-man operation, and, after the financial debacle with the initial color books and inserts, Friedrich didn’t have enough money to continue publishing.

Even though he had a contract to do a Batman novella, he didn’t have DC monies to fund it, and restrictions placed on him from both the creators and DC aborted the project before it was fairly started.

He was also, to some extent, a victim of his own success. The innovations and improved storytelling abilities that many of his earliest (and strongest) contributors displayed led to major offers from the mainstream comics companies. Time spent working for those companies meant less time available for Star*Reach. Friedrich couldn’t afford to keep his best artists and didn’t have the money or, probably, the time to seek out the newer, more hungry artists.

In addition, his own success, combined with the advent of Heavy Metal, prompted the various mainstream companies to do something that would have been unthinkable in previous decades, namely to offer the comics creators not only a freer market in terms of what they wanted to produce, but one in which they could own, or at least coown, their own material.

The Archie Goodwin-edited magazine Epic Illustrated published stories in both color and black-and-white and displayed much of the same editorial viewpoints that Star*Reach had accomplished so much with.

It was an anthology title that was relatively liberal in what it restricted and what it did not, emphasized the use of non-superhero stories, was innovative and classy in its production and look, and attracted many of the best artists and writers in the business at the time, including a large number of Star*Reach vets.

There was also competition coming from new publishers who saw and liked what Star*Reach had been doing and were moving to put their own spin on it. Eclipse, headed by Dean Mullaney, launched their first publication, Sabre—a black-and-white graphic novella by Don McGregor and Paul Gulacy—in 1978 and followed it with a second black-and-white book, this time a collection from Star*Reach contributor P. Craig Russell, then a third book, Detectives, Inc., this time in color by McGregor and Marshall Rogers. The latter book was one of the most innovative of the early 1980s in terms of storyline and production values.

Epic Illustrated © Marvel Characters, Inc. Sabre ™ and © Don McGregor and Paul Gulacy.

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(clockwise from top left) The Paul Gulacy cover art for Eclipse Magazine #1 doubled as a Creepy cover in Spain; Marshall Rogers “I Am Coyote” artwork from Eclipse Magazine #6; Mike Baron and Steve Rude’s first issue of Nexus.

Coyote ™ and © Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers. Nexus ™ and © Mike Baron and Steve Rude.

By 1981 Mullaney launched Eclipse Magazine, an excellent anthology title that displayed all the strengths of Star*Reach while succeeding in something that Friedrich had attempted to do but hadn’t really accomplished—launching successful spin-off titles from the anthology tales. Coyote (which debuted in Eclipse but became a series for Marvel and Goodwin’s Epic line), Ms. Tree (debuted at Eclipse, moved to First and finally to DC for a lengthy run), The Masked Man, and Ragamuffins all had varying degrees of success as separate titles. Recently, Ms. Tree has also had a prose novel version of her adventures published by Hard Case Crime Books.

While Eclipse was strictly a publishing company, both Capital City and Pacific Comics were comic distributors.

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Both launched their own comic books in 1981—Capital City with the black-and-white superhero title Nexus, by Mike Baron and Steve Rude, and Pacific with full color titles from the likes of Jack Kirby and Mike Grell. Pacific was also the first publisher of Dave Stevens’ The Rocketeer and would have been, if they’d managed to survive, the first U.S. publisher of the hugely influencial Miracleman (originally “Marvelman”) title by Alan Moore. As it was, Eclipse ended up publishing that title and numerous other titles originally intended for Pacific.

A flood of independent publishers followed—the more important being Aardvark-Vanaheim (publisher of Cerebus) and its spin-off Renegade Press, First, Comico,

John Totleben’s gruesome cover for Miracleman #15—a standout issue from the highly influential series.

Miracleman ™ and © respective owner

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Early issues from the many independent comic publishers that rose up in the early to mid-’80s.

All titles ™ and © their respective owners

Blackthorne, Fantagraphics, Solson, Continuity Comics, Apple Comics, and in the latter days of the first independent comics push—Dark Horse and Caliber.

Some of these publishers came and went in a blaze of glory. Some survived for considerable periods of time before market conditions or that old bugaboo, lack of funding, cut them down.

Some have survived to this day. Dark Horse, in particular, has become a major player in comics.

All of them, no matter how drastically the type of stories differed from publisher to publisher, shared one thing in common. Each based their early success on the model that Star*Reach provided—they tended to start off with strong anthology comics (and some still publish them), with major recognizable talent doing stories that the talent urgently wanted to tell, yet still providing a home for new, quality talent; stories that were owned in part or in total by the comic creators; and titles that were published in a timely fashion on a regular schedule. They didn’t adhere to the restrictions of the Comics Code. They weren’t distributed as traditional comics had been distributed for decades. They were often sassy, brash, and exciting, and generally more mature in outlook than the traditional mainstream title, although sometimes the content itself was not so mature. All of which is a solid description of Star*Reach comics.

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In 1976, when I discovered Star*Reach, I was 19 and beginning to drift away from comics. The titles I liked were being either cancelled or altered out of all recognition. The artists I liked were moving away from comics to animation and movie work or book covers and illustration. The writers were clearly frustrated and were switching from title to title or company to company so fast and so often that they were leaving no lasting impressions on characters or storylines. I’d stuck it out longer as a comics fan and reader than any of my friends who’d been comic fans with me from kid-dom on, but the thrill and wonder seemed gone. Then I got a subscription to Jim Steranko’s Mediascene tabloid news magazine and discovered in its ads comics I’d never heard of, from creators that I knew, respected, and admired. I took a chance and ordered the first half-dozen or so pricy issues of Star*Reach in one fell swoop. When they arrived I tore open the package, lifted out Star*Reach #1, saw that bawdy Jim Starlin cover, and was in love with comics all over again. Star*Reach was cool. It didn’t matter that nobody else got it. I did. Star*Reach was cool. In every great sense of the word, and nearly 40 years later, it’s still cool.

So to Mike Friedrich and all the writers and artists who contributed to Star*Reach and its sister titles, a great big thank you.

Bela Lugosi’s Tales from the Grave © Monsterverse

Nightmare World © Dirk Manning

Even today, the world of comics is drastically changed because of what Star*Reach pioneered. Take away the big five—Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, and (take your pick) either IDW or Boom—from Diamond’s monthly catalog of upcoming comics and you still have litereally hundreds of smaller publishers with thousands of titles crowding the pages. It would be impossible for a single person to read all of these titles, but clearly there are readers for them. Some of these publishers are content to be the small fish in the pond, doing what they want to do. Others are busy looking for the lightning and the title that will cause that lightning to strike.

There’re not too many anthologies nowadays, but there are a few worthy ones—the revivals of Dark Horse Presents, Creepy, and Eerie are all appearing from Dark Horse, while DC has been dipping their toe in the waters with a number of one-shot titles. Marvel, a company that in modern times has never been a big anthology publisher, has nonetheless done the same with mini-series like The Haunt of Horror, which featured superb Richard Corben adaptations of Poe and Lovecraft. In the independent field Dirk Manning’s Nightmare World and Monsterverse’s Bela Legosi’s Tales from the Grave are particularly noteworthy.

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Appendix The Early Independents checklists

w

itzend was the first of the independent or “indy” magazines. Premiering in 1966, it published 13 issues over almost two decades— most of them between 1966 and 1971—and provided a welcome link between mainstream comics and the then pretty much brand new underground movement. Although at times, particularly in the early issues, it seemed to suffer from the lack of a strong editorial hand at the

witzend 1. cover: collage of panels from interior stories assembled by Archie Goodwin/back cover: Frank Frazetta (Summer 1966) • Statement of NO POLICY [Wally Wood] 1p [text article, frontis] • Savage World [Wally Wood/Al Williamson, Frank Frazetta, and Angelo Torres] 8p • And in the Offing [Wally Wood/Gray Morrow, Leo and Diane Dillon, Dan Adkins, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Gil Kane] 2p [text article] • Two Swordsmen [Reed Crandall] 1p • And Thereby Hangs a Tale [Ralph Reese] 1p • Sinner [Archie Goodwin] 4p • Poems [Wally Wood?/Angelo Torres] 1p • Bucky Ruckus—Dedications and Credits [Wally Wood] 2p [text article] • Animan, part 1 [Wally Wood/Wally Wood and Ralph Reese] 7p • Absurd Science Fiction Stories—Moon Critters [Jack Gaughan] 10p • Subscription Info and Errata [Wally Wood] 1p [text article and ad on inside back cover]

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helm, that was actually at Wood’s insistence. He made it quite clear in his original editorial in issue #1 that this magazine was intended as a showcase for writers and artists, with little or no editorial direction or interference. witzend certainly showcased many important artists of the period and pointed out a direction for every self-publishing writer/artist to this day. witzend publisher and editor Bill Pearson has supplied some comments in the notes.

His contributions are in quotes.

Notes: Thanks to readers Emanuel Maris and Gary White, we now have credits for this issue! witzend originated from an idea on Dan Adkin’s part to publish a magazine called Outlet, which was eventually taken over and morphed into Wally Wood’s Etcetera. A logo was prepared using that title, but when Wood discovered another magazine with a similar title, the magazine’s title was changed to witzend, after it had been solicited under the original title but before actual publication.

There were two printings of witzend #1, and, after selling out rather quickly, a bootleg copy was produced by unknown characters around 1969–70. The counterfeit copy has slightly different paper for the cover, featuring a slight pebble-grain texture. Many dealers nowadays are unaware of the existence of the counterfeit. The original, legimate printing appears to have the same type of paper as was used for #2. The story “Savage World” was drawn in 1954 and intended for Buster Crabbe Comics.

That comic was cancelled before the story was used, and Williamson accepted the art back instead of payment. Wood wrote a totally new script for the story for this appearance, as the original was lost. Years later, Bruce Jones wrote another script for the artwork when he reprinted “Savage World” in his Pacific

Comics title Alien Worlds. Frazetta’s back cover is a drawing of Buster Crabbe as Flash Gordon and was probably done at roughly the same time as “Savage World.” Best story here was Archie Goodwin’s chilling “Sinner,” which was reprinted in Marvel’s black-andwhite magazine Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction Special #1 in 1976. Best art is by Wood on “Animan.”

Wally Wood’s cover art for witzend #2. © estate of Wallace Wood

2. cover: Wally Wood/back cover: Ralph Reese (1967)

4. cover: Wally Wood/back cover: Frank Frazetta (1968)

• 1) What Is It… [Wally Wood/Tajana Wood] 1p [text article, frontis]

• Words from Wood [Wally Wood/? Conroy] 1p [text article, frontis]

• Orion [Gray Morrow] 6p

• Pipsqueak Papers [Wally Wood] 4p

• Hey Look! [Harvey Kurtzman] 1p [reprinted from ?]

• Mr. A [Steve Ditko] 10p • The Rejects [Wally Wood and Bhob Stewart/Wally Wood] 3p

• Hey Look! [Harvey Kurtzman] 1p [reprinted from ?]

• Reed Crandall’s ERB Portfolio, part 3 [Reed Crandall] 4p [pin-ups]

• If You Can’t Join ’em…Beat ’em! [Warren Sattler] 4p • A Reed Crandall ERB Portfolio [Reed Crandall] 5p [pin-ups]

• A Proper Perspective and Several Strange Viewpoints [Wally Wood and Bill Pearson/Leo and Diane Dillon] 2p [poetry]

• Poetry [Wally Wood, Ralph Reese, and Bill Pearson/Frank Frazetta] 2p

• The Sneeze [Bill Pearson/Grass Green] 3p

• Cartoon [Will Elder] 1p

• Virtue Ever Triumphant [Roger Brand] 6p

• A Flash of Insight, A Cloud of Dust and a Hearty Hi-Yo Silver [Art Spiegelman] 3p • Midnight Special [Steve Ditko] 1p • …By the Fountain in the Park… [Don Martin] 2p • Animan, part 2 [Wally Wood/Wally Wood and Ralph Reese] 9p • Herein, and Furthmore… [Wally Wood/ Al Williamson] 1p [text article] • A Word from Wood…Subscribe! [Wally Wood/Roy G. Krenkel] 1p [text article, on inside back cover] Notes: $1.00 for 36 pages. Gray Morrow’s “Orion” serial would not be concluded until its printing in Heavy Metal in 1979. Although Wood wanted all the material in witzend to be original or, at least, appear there for the first time, he broke his own rule to allow some of Kurtzman’s “Hey Look!” pages to be reprinted. Ditko’s cute one-pager is a reminder that the guy has a sense of humor, something that is sometimes lost when regarding his work. Spiegelman’s work was a wordless strip. Martin’s was almost certainly a rejected strip for Mad magazine. Crandall’s Edgar Rice Burroughs portfolio, which would stretch out over the next four issues, had some excellent artwork. It may have been reprinted from the ERB Bulletin.

3. cover: Wally Wood/frontis: Leo and Diane Dillon/back cover: Al Williamson (1967) • Mr. A [Steve Ditko] 5p • Poetry [Ralph Reese/Leo and Diane Dillon] 1p

• Reed Crandall’s ERB Portfolio, part 2 [Reed Crandall] 4p [pin-ups] • Harold Sunshine [Art Spiegelman] 3p • Hey Look! [Harvey Kurtzman] 1p [reprinted from ?]

• The Invaders! [Richard Bassford] 3p • The Chase [Roger Brand] 4½p • Poetry [Wally Wood and Bill Pearson] ½p • Pipsqueak Papers [Wally Wood] 3p • Vanessa [Sam Kobish/Roy G. Krenkel] 1p [text story] • Last Chance! [Frank Frazetta] 9p • Hey Look! [Harvey Kurtzman] 1p [reprinted from ?]

• Contents and Portents and Otherwise Words [Wally Wood/Al Williamson] 1p [text article on inside back cover] Notes: Williamson’s back cover featured Flash Gordon, whose comic book he was illustrating during this time period. That same back cover also promised that witzend #4 would be an Al Williamson SF spectacular, which didn’t actually happen. This was the debut of Ditko’s famous (or infamous— depends on your outlook) “Mr. A.” While not as strident as later strips, it still clearly depicts Mr. A’s black-and-white outlook on the world. Whatever you may have thought about the actual story, you couldn’t deny that it featured beautiful artwork, some of the best of Ditko’s career. Frazetta’s story was a comic strip tryout from 1950 refashioned into traditional comic pages by Bill Pearson. Roger Brand’s work was very good and shows a strong Krigstein influence. This is an excellent issue.

• The World of the Wizard King [Wally Wood] 5p [text story] Notes: Frazetta’s back cover was very good, showing an American Indian being carried off by a pterodactyl. It’s possible it was originally intended for one of the Edgar Rice Burroughs books in the early 1960s.

Wood’s “Pipsqueak Papers” was a cute, and oddly innocent, erotic fable. Both Ditko and Brand delivered strong stories and art.

The Pearson/Grass “The Sneeze” was quite amusing. Wood’s illustrated prose story, “The World of the Wizard King” would be reworked into traditional comic form and published as a graphic novel in the late 1970s. Another good issue.

5. cover: photo of an rhinoceros’ backside/ back cover: Ed Paschke (Oct. 1968) • Editorial [Bill Pearson/Art Spiegelman] 1p [text article, frontis] • The World of the Wizard King, part 2 [Wally Wood] 5p [text story] • The Junkwaffel Invasion of Krupenny Island [Vaughn Bodé] 4p • JAF [James Frankfort] 8p [art and story credited to JAF] • A Reed Crandall ERB Portfolio, part 4 [Reed Crandall] 3p [pin-ups] • Pipsqueak Papers [Wally Wood] 5p • Prevue: The Adventures of Talon [Jim Steranko] 3p • Homesick [Roger Brand] 8p • Editorial Matters [Bill Pearson] 1p [text article, on inside back cover]

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Notes: Publisher and editor: Bill Pearson.

Wood sold witzend to Pearson for the sum of $1.00 along with the promises to first publish through at least #8 (the issue that Wood had sold subscriptions up to) and, second, to run any story already accepted

by Wood as is. Steranko’s “Talon” preview was for a Conanesque barbarian swordsman.

The artwork looked great, so it was too bad the promised story never appeared. Steranko later used this spelling of the word “Prevue” as the new title of his renamed Mediascene magazine (which was itself renamed from the original Comicscene title). Thanks to the mystery artist JAF’s daughter Michelle, we’re happy to announce the identity of JAF. His real name is James Frankfort. Frankfort was a successful cartoonist/commercial artist for a number of years in Greenwich Village and taught at New Paltz University. He died in 2005, an independent artist his entire life.

• An Interview with Will Eisner [John Benson and Will Eisner/Will Eisner] 5p [text article w/photo] • Subscription Ad [Bill Pearson/Wally Wood] 2p • Qwamb! [Bill Pearson] 7p [credited to Sorrel Garika] • The Spawn of Venus [Al Feldstein/Wally Wood] 8p • The Avenging World [Steve Ditko] 10p • Pin-Up [Gray Morrow] 1p [on inside back cover]

Notes: According to Bill Pearson, the intricate and incredibly detailed cover took a huge amount of time and labor to achieve in 1969’s pre-computer production days. The two robots on the cover are marked “GMC” and “Ford.” “The Spawn of Venus” was a previously unpublished EC story, originally intended for a 3-D EC Classics issue. Three more such tales were published in the EC fanzine Squa Tront. Check out Bill Pearson’s comments for #7 for further information on Ditko’s “The Avenging World.” Benson’s interview with Eisner is not only well done but

6. cover: Mike Hinge (Spring 1969) [wraparound cover] • Alien [Bill Pearson/Jeff Jones] 6p

(left) Jim Steranko’s Talon from witzend #5. (above) Mike Hinge’s cover for witzend #6.

Talon © Jim Steranko

provides the interesting information that, as of Sept. 10, 1968, Eisner had no knowledge whatsoever of the existence of his future publisher, Warren Publishing.

BP: “Mike Hinge was another overlooked genius. He was a designer, not a cartoonist, but when he came to me with the idea for this cover, I was immediately intrigued. Eddie Glasser, my business partner in Wonderful Publishing Company and the head of the photography department at Admaster Prints, where I worked as production manager of the art department, produced dozens of intricate cels with overlapping machinery patterns, and Mike and I both put in dozens of hours creating the final wraparound design and logo. The printer had a challenging job too! Except for the printer, not a one of us made a dime for all the work. In fact, we lost money that could have been made for freelance work during those hours, but it was worth it. So many people have told me over

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the years that something they saw in witzend inspired them, and there’s no greater reward than that!”

Thanks to Gary White for additional information for this issue.

7. cover: Vaughn Bodé/back cover: Kenneth Smith (1970) • Editorial [Bill Pearson/Ralph Reese] 1p [text article, frontis] • Cobalt 60 [Vaughn Bodé] 10p • Letters Page [Dan Adkins] 2p • Mr. A: The Avenging World, part 2 [Steve Ditko] 8p • The Strange Adventure of Ike and His Spoon [Roger Brand] 6p • Pin-Up [Ed Paschke] 1p • Limpstrel [Berni Wrightson] 1p • untitled [Bill Pearson] 1p • Mr. E [Bill Pearson/Tim Brent] 2p • Limpstrel [Berni Wrightson] 1p • The Journey [Betty Morrow/Gray Morrow] 8p [Final page is printed on the inside back cover] Notes: $1.50 for 48 pages. Bodé’s cover was extremely gruesome and was probably based on the infamous Vietnam War photo showing a Viet Cong prisoner being executed with a pistol. His interior story, “Cobalt 60” was just as gruesome, but it was also his best straight SF tale. Beautifully drawn and powerfully written, this featured the best story and art in this issue and is a genuine classic of the comics genre. Ditko’s “The Avenging World” was not actually a story but a political/philosophical essay told in comic form. The artwork was some of his most innovative work. Paschke’s pinup depicted Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Little Dot, Dennis the Menace, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Little Lulu, and Little Orphan Annie as dope fiends in an opium den!

Bill Pearson’s “Mr. E” strip was a rather savage satire on Steve Ditko’s Mr. A character.

It was also printed sideways and was actually four pages in length. Wrightson spelled his first name as “Berni” throughout the 1960s– 1980s, and although he uses Bernie today, for the checklist I’m using his orginal spelling. The third and last “Limpstrel” story appeared in another fanzine in 1972.

BP: “Ditko had been one of the most supportive contributors to witzend. Even after I became publisher, he came to my apartment

a couple of times and spent hours with me stuffing envelopes and helping with the other drudge duties involved in maintaining the subscription files. This was after his Marvel years with Spider-Man and Dr. Strange. But I hated publishing that ‘Avenging World’ diatribe of his, and would have preferred to reject it and hope he couldn’t find another publisher either. I felt about him just as I did about Wood. Throughout our long association, I tried, sometimes successfully, sometimes not, to keep him from publishing personal revelations that betrayed flaws in his character or deficits in his intellect. Both of these men were master cartoonists, genius talents, but they did need editors. I really debated with myself about running ‘Mr. E’, but just had to offset Ditko’s strong positions.”

As mentioned in the notes for #5, Pearson’s agreement with Wood prevented him

from rejecting any Ditko stories that Wood had accepted, and that agreement apparently covered “Avenging World.” The Morrows’ strip was blessed with a good story and downright stunning erotic art. One of witzend’s best issues.

8. cover: Ralph Reese/Bill Pearson (1971) • Why, It’s… witzend [Bill Pearson] 1p [text article, frontis] • The World of the Wizard King, part 3 [Wally Wood] 5p [text story] • untitled [Bhob Stewart] 1p • Barf the Insurance Salesman [Bill Pearson/Ralph Reese] 7p • Foxtale [Nicola Cuti/Bill Stillwell] 2p • Holding the Bag [Dr. Seuss] 1p [reprinted from Judge magazine (?

1932)]

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Jeff Jones’ cover for witzend #5, and a page from Nick Cuti’s and Joe Staton’s “My Furry World and Welcome to It!” from witzend #10.

My Furry World and Welcome to It © Nick Cuti and Joe Staton

• The City in the Sea [Edgar Allan Poe/ Frank Frazetta] 10p [poem] • The Break-Out! [Steve Ditko] 1p • The Hunting of the Snark [John Richardson] 8p [from the poem by Lewis Carroll] Notes: The title logo appeared in the mouth of the devil depicted on the back cover. Reese’s cover was a panel blow-up from his interior story. Frazetta’s artwork for “The City in the Sea” was originally done in 1960 (or earlier) for an unpublished one-page adventure Sunday comic strip. It was reformatted (similar to what was done for “Last Chance!”)

by Bill Pearson and combined with the Poe poem. According to Bill Pearson, the actual artwork was very large, the same size that Hal Foster used to illustrate the Prince Valiant Sunday pages. One panel from the original page was not used. It easily has the best art and poetry for this issue. Perhaps someday the original tryout page will be printed. Cuti’s “Foxtale” was somewhat of a preview or prototype for his 1980–82 series, “The Fox,” for Warren. “Barf the Insurance Salesman” was an amusing tale in the National Lampoon vein of humor. After this issue, which completed

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the original subscribers run, witzend began to fizz out, with years occurring between issues. There were still good issues and stories to come, but I don’t think any of them had the impact of these first eight issues.

9. cover: Jeff Jones/title page and back cover: Bill Pearson (1973) • The Films of Charles Bogle [Bill Pearson] 7p [text article with photos] • The Bank Dick: His Very Own PhotoStory [Bill Pearson] 4p [fumetti-style strip] • The Films of Otis Criblecoblis [Bill Pearson] 2p [text article with photos] • Complete Filmography of W. C. Fields [Bill Pearson] 1p [text article] • Adversity: The W. C. Fields Game [Bill Pearson] 12p [game] • Between the Scenes/A Fussy Old Man in the Movies [photo display] 13p • Alan Wood, On Stage with W. C. Fields [Allen Wood] 1p [text article with photo] • W. C. Fields Pin-Up [Bill Pearson] 1p [on inside back cover]

Notes: This was a W. C. Fields special.

Publisher: Phil Seuling. Editor: Bill Pearson. $1.50 for 38 pages. No comics in this issue whatsoever. However, Jeff Jones’ cover featuring Fields is quite stunning.

BP: “The printer screwed up the cover by Jeff Jones, so I hastily had some full color prints of the painting made and included them with the magazine. This issue got almost no distribution (I hadn’t solicited subscriptions beyond #8), and Phil Seuling and I dissolved our business partnership soon after publication. He had financed #8 and #9. I had hundreds of copies, but it became known as the ‘missing’ issue of witzend. They were all destroyed in my house fire, so now it really is a rare publication.”

10. cover: Wally Wood (1976) [wraparound cover] • Kym: Lost in a Dream! [Bill Pearson/ Dick Giordano] 8p • 39/74 [Guyla and Alex Toth/Alex Toth] 10p • On March 17, 1969… [Howard Chaykin] 3p • Pin-Up [Terry Austin] 1p

• Sally Forth [Wally Wood] 6p [reprinted from Overseas Weekly #?]

• Early Poop II [Bill Pearson] 1p [credited to Q. P. Hamstrung]

• Pin-Up [P. Craig Russell] 1p

• Spurt Starling III [Bill Pearson] 1p

• The Avenging Dodo [Bill Pearson/Mike Zeck] 8p

• Kym Pin-Up [Dan Adkins] 1p

• Pin-Up [Walt Simonson] 1p • My Furry World and Welcome to It! [Nicola Cuti/Joe Staton] 10p Notes: Publishers and editors: Bob Layton and Bill Pearson. $3.00 for 48 pages. Printed in conjunction with CPL/Gang Publications. “Kym” was a three-part dream sequence that would take six years to conclude. Based on the November completion date noted in Chaykin’s artwork, this book had to come out in December 1976. “39/74” is copyrighted by Marvel Publications so it must have, at one time, been intended for a Marvel magazine.

It’s well drawn, but the story itself is not particularly interesting. Wood’s “Sally Forth” story originally appeared in the military magazine Overseas Weekly in the form of a comic strip and was slightly reformatted for witzend. Russell’s pin-up appeared to be a slightly redrawn Dr. Strange cover or possibly an unused splash page intended for the 1976 Dr. Strange Annual. Best story and art goes to Chaykin’s rather chilling solo effort, but both “The Avenging Dodo” and “My Furry World and Welcome to It!” were amusing and well drawn.

BP: “By this time, I wasn’t making much money but coerced Bob Layton into financing what I think is a pretty nice issue.”

• Pin-Ups [Bill Pearson] 3p [last pin-up on inside back cover] Notes: $4.00 for 48 pages. The Wally Wood material consisted of unused panels or sketches intended for his Wizard King graphic novel, which itself was a reworking of the earlier text story that had appeared in witzend. The portfolio pages included here were considered too erotic for the graphic novel itself. “Early Poop” was an X-rated spoof of Alley Oop. “Spurt Starling” was a spoof of Flash Gordon. Best story here was the delightful “The Care and Feeding of Geks” by Cuti and Zeck, although Pearson’s “Early Poop” and “Spurt Starling” are funny.

BP: “I thought I was producing a spoof of underground comix, but lost all editorial judgement and used too much of my own art… and the reaction was silent embarrassment. I conned Bill Black into co-financing this issue (sight unseen), and I suspect he junked his half of the print run.”

11. cover, frontis and back cover: Bill Pearson (1978) • Introduction [Bill Pearson] 1p [pin-up and brief intro] • Kym Pin-Up [Bill Pearson] 1p • Spurt Starling [Bill Pearson] 1p • A Portfolio: The Wicked World of the Wizard King [Wally Wood] 12p • Early Poop [Bill Pearson] 1p [credited to Q. P. Hamstrung]

• Spurt Starling II [Bill Pearson] 1p • The Enormous Slug Suckers from the Planet Mars!! [Bill Pearson] 8p

• Kym: Encounter [Bill Pearson/Ruben Yandoc] 8p

12. cover: George Bush/frontis and inside back cover: Jerry Bingham/back cover: photo of woman posing as Kym (1982) • Editorial [Bill Pearson] 1p [text article] • My Ship of Dreams [Henry C. Pitz] 1p [poem] • Stargazer [J. R. Blevins and Dennis Janke/Dennis Janke] 12p [Janke’s story and art credited to Z. Capistance] • Bugs in the System [Al Sirois and David Stone/Al Sirois] 4p • The Phantom Pin-Up [Gray Morrow] 1p • The Real World [Bhob Stewart/John Norton] 4p • untitled [Don Martin] 2p • Booby Trap [Steve Ditko] 1p • Kym: The Awakening [Bill Pearson/ Mike Zeck and Ruben Yandoc] 9p • Lunar Tunes [Wally Wood] 12p • Wallace Wood 1927–1981 [Richard Bassford] 1p Notes: $3.50 for 48 pages. Bush’s cover was a rendering of Humphrey Bogart based on a photo still of his Fred C. Dobbs character from The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

This was the third and last installment of the dreams of “Kym.” “Lunar Tunes” must have been one of Wally Wood’s final stories. Jerry Bingham’s pin-ups were quite well drawn, but the barbarian theme seemed a little out of place in this bunch of stories. There is some interesting alternative work here.

BP: “This is a nice issue, I thought. I conned a gangster (well, he was a major league drug dealer) into financing this issue, and he too kept half (2,500 copies) of the print run. You better believe I paid him back as soon as I sold my 2,500 copies! He surely eventually junked his 2,500 copies.”

13. cover: Dennis Janke/frontis and inside back cover: Victor Perard/title page: Bill Pearson and Wally Wood/back cover: Bob McLeod (1985)

• The Care and Feeding of Geks [Nicola Cuti/Mike Zeck] 8p

• The Slugsucker Diagram [Bill Pearson] 1p [diagram]

This effort, along with #9 and #13, are the hardest issues to find.

1984 advertising art for witzend featuring Snorky, the mascot of the magazine.

Snorky © estate of Wallace Wood

• Good Girl Pin-Ups [Rich Chidlaw, Bill Pearson, Frank Frazetta, Roy G. Krenkel, Willy Pogany, Zolne Rowich, Norman Price, (?) Bauer, Stan Drake, Kenneth Smith, Hannes Bok, (?), Vince Alascia, Charles Nicholas, Jack Gaughan, Bruce Miller, John Beatty, Richard Bassford,

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David Karbonik, Brad Foster, Wally Wood, Ed Paschke, Frank Godwin, Trina Robbins, V. T. Hamlin, Mike Zeck, and Heinrich Kley] 36p Notes: Final issue. $3.00 for 36 pages.

An all “good girls” pin-up issue. No comic stories at all. Some beautiful pin-ups and sketches here with great artwork from everybody involved. I particularly liked the Wally Wood witzend cover mock-up, Bill Pearson’s efforts, Bob McLeod’s back cover, the Krenkel sketchbook art, and Heinrich Kley’s (a Jewish artist who disappeared during Hitler’s regime) artwork, but all of the artwork is of high quality. If you like pin-up art (especially of mostly naked babes), this is a pretty good book. Rowich’s art was a drawing of Sheena of the Jungle from the cover of Jumbo Comics #46.

BP: “I think I somehow financed this issue myself, and it was the most popular number of the entire series. Bud Plant kept reordering for years. Not counting the hundreds of man-hours I put into it, this issue actually broke even! Also destroyed in [my] house fire were approximately 140 pages of what I hoped would be the ultimate issue of witzend, many years in the making, an eclectic mix of some really fabulous material. But it wasn’t to be.”

• Introduction [Mark Feldman/Jim? Miller] 3p [text article]

• Animan [Wally Wood] 15p [reprinted from witzend #1–2 (1966–67), one page from part 2 deleted.]

• Dr. Demono [Jim Miller] 5p

• witzend #4 cover [Wally Wood] 1p [pinup, on inside back cover] Notes: Although not officially an issue of witzend, this reprint volume (not to be confused with the 1970s Wood newsletter of the same name) of Wood’s work for witzend came out in 1980 and was, in effect, an issue of witzend. The back cover was actually the splash page from the original printing of the second part of “Animan.”

• Michael Kaluta Interview [Mark Feldman and Michael Kaluta/Michael Kaluta and Roy G. Krenkel] 5p [text article] • Cheech Wizard: Race to the Moon [Vaughn Bodé] 6p • Vaughn Bodé Interview [Mark Feldman and Vaughn Bodé] 2p [text article] • Vampires of the Mind [Steve Hickman and Mike Cody] 6p • Pin-Up [Robert L. Kline] 1p • The E.C. Answer to Comic Book Originality [Meade Frierson III] 3p [text article] • Next Issue Previews [Michael Kaluta, Tom Sutton, and Berni Wrightson] 2p • Portfolio [Kenneth Smith] 4p [pin-ups] • John Severin Interview [Mark Feldman? and John Severin/John Severin] 5p [text article] • Pin-Ups [Steve Hickman and Steve Harper] 2p • Tom Sutton Interview [Mark Feldman? and Tom Sutton] 2p [text article] • Pin-Ups [Frank Frazetta and Berni Wrightson] 2p

Woodwork

• Berni Wrightson Interview [Mark Feldman and Berni Wrightson/Berni Wrightson] 1p [text article]

1. cover and back cover: Wally Wood (1980)

• Nick Fury and the Yellow Claw Pin-Up [Jim Steranko] 1p

• Statement of Policy [Wally Wood] 1p [frontis, reprinted from witzend #1 (Summer 1966)]

• Da-Kar [Mike Miller] 3p

• witzend #3 cover [Wally Wood] 1p [pin-up] • The witzend Story [Bill Pearson/Wally Wood] 2p [text story] • Pipsqueak Papers [Wally Wood] 3p [reprinted from witzend #3 (1967)] • Pipsqueak Papers [Wally Wood] 3p [reprinted from witzend #4 (1968)] • Pipsqueak Papers [Wally Wood] 5p [reprinted from witzend #5 (Oct. 1968)] • The World of the Wizard King [Wally Wood] 15p [text story, reprinted from witzend #4–6 and 8 (1968–71)] • witzend #2 cover [Wally Wood] 1p [pin-up] • The Rejects [Wally Wood and Bhob

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Stewart/Wally Wood] 3p [reprinted from witzend #4 (1968)]

The Man 1. cover:Vaughn Bodé (1966) • The Man [Vaughn Bodé] 26p Notes: My copy of this comic is the 1972 reprint which went for $.50 for 26 pages.

Bodé’s tale revolves around a solitary caveman whose loneliness is almost unbearable.

His best “friend” is his pointed stick (spear).

One day he finds a little lizard that he makes into a pet, and for a short while he is happy.

Then an ironic tragedy strikes. Nicely written and, ultimately, quite sad.

I’ll Be Damned 1. cover: Frank Frazetta/titlepage: (?) (1970) • Pin-Ups [Kenneth Smith] 1p

• Pin-Up [Steve Hickman] 1p • Jeff Jones Interview [Mark Feldman? and Jeff Jones/Jeff Jones and Sal Buscema] 3p [text article] • Pin-Ups [Steve Hickman, Jeff Fantuccio, Richard Corben, Dave Cockrum] 4p Notes: All information for this issue was provided by Jeffrey Clem. It’s much appreciated, Jeff! Publisher and editor: Mark Feldman? $? For 72 pages. Frazetta’s cover was repeated on the back cover sans copy.

Sal Buscema’s sketch in the Jeff Jones interview featured the Avengers battling Ultron and had nothing to do with Jeff Jones at all.

Dave Cockrum’s pin-up also featured many Marvel characters in a “bigfoot” art style.

Severin’s interview art featured his work on Cracked’s mascot logo character. Sutton’s

A Tom Sutton page from his two-part story for I’ll Be Damned.

Pilgrim © estate of Tom Sutton

interview featured no art at all. The next issue ad included artwork for Michael Kaluta’s story “Hey, Buddy, Can You Lend Me…?” which ended up in the fanzine Scream Door (see below).

2. cover, title page, and back cover: Kenneth Smith (July 1970) • Nest Egg [Alan Simons/Steve Hickman and Robert L. Kline] 3p • Pilgrim [Tom Sutton] 5p • Stake-Out [Berni Wrightson] 4p Notes: Publisher and Editor: Mark Feldman. $.35 for twelve pages. Very thin, magazine-sized fanzine. Wrightson’s strip featured the Old Witch, the Vault Keeper, and the Crypt Keeper from EC comics. Both “Nest Egg” and “Pilgrim” were serials (and, to my knowledge, neither was ever concluded). “Pilgrim,” in particular, appeared to have promise.

3. never published (see notes for Scream Door #1)

4. cover and frontis: Berni Wrightson/back cover: Frank Brunner (Jan. 1971)

out appeared as the cover to Scream Door #1.

Good issue and art.

• Out on a Limb! [Berni Wrightson] 6p • Pilgrim, part 2 [Tom Sutton] 5p • Pin-Ups [Frank Brunner and Gray Morrow] 2p • Nest Egg, part 3 [Alan Simons/Dan Adkins and Steve Hickman] 3p • Frankenstein Pin-Up [Tom Sutton] 1p Notes: Final issue. Wrightson’s “Out on a Limb!” was originally intended as the cover story for the never published Web of Horror #4. Sutton’s Frankenstein pin-up was done just before he began writing and illustrating the character for Skywald. Brunner’s back cover was a preview page for a proposed series that was to have been called “Red Man’s Burden.” Wrightson’s cover showed the same frontier coot that would headline the story “King of the Mountain, Man” from his 1972 collection Badtime Stories, while his frontispiece was a try-out page dealing with Frankenstein. Another page from the same try-

Infinity 1. (?)

Notes: At this time, information is not available for this issue. Infinity was somewhat of a hybrid fanzine, combining articles which featured a great deal of artwork as well as the occasional comic story.

2. cover: Frank Brunner/frontis and title page: Roy G. Krenkel/back cover: Jeff Jones (1970) • From the Desk of the Editor; Editor Notes [Adam Malin and Gary Berman/ Ed Eschweller] 5p [text article] • Pin-Up [Frank Brunner] 1p • Pin-Ups [Virgil Finlay] 2p • Berni Wrightson Interview [Adam Malin and Berni Wrightson/Berni Wrightson, Jim Steranko, and Gray Morrow] 10p [text article]

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• Pin-Up [Joe Schenkman] 1p • Frank Frazetta Interview [Doug Murray and Frank Frazetta/Frank Frazetta, Frank Brunner, and Steve Hickman] 7p [text article] • Roy G. Krenkel Portfolio [Roy G. Krenkel] 3p • Richard M. Nixon Illustration [Gray Morrow] 1p • Letters Page [illo by Dave Berg] 5p • Pin-Ups [Dan Adkins, Roy G. Krenkel, and Michael Kaluta] 3p • Pin-Up [John Fantuccio] 1p • Pin-Up [Joe Schenkman] 1p [on inside back cover] Notes: $1.50 for 48 pages. The Steranko illo that appeared in the Wrightson interview depicts Marvel’s Black Panther character. Information on this issue provided by Jeffrey

Clem. There were at least two printings of Infinity #2 with a few of the illustrations dropped and new ones added in their place. The letters page featured letters from Berni Wrightson and Robert Gerson (né Gerstenhaber).

3a. cover: Frank Brunner/frontis: Michael Kaluta/title page: (?)/back cover: Robert L. Kline (1971) • Introduction [Alan Malin and Gary Berman/Kenneth Smith] 2p [text article] • Pin-Up [Michael Kaluta] 1p • Wrightson Portfolio [Berni Wrightson] 3p • Jeff Jones Interview [(?) and Jeff Jones/ Jeff Jones] 6p [text article] • Pin-Up [?] 2p • Virgil Finlay [Doug Murray/Virgil Finlay] 2p [text article] • Frank Brunner Interview [(?) and Frank Brunner/Frank Brunner] 9p [text article]

• As Night Falls: Cheryl’s Song [Michael Kaluta] 2p • Pin-Up [Jeff Jones] 1p [on inside back cover] Notes: Publishers and editors: Gary Berman and Adam Malin. $1.50 for 28 pages.

Brunner’s cover was originally intended for the never published This Is Legend #2. This issue was split into two separate magazines, with an additional supplement of six sketch pages given to subscribers. The supplement features sketches by Al Williamson (Flash Gordon), Jack Kirby (Captain America), Mark Rydell, Randy Yeates, Frank Frazetta, Joe Sinnott (The Thing), Syd Shores (Captain America), and Randy Yeates/Mark Rydell. Kaluta’s “As Night Falls” dream series had three separate parts, the other two appearing in other fanzines during 1971–72.

3b. cover: Jeff Jones/frontis: Gray Morrow/ title page: Kenneth Smith/back cover: Berni Wrightson (1971) • The Mating [Bruce Jones] 2p [story never concluded] • Bruce Jones Interview [(?) and Bruce Jones/ Bruce Jones] 4p [text article with photo] • A Portfolio by Roy G. Krenkel [Roy G. Krenkel] 10p • Life Among the Beetles, Boners, and Hi and Lois [Mort Walker] 2p [text article with cartoon strips]

Roy G. Krenkel provided a lot of art for Infinity such as this pen-and-ink caveman illustration. © estate of Roy G. Krenkel

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• Mr. Wizzy… [Mort Drucker] 1p • Candy Camera… [Mort Drucker] 1p • Pin-Up [Frank Brunner] 1p • Reality Ad [Michael Kaluta] 1p • Wallace Wood page [Wally Wood?] 1p [on inside back cover] Notes: The second half of #3. This issue included a lengthy letters page featuring artwork by Kenneth Smith, Al Williamson, and Randy Yeates. Robert L. Kline, Gordon Love, Kenneth Smith, and Randy Yeates sent in letters. Jones’ little two-page strip was the first part of an intended serial, but it was never concluded. Wrightson’s back cover was a depiction of Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater from the Mother Goose rhymes. A similar page appeared in the portfolio section of #3, part 1. These may have been try-out pages for the adaptation of that nursery rhyme that appeared in Abyss #1.

• Frank Brunner Portfolio [Frank Brunner] 5p • Creation: The 1971 Art Convention [Adam Malin/Roy G. Krenkel] 5p [text article with photos] • Michael Kaluta Interview [Adam Malin, Doug Murray, and Michael Kaluta/ Michael Kaluta] 6p [text article with photos] • Mr. Odd [Mort Drucker] 1p • The Artist’s Corner [Roy G. Krenkel, Jeff Jones, Gray Morrow, M. Serignt] 4p • The Deer [Michael Kaluta] 3p • Pin-Ups [Clyde Caldwell, Roy G. Krenkel, Berni Wrightson, (?), Howard Chaykin, Steve Harper, (?), Al Williamson, and Frank Frazetta] 8p • Steve Harper Interview [Adam Malin, Doug Murray, Dave Kaskove, Mike Kaluta, and Steve Harper/Steve Harper] 5p [text article]

4. cover: Richard Corben/frontis: Joe Schuster/title page: Al Williamson/inside back cover: Berni Wrightson/back cover: Larry Todd (1972)

• Phase Ad [Ken Barr] 1p

• Editorial [Adam Malin and Gary Berman/Kenneth Smith] 1p [text article]

• Island Fable [Jan Strnad/Jeff Jones and Roy G. Krenkel] 4p [text story]

• Pin-Up [Jeff Jones and Joe Sinnott] 1p

• Pin-Up [Berni Wrightson] 1p

• Fastest Gun in the West [(?) Mooney] 2p

• Gray Morrow Portfolio [Gray Morrow] 3p

• Comix!: A Phenonemon [Jack Jackson/ Jack Jackson, Gilbert Shelton, Roy Crumb, (?), Roy G. Krenkel, Richard Corben, and more] 11p [text article] • Jimi Hendrix Pin-Up [Tom Yeates] 1p

• A New Beginning [Al Feldstein/Al Williamson] 6p [reprinted from Weird Science #22]

• Letters Pages [Kenneth Smith, Roy G. Krenkel] 3p • Phantasmagoria Ad [Kenneth Smith] 1p

• Butch Malin and the Berman Kid in Convention Crisis! [Adam Malin/Randy Yeates and Rick Rydell] 4p Notes: $3.00 for 80 pages. Joe Schuster’s frontispiece is a 1940s-era cheesecake pin-up (it’s rather faint but very well done). “Fastest Gun in the West” was signed “Mooney 1972,” but the writer/artist’s full name was not included on the title page and the artist is unknown to me. Kaluta’s story is wordless, but has word balloons. The reader was encouraged to script the story, and it’s possible this effort at reader participation was inspired

by Web of Horror’s similar artist contest. The artwork appears to be based on the same Chinese legend (involving a were-deer) that Nicola Cuti used for two different stories in the 1970s and 1980s—one for Charlton and one for Warren. One of the Wrightson pin-ups is described as unused letters page art for Web of Horror, but the artwork actually does appear in Web of Horror #2 and 3.

Jack Jackson, Tom Yeates, and William Stout sent in letters. The Wrightson back cover is another wash page depicting the Headless Horseman. Wrightson did a number of these for various fanzines in the early 1970s.

This is a very impressive package with stellar artwork from Brunner, Yeates, Kaluta, and others, and striking covers from Corben and Todd. Some of this issue’s information was provided by Jeffrey Clem (Thanks, Jeff!).

5. cover: Larry Todd/frontis: Tom Yeates/ title page: Vaughn Bodé/back cover: Michael Kaluta (Summer 1973)

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• Notes from the Editors [Adam Main and Gary Berman/Gray Morrow] 3p [text article] • A Portfolio of Watercolors by E. Maroto [Esteban Maroto] 4p [pin-ups] • An Interview with Richard Corben [Jan Strnad and Richard Corben/Richard Corben] 10p [text article with photos] • Tarzan’s Chicago Adventure! [Mike Olshan/Frank Brunner] 2p • Infinity Fiction: The Man in the Middle [Jan Strnad] 2p [text story] • Eyefull: Notebook Pages [Larry Todd] 4p • A Report on Creation Convention 1972 [Gary Berman and Adam Malin/Larry Todd and Vaughn Bodé] 4p [text article with photos]

• Sketch Pages [Al Williamson and Larry Todd] 3p • Warp [Doug Murray/Neal Adams] 7p [text article] • Letters Page Art [Randy Yeates, Tom Yeates, Gene Colan, Alan Weiss, Larry Todd, Bruce Jones, Rich Bucker, and C. Lee Healy] 7p [pin-ups] • Junkwaffel [Vaughn Bodé] 1p • 5:30 PM—N.Y.C. [Larry Todd] 1p [on inside back cover] Notes: $? for 48 pages. A color print by Berni Wrightson, depicting a macabre rock band called the Cryptics, was inserted in this issue. Underground artist Jack Jackson and future cover artist Clyde Caldwell sent in letters. The Warp article covered the Chi-

cago stage play and included many of Neal Adams’ costume design pages, including the lead character’s Killraven-like costume.

“Junkwaffel” was printed sideways. With this issue Malin began to move away from comics history and more into convention coverage.

6. cover: Jeff Jones/frontis: Tim Conrad/ title page: Neal Adams (Jan. 1976) • From the Desk of the Editor [Gary Berman and Adam Malin/Gray Morrow?]

2p [text article] • Soul Music [Clyde Caldwell] 4p • 1975: The Year in Two Pages [Doug Murray] 3p [text article with photos] • Pin-Up [Tim Conrad] 1p • An Interview with Joe Stefano [Adam Malin and Joe Stefano] 9p [text article with photos] • Mr. Spock [James Thornton/Paul Bonanno] 2p [text article] • Centerfold [Jim Danforth] 2p • The Three Little Pigs—Revisited [Clyde Caldwell] 1p • Tele-Fantasy Convention [Doug Murray] 7p [text article with photos] • Fan Profile: John Fischner [?] 3p [text article with photos] • Movie FX Man Jim Danforth [Adam Malin and Jim Danforth] 4p [text article with photos] • View Point [letters page with art by Howard Chaykin] 4p • Pin-Up [Tim Conrad] 1p • The Phantasm of the Opera [Clyde Caldwell] 1p [on inside back cover] Notes: $3.00 for 44 pages. The Jones cover is repeated sans copy on the back cover.

Most of this issue covers various conventions, TV shows, or movies rather than any actual comics material. The Chaykin art on the letters page is the unused cover art for Atlas’ The Scorpion #2. Tim Conrad’s early artwork is especially nice.

This Is Legend 1. cover: Berni Wrightson/frontis: Michael Kaluta/back cover: Bob Juanillo (Sept. 1970) Berni Wrightson’s full-color insert for Infinity #5. © Berni Wrightson

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• Introduction [Richard L. Jennings/ Kenneth Smith] 1p [text article] • Title page [Kenneth Smith] 1p

• The Legend of Sleepy Hollow [Mary Skrenes/Jeff Jones, Alan Weiss, and Berni Wrightson] 11p [from the story

by Washington Irving, story credited to Virgil North] • Scroll Call [(?)/Kenneth Smith] 1p [text article] • Pin-Up [Robert L. Kline] 1p • From the Book of Useless Information [Richard L. Jennings?/Kenneth Smith, Ken Kelley, and Steve Harper] 3p [text article] • Pin-Ups [Bob Juanillo, Steve Hickman, Ray Cioni, Randy Broecker] 4p • Editorial [Richard L. Jennings/Kenneth Smith] 2p [text article] • Pin-Ups [Randy Broecker, Bonnie Moore, Ken Kelley, Bob Juanillo, Frank Brunner, Kenneth Smith, Roy G. Krenkel] 8p • The Gardener [Michael Kaluta] 5p • The Story-Telling Stone [Richard L. Jennings/Ken Kelley, Kenneth Smith, and Roy G. Krenkel] 4p [text story] • Pin-Ups [Ken Kelley, Randy Broecker, Kenneth Smith, Bonnie Moore, Rick Rydell, Randy Yeates, Bob Juanillo] 8p • Abyss Ad [Berni Wrightson, Michael Kaluta, Bruce Jones, and Jeff Jones] 1p • Pin-Ups [Randy Yeates, Frank Frazetta, Steve Fritz, Steve Hickman, Bruce Jones] 5p • The Last Word [Richard L. Jennings] 1p [text article] Notes: $2.00. Publisher and editor: Richard L. Jennings. The Rydell pin-up appears to be a try-out strip (entitled Trolls) for Creepy’s Loathsome Lore. The Frazetta pin-up is a Conan sketch. Only two actual strips appear here, though both are quite good. This is largely a pin-up book. Mary Skrenes used the penname of Virgil North during a period when female names (at least names that were clearly female) were frowned upon by comic publishers. A second issue was intended which was to have featured a Frank Brunner cover.

Reality 1. cover: Jeff Jones/frontis: Roy G. Krenkel/ back cover: Virgil Finlay (Nov. 1970)

This Graham Ingels unpublished page from 1955 finally saw print in 1970’s Reality #1. © Graham Ingels

• Jeff Jones Interview [Robert Gerstenhaber and Jeff Jones/Jeff Jones] 12p [text article]

• Kenneth Smith’s Phantasmagoria Posters Ad [Kenneth Smith] 1p

• Pin-Ups [(?) & Michael Kaluta] 2p

• Editorial [Robert Gerstenhaber/Kenneth Smith and Michael Kaluta] 1p

• Death Is the Sailor [Len Wein/Michael Kaluta] 4p

• Pin-Up [Kenneth Smith] 1p [on inside back cover]

• Endless Chain! [Joe Manfredini/Frank Brunner] 5p

• Quasar! [Steve Hickman] 7p

• The Making of a Knight [Graham Ingels] 1p

• This Is Legend Ad [Kenneth Smith, et al] 1p

• Abyss Ad [Jeff Jones, Berni Wrightson, Bruce Jones, and Michael Kaluta] 1p

Notes: $1.50. Publisher and editor: Robert Gerstenhaber. Gerstenhaber was 14 years old when he published this fanzine. The Wein/ Kaluta strip is only part 1 of the story. Both it and “Quasar!” were originally intended for the never published Web of Horror #4. Ingels’

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Michael Kaluta (left) and Jeff Jones (right) work from Abyss #1.

Apprenticeship © W. Michael Kaluta. Union © estate of Jeffrey Jones.

story/art page, depicting a knight, was done in 1955, shortly after EC folded, and apparently intended for Classics Illustrated, though Eric Nolen-Weathington believes it was likely done for an unpublished issue of EC’s Valor. This was probably its first publication. Best story here is Steve Hickman’s “Quasar!,” although if “Death Is the Sailor” had been printed in its entirety, it would have been chosen. Best art is Frank Brunner’s on “Endless Chain.”

• Fandom, Writing, and Catching Up [Jan Strnad/A. J. D’Agostino, Reed Crandall, and Al Williamson] 3p [text article]

2. cover: Larry Todd/back cover: Michael Kaluta (1971)

• Pin-Up [Al Williamson] 1p

• Artificial Limbs [Michael Kaluta] 1p [frontis] • Title page art [A. J. D’Agostino] 1p • Tidbits [Robert Gerstenhaber/Reed Crandall] 1p [text article] • Pin-Up [Berni Wrightson] 1p • Webster’s Page [Michael Kaluta] 1p • Death Is the Sailor [Len Wein/Michael Kaluta] 6p • Outside-In [Bruce Jones] 7p • Centerfold Pin-Up [Frank Brunner] 2p

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• Kenneth Smith: Portfolio [Kenneth Smith] 5p • Renegade! [Howard Chaykin/Howard Chaykin and Bill Stillwell] 2p • The Amazing Liver [Larry Todd] 2p • As Night Falls: Michelle’s Song [Michael Kaluta] 2p • Phantasmogoria Ad [Kenneth Smith] 1p • Heritage Ad [Al Williamson] 1p [features Flash Gordon] • Time Lapse [Michael Kaluta] 1p [reprinted from Gothic Blimp #6 (Sept.

1970), on inside back cover] Notes: $2.00 for 36 pages. The front and back covers appear to be reversed, causing the magazine’s logo to appear only on the back cover, but publisher Robert Gerson assured me that this was intentional. He wanted a full bleed painted front cover without

any type. He was inspired to do this based on Jerry Weist’s efforts with EC fanzine Squa Tront’s third and fourth issues. Kaluta’s back cover is quite nice. It would later appear as a cover for the SF digest Amazing Stories. The first four pages of “Death Is the Sailor” were reprinted from the first issue, with the first two pages being combined and printed sideways on a single page. The actual story length is seven pages. “Webster’s Page,” “Death Is the Sailor,” and “Outside-In” were all originally intended for the never published Web of Horror #4. Other ‘“As Night Falls” segments were published in various fanzines from 1970–72. There were three segments in all. “Revenge” marks then-Queens College student Howard Chaykin’s comics debut. Best story is “Death Is the Sailor,” while both Bruce Jones and Michael Kaluta share honors for best artwork.

Abyss 1. cover: Berni Wrightson/frontis: Jeff Jones/ back cover: Michael Kaluta (Nov. 1970)

• The Hunter and the Hunted [Michael Kaluta] 4p • Apprenticeship [Michael Kaluta] 4p • Specimen [Bruce Jones] 8p • Union [Jeff Jones] 8p • Wrightson’s Revolting Rhymes [adapted and illustrated: Berni Wrightson] 8p [from the nursery rhymes “Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater” and “Jack Sprat” • Pin-Up [Bruce Jones] 1p [on inside back cover] Notes: $2.00 for 32 pages. Publishers: Berni Wrightson, Bruce Jones, Jeff Jones, and Michael Kaluta. Editors: Bruce Jones and Mary Skrenes (uncredited). This oneshot effort has some very nice artwork (much reprinted over the years) and may have been done in reaction to the cancellation of Web of Horror earlier in the year, which Wrightson and Bruce Jones were to have edited.

The best story is Kaluta’s “The Hunter and the Hunted,” while Jeff Jones’ artwork on “Union” takes the best art honors.

mostly a showcase for Corben’s own efforts, he also made room for other contributors.

The Armitage/Arnold tale is modeled very closely on the work of H. P. Lovecraft. Corben’s own efforts run from SF (“Twilight of the Dogs”) to humorous fantasy (“Razar”) to horror (“Inna Pit”). The latter story is the best effort in this issue.

• Dukmous… The Man with the Head of an Ape [T. Lind/T. Lind and D. Karbonik] 10p

2. cover and back cover: Richard Corben (1972)

• Queen of Darkness [Jack Jackson] 16p [last page on the inside back cover]

• Fantagor’s Introduction [Richard Corben] 1p [frontis]

Notes: $1.00 for 48 pages. Publisher: Rip Off Press. Sixteen pages of this issue are in color, and the contents are much more

• The Wall [Bob Bliss] 6p

• Untitled [George Metzler] 8p [color] • To Spear A Fair Maiden [Jan Strnad/ Richard Corben] 8p [color] • Edgar Allan Poe Tribute and Pin-Up [Herb Arnold] 1p

Fantagor 1. cover & back cover: Richard Corben (1970) • Fantagor’s Introduction [Richard Corben] 1p [frontis] • Twilight of the Dogs [Richard Corben] 10p • Razar the Unhero [Starr Armitage/Richard Corben] 8p • Land of the Blue Lilux [?] 1p [map of fantasy world] • The Devil in the Well [Starr Armitage/ Herb Arnold] 9p • Inna Pit [Richard Corben] 4p • Devil in the Well Pin-Up [Herb Arnold] 1p [on inside back cover] Notes: $.50 for 32 pages. Publisher: Last Gasp Comics. Editor: Richard Corben. Although copyrighted in 1970, this may have actually come out in 1971. Technically this is an underground comic, but Corben’s work often was more ground-level than the usually sexually explicit underground fare, and I’ve chosen to include Fantagor here as an example of that approach. There are few of the stories presented here that would have been out of place in Star*Reach. Although

Richard Corben’s back cover art for Fangora #1. © Richard Corben

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varied than in the previous issues. The best art is Corben’s, while the best story is from Jack Jackson’s SF contribution.

3. cover: Richard Corben/back cover: Richard Corben and Vaughn Bodé (1972) • Fantagor’s Introduction [Richard Corben] 1p [frontis] • The Temple [Richard Corben] 4p • Fugue [Herb Arnold] 9p • Kittens for Christian [Jan Strnad/Richard Corben] 11p • The Demon Gate [Stan Dresser] 8p • Fanagor’s Farewell [Richard Corben] 1p [on inside back cover] Notes: $.75 for 32 pages. Publisher: Last Gasp Comix. All-color issue. The best story and art go to “Kittens for Christian,” but all of the stories are pretty good here.

4. cover: Richard Corben/back cover: Tim Boxell (1972) • Fantagor’s Introduction [Richard Corben] 1p [frontis] • Space Jacked [Richard Corben] 10p • Prisons [Stan Dresser] 8p • I Was a… Captive of the Insect Fiends!

[Tim Boxell] 5p • For the Love of a Daemon [Richard Corben] 7p • Untitled [Myron D. Holman] 2p • Fantagor’s Farewell [Richard Corben] 1p [on inside back cover] Notes: Another all-color issue (and the last issue for eleven years). Pretty much average stories with nothing too bad but nothing that really stands out.

5. cover and back cover: Richard Corben (1983) • Introduction [Richard Corben] 1p [text article, frontis] • Razar the Unhero [Richard Corben] 8p [reprinted from Fantagor #1 (1970 or 1971)] • Jeremy Brood 2: The Big Shriek [Richard Corben] 16p

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The final page of Michael Kaluta’s “Hey Buddy, Can You Lend Me A…” for Scream Door #1. © W. Michael Kaluta

Notes: Final issue. $1.75 for 32 pages.

Publisher: Corben himself. Corben’s artwork and storytelling is fully mature at this point, and the new artwork is just stunning. Corben would later use the Fantagor name for his own self-publishing ventures thoughout the 1980s and 1990s.

Scream Door 1. cover and title page: Berni Wrightson/ frontis and back cover: Steve Hickman (1971)

• Ogre II [Richard Corben] 8p

• Rat! [Tom Sutton] 7p [story and art credited to Seane Todd]

• Fantagor’s Farewell [Richard Corben] 1p [on inside back cover]

• An Uneventful Flight [Mark Feldman] 1p [text story]

• Pin-Up [Steve Hickman] 1p • Someone Is Coming… [Bob Juanillo] 3p [story never concluded] • Phantasmagoria Ad [Kenneth Smith] 1p • Hey Buddy, Can You Lend Me A… [Michael Kaluta] 5p • Web of Horror #4 cover mock-up [Berni Wrightson] 1p • Pin-Up [Steve Hickman] 1p [on inside back cover] Notes: Publishers: Mark Feldman and Robert Lewis. $? for 20 pages. This was originally intended as the third issue of I’ll Be Damned, following much the same format and appearing from the same editor of that fanzine title.

Oddly enough, the interior pages are slick

SF story by Neal Adams. To my knowledge this was never done. “Tangent” was an unpublished syndicated daily strip try-out. The copy of Imagination I have is actually a second printing. According to Emanuel Maris, the first printing’s back cover was far too dark to reproduce the half-tone pencil work, so a month after it came out, Jablin returned most of the first printing and had a second printing done. He also replaced a three-page strip that appeared in the first printing with the Nova Christus material by a very young Howard Chaykin. According to Chaykin himself, he didn’t ink that three-pager and isn’t sure who did. Eric Pave appears to be a house name that was used for several different creators.

paper, while the cover is rough card stock, the reverse of usual publishing practices. Wrightson’s cover is a try-out page for a Frankenstein story. With the exception of the Juanillo strip, all of the comic stories published here were originally intended for Web of Horror #4. Although Wrightson’s original cover disappeared when Major Magazines publisher Robert Sproul moved his offices, Wrightson retained a mock-up of the cover, and that is what appears here. Sutton’s pseudonym, Seane (or Sean) Todd, was used when Creepy and Eerie publisher, James Warren, forbade any of his regular writers or artists to work for the rival black-and-white mag, Web of Horror. Tom Sutton provides both the best art and story here.

Imagination 1. cover: Gray Morrow/back cover: Bill Stillwell (1971) • Introduction [David Jablin/Neal Adams?] 1p [text article, frontis]

• Next Issue Ad [Bill Stillwell] 1p • Explored [Jeff Jones] 3p • The Catalonian Chapel [?] 1p [text story] • Tangent [Neal Adams] 3p • A Gift of Love [Bill Stillwell] 6p • A Trace I • Lady Madonna [Howard Chaykin/Bill Stillwell] 5p [script credited to Eric Pave] • Tanganyika [?] 1p [text story] • Poems [?/?] 2p • Conjure Woman [Berni Wrightson] 3p • Nova Christus—O’Saving Grace: A Preview [Howard Chaykin/Howard Chaykin and (?)] 3p • Necromancy [Michael Kaluta] 3p • Dark Domain Store Ad [Gray Morrow] 1p [on inside back cover] Notes: Publisher and editor: David Jablin. $2.00 for 32 pages. The next issue announcement advertised an adaptation of a “classic”

(top left) Berni Wrightson’s cover art for Scream Door #1. (above) A rejected (!) cover for Phase #1 by Jim Steranko. What were they thinking?

Frankenstein art © Berni Wrightson.

Gunfighter art © Jim Steranko.

Phase 1. cover: Ken Barr/frontis: Syd Shores (Sept. 1971) [wraparound cover, Shores’ frontispiece depicts Captain America] • Pin-Up [Berni Wrightson] 1p • Sword of Dragonus [Chuck Robinson and Frank Brunner/Frank Brunner] 10p • Impact [Ernie Colón] 2p • Pin-Up [Bill Stillwell] 1p • The Coming of the Piranhas [Denny O’Neil/Steve Skeates] 5p • Duel [Gerry Conway/Gray Morrow] 6p [text story] • Don’t Be Phased Out [Sal Quartuccio/ Tony DeZuñiga] 1p [text article]

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• Soul Food [Phil Seuling/Chris Notarile] 3p

• Pin-Ups [Dan Recchia and Billy Graham] 3p

• Comes the Gray Dawn! [Marv Wolfman/ Rich Buckler] 2p

• The Comic Book Freak! [Tom Sutton] 2p

• Home [Jeff Jones] 4p

• Yesterday’s Rain [Steve Fritz] 4p

• Veteran [Kathy Barr/Ken Barr] 3p

• Pin-Ups [Ken Kelly and Bill Stillwell] 2p

• Pin-Up [Murphy Anderson] 1p

• Dragon Slayer [Len Wein/Tony DeZuñiga] 2p

• Hero [Bil Maher] 10p [story never concluded]

• Pin-Up [Dan Adkins] 1p

• As Night Falls: Sally’s Song [Michael Kaluta] 2p

• A View from Without… [Neal Adams] 8p

• Getting the Point [Kenneth Smith] 7p [text story]

• Conan the Barbarian Pin-Up [Billy Graham] 1p

• Editorial [Sal Quartuccio] 1p [on inside back cover] Notes: Publisher: John Carbonaro. Editor: Sal Quartuccio. $5.00 for 74 pages. In 1971 dollars that’s close to $25–30 bucks today! A very expensive book! A crude attempt was made to censor pubic hair on the DeZuñiga story, “Dragon Slayer,” but the overlay they used actually ended up highlighting it!

“Sword of Dragonus” was originally intended for Web of Horror. I’ve gone on record before about my high regard for Adams’ “A View from Without…,” a story I believe to be one of Adams’ best works. He uses virtually every type of comic art available in 1971, including fumetti, pen and ink, wash, charcoal, shaded pencil work, and straight pencils, with each panel being practically a comics textbook in artwork and layout for young artists. There’s also an artistic homage to Joe Kubert and Sgt. Rock on page 5. The story, originally called “Greetings,” is a horrific view of the Vietnam War, narrated by an extraterrestrial observer who is portrayed by Adams himself in photo inserts. Adams apparently completed the story several years earlier and perhaps intended it for Archie Goodwin’s Blazing Combat series. Whatever your opinions may be on the war itself, the story is a tour de force, on a par with Kregstein’s “Master Race.” I’m amazed it’s only been reprinted twice (in Marvel’s Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction #1 in 1975 and in The Art of Neal Adams from Vanguard Publishing in 2010). This story justifies the entire existence of this book. Other good work appears from Ken Barr, Marv Wolfman, Rich Buckler, Frank Brunner, Jeff Jones, Tom Sutton, Michael Kaluta, Tony DeZuñiga, and Billy Graham.

Colour Your Dreams 1. cover and frontis: Jeff Jones (1972)

A page from Neal Adams’ “A View from Without…”—one of the best war stories ever told.

A View from Without © Neal Adams

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• One-page pin-ups [Phil Trumbo, Henry Pitz, Howard Chaykin, Howard Pyle, Berni Wrightson, Mike Nally, Frank E. Schoonover, Lawrence Kamp, John Linton, J. Allen St. John, Barry WindsorSmith, Robert Lewis, Dennis Fujitake, Yvon Sovereign, Michael Kaluta, Joel Pollack, Fred H. Ball, Arthur Rackham, Eric Friedrichs, Marc Cheshire, Dave Cockrum, Walt Simonson, Norman Lindsay, Verlon Vrana, Maxfield Parrish, Roy G. Krenkel, John Lawson, Sherry Ives, Steve Hickman] 30p

Notes: Publishers: Robert Lewis and Joel Pollack. Odd and (as far as I know) unique attempt at a fine arts/comic artists combo coloring book. The well known fine art illustrators’ work is beautiful. Most of the comic artists were just starting out, and the artwork ranges from quite good to basic fanzine artwork.

There’s lots of nudity, so I’m not sure who the intended audience was. The indica notes that Wrightson’s artwork is from 1968 and it looks it. Windsor-Smith’s rising sun/samuari art appears to be from 1969–70 and is reproduced from pencils. Cockrum, Jones, and Chaykin provide the best work here. Jones’ cover is reprinted sans copy on the back cover.

[text article with photos] • Stanley Pitt’s Flash Gordon [Stanley Pitt] 3p [pin-ups] • The Thrilling Adventures of Flash Gordon [Steve Harper] 4p • The Warrior [Neal Adams] 5p • A Flash Gordon Portfolio [George Evans, Carlos Garzon, Roy G. Krenkel, and Reed Crandall] 4p [pin-ups] • Flash Gordon? [Adolfo Buylla] 4p • Flat Gordon [Carlos Garzon] 2p • Al Williamson’s Flash Gordon [Al Williamson] 6p [pin-ups]

• Even Legends May Die [Esteban Maroto] 4p Notes: Publisher: Bruce Hershenson (for 1B only). Publishers (for 1A only), and editors: Doug Murray and Richard Garrison. $? for 72 pages each. These two issues were Flash Gordon tribute titles. Each issue was a perfect-bound, magazine-sized trade paperback.

Al Williamson provided spot illos throughout both volumes. With the exception of Neal Adams’ wordless tale, all of the artists were apparently restricted to four pages apiece. Adams’ story also featured John Carter of Mars

Heritage 1A. cover: Alex Raymond/back cover: Frank Frazetta (1972) • Introduction [Doug Murray] 1p [text article] • Flash Gordon Faces Reality [Jeff Jones] 4p • Flash Gordon: Super Serial [Allan Asherman/Reed Crandall] 13p [text article with photos] • Smash Gordon: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Mongo! [Frank Brunner] 4p • Gray Morrow’s Flash Gordon [Gray Morrow] 4p [pin-ups] • A Talk with Buster Crabbe [Allan Asherman and Buster Crabbe/Frank Brunner] 14p [text article with photos] • Kenneth Smith’s Flash Gordon [Kenneth Smith] 4p [pin-ups] • Flash Gordon: Crash-Landing [Michael Kaluta] 4p 1B. cover: Al Williamson and Gray Morrow/back cover: Wally Wood (1972) • Introduction [Doug Murray] 1p [text article, frontis] • Flash Gordon Pin-Up [Berni Wrightson] 1p • Flash Meets the Amazons [Reed Crandall] 5p • The Girls of Mongo [Mike Royer] 5p [pin-ups] • Interlude [Bruce Jones] 4p • An Evolution of the Flash Gordon Strip [Larry Ivie/Alex Raymond, Austin Briggs, Mac Raboy, Frank Frazetta and Dan Barry, and Al Williamson] 12p

One of Mike Royer’s “Girls of Mongo” pin-ups for Heritage.

Queen Azura ™ and © King Features Syndicate, Inc.

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and Tarzan. There really are no great stories there, but the art is impressive, and most of the stories are entertaining. I particularly liked the Michael Kaluta, Mike Royer, and Bruce Jones contributions. The Ivie article is also good reading.

• ’Tis Just As Well [Scott Burdman/Brent Anderson] 1p [poem] • Garthan’s Quest [Frank Cirocco] 9p • Grimmley’s Tales [Brent Anderson] 1p • Grimmley’s Tales [Frank Cirocco/Brent Anderson] 1p • A Tall Tale… [Frank Cirocco] 2p

Venture

• Elfrid [Gary Winnick] 3p

1. cover: Frank Cirocco/title page and back cover: Brent Anderson (1972)

• Pin-Ups [Gary Winnick] 2p

• Introduction [Frank Cirocco and Brent Anderson] 1p [text article]

• Pin-Up [Frank Cirocco] 1p

• Advent Ad [Gary Winnick/George Chelemedos] 1p

Notes: $.75 for 32 pages in a magazinesize format. Publishers and editors: Frank Cirocco and Brent Anderson. This first issue is very much a fan production with neither Cirocco’s nor Anderson’s artwork being anywhere close to a professional level. They do show definite promise though. Best stories

• Pin-Up [Frank Cirocco] 1p • The Incident [Brent Anderson] 6p • Grimmley’s Tales [Frank Cirocco/Brent Anderson] 1p

• Grimmley’s Tale [Brent Anderson] 1p

are the one-page “Grimmley’s Tales” gag strips, which are nearly professional and quite amusing.

2. cover and frontis: Frank Cirocco/title page and back cover: Gary Winnick (1973) • Pin-Up [Frank Cirocco] 1p • Wizard’s Tower [Gary Winnick] 6p • Isaac-7 [Frank Cirocco] 8p • Pin-Up [Frank Cirocco] 1p • Grimmley’s Tales [Brent Anderson] 1p • God of the Mists [Gary Winnick] 7p • Ziggy [Frank Cirocco] 3p • Grimmley’s Tales [Brent Anderson] 2p • Pin-Ups [Gary Winnick, Frank Cirocco, Brent Anderson] 3p [Cirocco’s pin-up features Alice Cooper, Anderson’s is on the inside back cover] Notes: Much thanks to Mr. Obnoxious for this issue’s listings and commentary: “Features the longest stories thus far. Most of the issue features Gary Winnick’s work.

The level of art and storytelling was getting better, but it is nowhere near as good as the final three issues. There was almost nothing from Brent Anderson, whom I considered the superior creator at the time.”

3. cover: Gary Winnick/frontis: Neal Adams/title page: Michael Kaluta and Frank Cirocco/back cover: Frank Cirocco (1974) • Conan the Cimmerian Pin-Up [Jim Pinkoski] 1p • Flashback [Frank Cirocco] 5p • Grimmley’s Tales [Brent Anderson] 1p • Bugz [Frank Morant/Gary Winnick] 8p • Pin-Up [Frank Cirocco] 1p • Green Arrow Pin-Up [Neal Adams] 1p • San Diego ’73 [Frank Cirocco/Jack Kirby and (?)] 2p [text article with photos] • Batman and Angel Pin-Ups [Neal Adams] 2p • Grimmley’s Tales [Brent Anderson] 1p • Pin-Up [Gary Winnick] 1p • Sin-Eater [Frank Morant/Frank Cirocco] 4p • Grimmley’s Tales [Brent Anderson] 1p • B.C. Comic Strips [Johnny Hart] ½p [on letters page]

Venture art from Frank Cirocco and Steve Leialoha.

Triad © Horizon Zero Graphiques and Frank Cirocco

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• Original Artwork Ad [Brent Anderson, Gary Winnick, and Frank Cirocco] 1p

• Deadman Pin-Up [Neal Adams] 1p [on inside back cover] Notes: Publisher: Horizon Zero Graphiques. Editors: Frank Cirocco, Gary Winnick, and Frank Morant. $1.00 for 32 magazine-sized pages. My copy came with a separate pen sketch print of a fish by Steve Skeates, who doesn’t appear anywhere in the actual issue. Neal Adams’ frontispiece is a drawing of the Vision. Although Adams’ superhero sketches are usually widely reprinted, I’ve never seen any of the artwork included here printed elsewhere. They are clearly convention sketches though. This is a nice little fanzine, although it received some heavy criticism at the time it was being published, particularly from RBCC. There may have been a fan feud of some sort going on at the time. Cirocco’s art is easily the best in this issue, although both Anderson and Winnick show a great deal of promise. Anderson’s “Grimmley’s Tales” continue their rather amusing bits as well.

4. cover: Frank Cirocco/titlepage: Michael Kaluta/back cover: Gary Winnick (1975) • Introduction [Frank Morant/Frank Cirocco] 1p [text article, frontis] • Pin-Up [Gene Day] 1p • Backworld Brigands [Gary Winnick] 8p • Grimmley’s Tales [Brent Anderson] 1p • Pin-Up [Kenneth Smith] 1p • Batman: Flasher [Frank Cirocco] 1p • “…And on the Seventh Day We Rested.”: The 1974 San Diego Con [(?)/ Charles Schultz] 1p [text article with photos] • Pin-Up Centerspread [Frank Cirocco] 2p • Grimmley’s Tales [Brent Anderson] 1p • Batman: Horny [Jim Pinoski] 1p • Pin-Up [Carl Potts] 1p • Pin-Up [Gary Winnick] 1p • Synapse [Frank Morant/Frank Cirocco] 5p [text story] • Batman: Well Hung [Brent Anderson] 1p • Pin-Up [Eric Vincent] 1p • Letters Page Art [Ron Winnicle, Jim Starlin and Frank Cirocco, Don Newton, Tony Salmons, and Brent Anderson] 2p [Starlin’s art features Marvel’s Captain Marvel]

(above) Neal Adams’ artwork for the cover of Venture #5. (right) Cover art by Michael Gilbert for New Paltz Comics #1.

Artwork © Neal Adams and Michael Gilbert respectively

• Grimmley’s Tales [Brent Anderson] 1p • Parting Thoughts [Frank Cirocco and Gary Winnick/Larry Todd] 1p [text article, on inside back cover] Notes: The three Batman pages are gag strips and rather amusing ones. Winnick’s back cover featured Tarzan. Kenneth Smith and Don Newton sent in letters. Not quite as good as the previous issue, but not bad at all. The issue I have has a one-page insert ad for original art with a little note on the back from Frank Cirocco asking “R.W.” to write a letter for the letters page.

5. cover: Neal Adams/frontis: Gary Winnick/ title page: Jeff Jones and Tony Salmons/ back cover: Alex Niño (1976) • The Triad [Horizon Zero Graphiques/ Frank Cirocco and Steve Leialoha] 11p

Notes: Editors: Gary Winnick and Frank Cirocco. $1.25 for 32 pages. Format change to a regular comic size with color covers.

“Rogue’s House” was written using characters from the Neal Adams cover.

Clearly this is an attempt to upgrade this fanzine into a magazine similar to Star*Reach or Quack! The stories are good. The artwork is good. Too bad the magazine didn’t keep going. Both “Rogue’s House” and “The Triad” were reprinted in Myron Fass’ Heavy Metal knock-off magazine Gasm.

New Paltz Comix 1. cover: Michael Gilbert (July 1973) • New Paltz Comix Comix [Michael Gilbert and Raoul Vezina] 1p [frontis] • Confrontation [Michael Gilbert] 10p

• War Affair [Eric Toye/Brent Anderson] 4p

• Cain and Abel [Raoul Vezina] ½p

• Rogue World [Gary Winnick and Brent Anderson/Gary Winnick and Brent Anderson] 11p

• City [Michael Conway, Michael Gilbert and Larry Hogan/Larry Hogan and Michael Gilbert] 6p

• Pin-Up [Frank Cirocco] 1p

• Observations [Michael Gilbert] ½p

• Letters Page Illo [Jeff Jones] 1p

• Cartoon [Richard Fox] ½p

• Pin-Up [Alex Niño] 1p

• Merrie Felonies: Hare-Brained Fox in “Trooper Blooper” [Raoul Vezina and (?)

Lowe] 4p

• Unrendering A Conclusion [Carl Potts] 1p • Pin-Up [Frank Cirocco] 1p [on inside back cover]

• Cartoon [Richard Fox] ½p

• untitled [?] 1p • Cartoon [Richard Fox] ½p

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himself out at the last minute. O’Leary would go on to publish his own fanzine, while Gilbert took $500 of his school loan cash and printed 4,000 copies of New Paltz Comix— then sold them door to door on campus for 50 cents a copy. Later, other underground publishers would distribute copies.

2. cover: Raoul Vezina/alternate cover: Jeff Eisenberg/frontis: Ned Young (1974) [a flip issue, all of Eisenberg’s stories and art are credited to “Ironmountain”] • Rubber Soul [Michael Gilbert and Raoul Vezina] 8p • New Paltz Gazette [Brian Buniak] 5p • See No Evil… [Ned Young] 3½p • Replay [Michael Gilbert] 3p • Candy and Sugar [Brian Buniak] 1p • Editorial [Michael Gilbert] 1p [text article] • Rorschach Review [Linda Kent] 2p Alternate side: • untitled [Jeff Eisenberg] 4p • More Kleen Kut Komics [Bruce Metcalf ] 1½p • A Day in the Life of Bobby Baloon!

[Richard Fox] ½p • The Miracle [Linda Kent] 2p • Candy and Sugar [Brian Buniak] 1p • More Kleen Kut Comics, part 2 [Bruce Metcalf ] 4p • Cain and Abel [Raoul Vezina] 1p • Thoughts… [Linda Kent] 3p • Johnny Joint—That’s Me! [Vince Kimszal/ Vince Kimszal and Michael Gilbert] 3p Michael Gilbert’s back cover art for New Paltz Comix #3. © Michael Gilbert

• Cartoon [Michael Gilbert] ½p • In the Interests of Science [Harvey Sobel/ Michael Gilbert] 3½p [reprinted from the Commack High newspaper, Varohi] • This Is Bill [Richard Fox] ½p • Asteroid [Michael Gilbert/Raoul Vezina and Michael Gilbert] 1p [on inside back cover] Notes: Publisher and editor: Michael Gilbert. $.50 for 32 pages. “In the Interests of Science” was originally published in a college newspaper. Gilbert became publisher of this fanzine by accident. His college newspaper at

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SUNY New Paltz, in upstate New York, was supposed to print this comic. It was a project that had been in planning for years. In 1973 they actually shot the film and had enough money to print it with Gilbert (obviously) being a major contributor to it. However, at the end of the year, the school put on a big party and the newspaper used all the printing money for fireworks! The book literally went up in smoke! Although they promised to try again the following year, Gilbert would graduate before the end of the year, so he took the negatives. Another cartoonist in the book, Chris O’Leary, promised to split the publication costs with Gilbert but pulled his art and

• More Kleen Kut Komics, part 3 [Bruce Metcalf ] 1½p • New Paltz Comics [Vince Kimszal/ Vince Kimszal and Michael Gilbert] 1p Notes: $.75 for 48 pages. This is a flip book, with two front covers. One side featured ground-level comics and the other concentrated on X-rated underground comix fare. This issue was subtitled Amazing Adult Fantasies on both covers. Brian Buniak’s “The Sprite” is a Spirit/Mr. A spoof.

“New Paltz Comics” parodies the Peanuts and Blondie comic strips. The best art appeared on “Rubber Soul,” while that story and “The Sprite” share best story kudos.

Other interesting work appeared from Bruce Metcalf, Linda Kent, and Ned Young.

3. cover: Larry Todd/back cover: Michael Gilbert (1977) • In the Interest of Science [Mark Roland] 1p [frontis] • Madhouse [Jeff Bonivert] 8p • Food [Raoul Vezina and Bob Kessell] 3p • In Spite of Ancient Astronauts [Kevin Meeks/Kevin Meeks, Michael Gilbert, and Al Gordon] 2p • Orion Colonies Slave Girl Pin-Up [Clifford Neal] 1p [reprinted from Dr. Wirtham’s Comix #1 (1975)] • J’nnn J’nnzz, Manhunter from Marzz!: The Rebirth [Harvey Sobol/Michael Gilbert, Tim Boxell, Raoul Vezina, Larry Rippee, Brian Buniak, and Mark Roland] 6p • Pin-Up [Steve Leialoha] 1p • Asteroid [Michael Gilbert/Raoul Vezina and Michael Gilbert] 1p [reprinted from New Paltz #2 (1975)] • Rot [Jeff Bonivert] 3p • Editorial [Michael Gilbert/Larry Rippee] 3p [text article] • Old Fruit [Tim Boxell] 7p [story and art credited to Grisly] • Pin-Up [Nestor Redondo] 1p • Ooops! [Michael Gilbert/Michael Gilbert and Al Gordon] 3p • There’s No Race like Home [Mark Roland] 9p • RIP [Brian Buniak/Brian Buniak and Michael Gilbert] 2p

well worth looking for by a serious collector.

The inside back cover reprints the back cover in black-and-white.

Orb

4. cover: Michael Gilbert (1984) [wraparound cover]

Notes: Publisher: Punk Publications. Editors: James Waley and Matt Rust. $1.00 for 72 pages. A fanzine out of Canada. No information is available for this issue at this time.

• Fairies [Michael Gilbert] 1p [frontis] • All in a Day’s Work [Raoul Vezina] 6p • Explorer [Mark Shaw] 9p • Numen of the Night Sun [Barbara MacLeod] 10p • Editorial [Michael Gilbert/Larry Rippee] 1p [text article] • Numen of the Night Sun, part 2 [Barbara MacLeod] 10p [story never concluded] • Mr. Quidd & Me [Roger Stewart] 5p • Consumo’s Last Meal [Scott Deschaine] 8p • Exodus on Babble 3 [Brian Buniak] 6p Notes: Final issue. Now magazine-sized. $2.50 for 56 pages. Vezina’s story is the best effort here, but the rest of the material is rather weak. “Fairies,” written and penciled in 1971, was intended as an installment of “Creepy’s Loathsome Lore” for Warren Publications.

High Adventure 1. cover: Robert L. Kline (1973) [wraparound cover]

• Black as Ink [Jeff Bonivert] 3p

• Annikki Pin-Up [Mike Royer] 1p [frontis]

• Welcome Home, Traveler… [Michael Gilbert] 3p

• Nimbus [Mark Evanier/Robert L. Kline] 5p

Notes: $1.25 for 56 pages. “Asteroid” was reprinted from #1 because the last line of the story had been left off by mistake in its original printing. “J’nnn J’nnzz” was an unauthorized retelling of DC’s J’onn J’onzz, Martian Manhunter’s origin. Apparently DC’s legal eagles weren’t looking too closely.

Leialoha’s pin-up features Greek mythology’s Pan reading Marvel’s “Warlock,” a comic that Leialoha had been the inker on. Gilbert only provided layouts on “Ooops!” Bonivert’s three stories were some of the earliest printed from this unique cartoonist. They’re all quite dazzling and are the highpoints of the issue.

However, the entire issue has strong art and stories. There are no weak spots here. Just great entertainment from a magazine that is

1. cover: (? 1974)

• Annikki [Mike Royer] 8p • Lord Sabre [Mark Evanier/Steve Leialoha and John Pound] 11p

2. cover: Richard Robertson/back cover: Rob McIntyre (July 1974) • Orb-Editorial [James Waley] ½p [text article] • Plague [Gene Day] 6p • The Galactic Queen [Paul Savard and John Allison/Paul Savard and Gene Day] 15p • Musical Roulette [Ronn Sutton] 3p • The Seeker! [Matt Rust] 4p • The Northern Light: The Guardian of Mars [T. Casey Brennan/John Allison] 7p [color] • Next Issue Ad [John Allison] 1p [color]

• The Stalker [Mark Evanier/Robert L. Kline] 8p

• Dark Fantasy Ad [Gene Day] ½p

• 78 rpm Records Ad [Robert Crumb] 1p [on inside back cover]

• The Continuing Adventures of Kadaver: Salvation [James Waley] 8p

Notes: Publisher and editor: Denis Kitchen for Kitchen Sink Press. $.50 for 32 pages. Worth buying just for Mike Royer’s superb artwork on “Annikki” (the story ain’t bad either). Also fun early work by Leialoha, Pound, Evanier, and Kline. A rare ground-level comic from a company that, at the time, published mostly underground comix.

• No-Man’s Land [Paul McCusker] 8p

• Reeve Perry [Bruce Bezaire] 10p • Small Talk [John Ellis Sech? or Greg Landry?] 4p Notes: T. Casey Brennan was already a pro and had worked for Warren, Skywald, and Red Circle (an Archie Comics imprint) by this time. His “The Northern Light” was a superhero series. Bruce Bezaire was also

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• Electric Warrior [Kerri Ellison/Ken Steacy] 8p • Orb Poster #5 [Jim Craig] 1p • Encore Une Fois! [Matt Rust] 4p • Gothic Glitter! [George Henderson/ Peter Hsu] 7p • Bakka Bookshoppe Ad [John Allison] 1p • Dark Ninja [Vince Marchesano] 1p [color] • The Horror of Harrow House [Gene Day] 6p [color] • The Continuing Adventures of Kadaver: Child Slayer—World Saver? [James Waley and Matt Rust/Art Cooper with an assist from Jim Craig] 11p • Orb Poster #6 [Jim Beveridge] 1p • The Origin of the Northern Light: DejaVu [James Waley and George Henderson/Jim Craig] 10p • Orb Poster #7 [Norm Drew] 1p • Spaze Scouts [Matt Rust] 1p [color, on inside back cover]

A Gene Day opening splash panel from Orb #5.

One Man’s Madness © T. Casey Brennan and the estate of Gene Day

working for Warren at the time, although this is the only time I’ve seen him actually draw a story. His artwork, although not of professional quality yet, was pretty good and his story was excellent. Almost everybody else was just starting out. “Reeve Perry” was the best story, while Ronn Sutton’s “Musical Roulette,” which was heavily influenced by Jeff Jones’ one-page strips in National Lampoon, featured the best art.

I also like Gene Day’s “Plague.” The grim little Vietnam story, “Small Talk,” has no credits. Fanzine publisher George Henderson sent in a letter.

3. cover: Bill Payne/frontis: Rob McIntyre/ back cover: Ronn Sutton (Dec. 1974) • Orb-Editorial/John Allison Profile [James Waley and John Allison/John Allison] 1p [text article] • Lepers [Paul McCusker] 6p • Orb Poster #1 [Rob McIntyre] 1p • Half-Life [John Allison] 10p • Orb Poster #2 [Dan Archambault] 1p • Cheezy Nuggets [Alex Emond] 4p • Super Student! [Ken Steacy] 2p

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• The Northern Light: The Lone Guardian [T. Casey Brennan/Jim Craig] 10p [color] • Orb Poster #3 [Paul Savard?] 1p • Escape the Truth [Richard Robertson] 4p • The Astounding Origin of Karkass [Matt Rust] 4p • Orb Poster #4 [Ronn Sutton] 1p • A Shroud of Tattered Grey [Gene Day] 6p • The Rescue of Raniff the Fair [Mary Skrenes and Steve Skeates/Ronn Sutton] 9p Notes: Star*Reach publisher/editor Mike Friedrich and cartoonist Jay Lynch sent in letters. Lynch also sent in a caricature of himself.

Gene Day and John Allison shared the best art and story for “Half-Life” and “A Shroud of Tattered Grey.” “Half-Life” was later reprinted in Roy Thomas’ SF magazine Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction in 1975 from Marvel.

Ken Steacy made his professional debut.

4. cover: Doug Martin (Nov.–Dec. 1975) • Orb-Editorial/Gene Day Profile [James Waley and Gene Day/Gene Day] 1p [text article]

Notes: After a publishing gap of one year, Orb becomes a magazine-sized book. $1.00 for 56 pages. Steacy’s art took a huge leap upward from his contribution in the previous issue. The first installment of “Electric Warrior” also was the best written and drawn story this issue. “The Horror of Harrow House” by Gene Day looks a lot like an attempt at a Skywald style horror story.

5. cover: Gene Day/frontis and back cover: Don Marshall (Jan.–Feb. 1976) • One Man’s Madness [T. Casey Brennan/ Gene Day] 6p • Dark Ninja: Harbinger of Doom! [Russell Wallace/Vince Marchesano] 8p • Electric Warrior, part 2: Retribution [Gene Day/Gene Day and Peter Hsu] 8p • Man o’ Dreams [George Henderson/ Don Marshall] 8p [color] • Orb Profile: George Henderson [George Henderson/?] 1p [text article] • The Origin of the Northern Light, part 2: Denouement [James Waley and Matt Rust/Jim Craig] 10p • The Continuing Adventures of Kadaver: …My Will Be Done! [James Waley and Matt Rust/A. Cooper and Jim Craig] 10p • Tilt! Magazine Ad [Matt Rust] 1p

Pages four and five of what may have been George Pérez’s first paying comic book job, which appeared in Hot Stuf ’ #1.

Uncle Sal and Cousin John Go Planet-Tripping! © Bob Keenan and George Pérez

Notes: You’d never know it was a Gene Day cover just from looking at it. Totally different art style than anything I’ve seen before or since. “The Electric Warrior” concluded well, even though the entire creative team changed. “Man o’ Dreams” had the best art, while T. Casey Brennan’s “One Man’s Madness” was the best story. The Next Issue Ad stated that Augustine Funnell’s and Gene Day’s leftover Skywald story, “The Eaters,” would appear, but it actually wasn’t published until 1985, several years after Day’s death.

6. cover: Jim Craig/title page and back cover: Gene Day (Mar.–Apr. 1976) • Orb-Editorial/Jim Craig Profile [James Waley/Jim Craig] 1p [text article] • Cosmic Dancer [Augustine Funnell/Jim Craig] 10p • “Woof! Woof!” [George Henderson/ Matt Rust] 7p • Orb Poster #8: Kadaver [Jim Beveridge] 1p

• Orb Poster #9 [Dan Archambault] 1p • Raniff the Fair: Gyk the Barbarian [Matt Rust and John Ellis Sech/Paul McCusker and Jim Craig] 8p [color] • Trojan Horse [Gene Day] 6p • Dark Ninja: Dawn of Darkness [James Waley and John Ellis Sech/Vince Marchesano and Gene Day] 8p • The Flame of El-Hamman [George Henderson/Bill Payne] 8p Notes: Final issue. A next issue ad featured a Viking named Bludd, carrying a big axe, drawn by Gene Day. This story, to my knowledge, has never appeared. An uncredited someone, whose inking style looked a lot like Mike Ploog’s (I don’t believe it’s Ploog himself, just someone with a similar style or aping his style) appears to have inked pages for both “Cosmic Dancer” and “The Flame of El-Hamman.” Whoever they were, they were very good. Best story was Gene Day’s “Trojan Horse,” while the best art was Jim Craig’s “Cosmic Dancer.”

Hot Stuf’ 1. cover: Ken Barr/back cover: Richard Corben (Summer 1974) • Title page and contents page illos [Bil Maher and George Pérez] 2p • Bug [Richard Corben] 5p • Shadow of the Sword! [Rich Buckler] 8p • The Proposition [Dan Recchia] 1p • Hot Shot Ad [George Pérez and Bob Garrison] 1p • The Apple [Mike Snyder] 1p • Uncle Sal and Cousin John Go PlanetTripping! [Bob Keenan/George Pérez and Bob Garrison] 11p • Poem [written: (?)] 2p [no art] • Mice in Veloe [Bil Maher] 15p [text story] • A Thought in the Egg [Doug Moench/ Ernie Colón] 4p • Flys [Ed Faust/Richard Corben] 5p • The Kent State Tragedy: A Documentary Ad [Neal Adams] 1p

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Covers by Ken Barr, Richard Corben, and Barr again for Hot Stuf ’. © respective owners

Notes: $2.50. Published and edited: Sal Quartuccio. Magazine-sized issue. While Pérez’s first published artwork (and writing) appeared in the 1972 fanzine Factors Unknown #2, his work here may have beaten out his two-page strip in Marvel’s Astonishing Tales #25 as his first paying job in comics.

His contents page artwork, as well as the ad for Hot Shot #1, advertised the She-Devils, an adventure fanzine which ended up not being published by Quartuccio, although it was apparently supposed to be originally. “Mice in Veloe” lists the artist as Baoman Miller, while the title page lists Maher as the artist. It certainly looks like Maher’s work. The Kent State Tragedy was an ad for the next issue’s lead story. That particular Adams’ story never appeared, although the extreme graphic violence employed by Adams in the ad reappeared in Warren Publications’ Creepy #75 with the story “Thrillkill.” Corben amusingly describes writer Ed Faust’s misspelling of flies in the story “Flys” as an “alternate” spelling. Best material here would be either of the Corben stories. Corben provides the best art on his two tales, while the best story is probably “Flys.”

2. cover, frontis, and inside back cover: Ken Barr/back cover: Bil Maher (Winter 1975) • Pin-Up [Bil Maher] 1p • Voluptas [Herb Arnold/Richard Corben] 3p • Orion [Gray Morrow] 6p [reprinted from witzend #2 (1967)]

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• Strawberry Tarts [Mike Vosburg] 2p • House [Fershid Bharucha] 6p • Trigga Mordus [Bob Keenan/Ed Manley] 3p • Editorial [Sal Quartuccio/Greg Theakston and Berni Wrightson and Ken Barr] 2p [text article]

and concept are quite intriguing. Best artwork and story is probably Morrow’s work on “Orion,” but most of the artwork is very good, especially the Corben, Adams, Meugniot, and Vosburg work, while the stories are generally quite good as well. Last magazine-sized issue.

• Marhar I & II [Bil Maher] 1p

3. cover: Richard Corben/back cover and frontis: Herb Arnold (Winter 1976)

• The Champion’s Match [Bob Keenan/ Robert L. Kline] 3p

• Eirvthia: Prologue [Herb Arnold/Tim Kirk] 6p

• Centerfold [Neal Adams] 2p

• The Pawn [Stan Dresser] 10p

• The Mad Barber [Bil Maher] 10p

• Interlude [Herb Arnold/Tim Kirk] 1p

• The Mist [Bob Keenan/Will Meugniot] 2p

• The Dwellers in the Dark [Richard Corben and Herb Arnold/Richard Corben] 11p

• Orion, part 2 [Gray Morrow] 10p • A Case of Possession [Ernie Colón] 3p • The Scarecrow Ad [Bil Maher] 1p

• Interlude 2 [Herb Arnold/Tim Kirk] 1p

Notes: $4.00. This is a pretty good issue.

Ken Barr’s cover is quite striking and would have made a great poster. It resurfaced in recent years as the cover for Barr’s recent book collection of his cover paintings. The Theakston/Wrightson painting (reproduced in black-and-white) on the editorial page looks as though it might have been intended as a cover for a Warren or Skywald horror title. Adams’ “Centerfold” is a Playboy type Xrated cartoon spread over two pages [the pun is unintentional but, based on the art, quite accurate]. Hot Stuf ’ would feature ads for several years promoting future installments of Maher’s Scarecrow character but no such story ever appeared. Too bad, as the artwork

• Color Art Prints Ad [Richard Corben] 1p

• The Feaster of Souls [Herb Arnold] 21p • Pin-Ups [Stan Dresser, Herb Arnold, and Tim Kirk] 3p Notes: $1.50. Now comic-sized. The entire issue is a single fantasy saga extending over many years, overseen by Herb Arnold.

Best story and art comes from the Arnold/ Corben chapter.

4. cover: Ken Barr/back cover: Robert L. Kline (1977) • Title page art [Ernie Colón] 1p [frontis] • Space Station Dora [Jan Strnad/Robert L. Kline] 8p

• The Vanguard [Alex Toth] 10p • House on Whore Hill [Mike Vosburg] 4p • Pin-Up [Herb Arnold] 1p • Scarecrow Preview [Bil Maher] 6p • Orion, part 3 [Gray Morrow] 6p • Mercy [Bob Keenan/Ernie Colón] 4p • Kenshi Blade! [Bill Stillwell] 8p Notes: “The Vanguard” was originally done for Atlas in 1975 and was originally intended as the new direction for Howard Chaykin’s The Scorpion. Chaykin wasn’t informed of this, however, and was so angry when he accidentally saw the art that he quit the strip.

In any event, a completely different approach was used by Atlas, with neither Chaykin nor Toth participating. Morrow’s “Orion” was continued and concluded in Heavy Metal in 1979. Best story was Jan Strnad’s “Space Station Dora,” while the best artwork was Toth’s on “The Vanguard.” Good work also appeared from Mike Vosburg, Bil Maher, Gray Morrow, Bill Stillwell and Ernie Colón.

5. cover: Richard Corben/back cover: Herb Arnold (1977) • Editorial [Sal Quartuccio] 1p [text article, frontis] • Tales Out of Eirvthig, Book II: The Four Demi-Gorgons [Herb Arnold/Tim Kirk] 6p • The City of the Black Idol [Herb Arnold/Stan Dresser] 9p • Interlude [Herb Arnold/Tim Kirk] 1p • Chard [Herb Arnold/Richard Corben] 10p • Interlude II [Herb Arnold/Tim Kirk] 1p

Neal Adams does a cover for an Ernie Colón serial in Hot Stuf ’ #7.

Manimal © Ernie Colón

• Crown of Fear [Herb Arnold] 18p • Pin-Up [Bill ?] 1p [on inside back cover] Notes: Again, this was a full-length fantasy saga set in the same world as #3 and, again, the best art and story was the Arnold/Corben chapter.

6. cover: Rich Larson and Steve Fastner/ back cover: Rich Larson (1978) • Title page art [Herb Arnold] 1p [frontis] • 12 Parts [Mike Nasser] 8p • The Apprentice [Gail Schlesser] 8p • The Walls of the City [Steven Grant/ Rich Larson and Tim Boxell] 6p

• Hornamania [Bil Maher] 6p • Manimal [Ernie Colón] 8p

7. cover: Michael Kaluta/back cover: Rich Larson and Tim Boxell (1978)

• Steel Souls [Dan Recchia] 2p

• Title page art [Bil Maher] 1p [frontis]

• 8) The Winter of ’94: Troubadour [Jan Strnad/Rich Larson and Tim Boxell] 8p

• Manimal, part 2 [Ernie Colón] 8p • Hornamania, part 2 [Bil Maher] 10p

• Pin-Up [Ernie Colón] 1p [on inside back cover]

• All the King’s Man [Howard Hill/Sonny Trinidad] 8p

Notes: $2.00. Both “Manimal” and “The Winter of ‘94” were new series and both led off with strong starts. Best art were the two efforts by the team of Larson and Boxell, while Strnad scored best story again with “The Winter of ‘94.”

• The Winter of ’94: People [Jan Strnad/ Rich Larson and Tim Boxell] 8p • Steel Souls [Dan Recchia] 1p • Editorial [Sal Quartuccio/Bil and Nish Maher] 2p [text article] • To Tell the Truth [Bil Maher] 8p

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• Pin-Up [Terry Austin] 1p [on inside back cover] Notes: Kaluta’s cover was reused (and reproduced much more clearly—this is very dark) as the cover to Epic Illustrated #4 (Winter 1980). It appears to be Kaluta’s attempt at a Conan cover. The artwork accompanying Quartuccio’s editorial was from a never published story entitled “Barbi Meets the Dirty Dworns.” Best story was again Strnad’s installment of “The Winter of ‘94,” with best art being Ernie Colón’s work on “Manimal.”

8. cover: Neal Adams/back cover: Rich Larson and Tim Boxell (1978) • Title page art [Bil Maher] 1p [frontis] • The Americanization of Japan [Bil and Nish Maher] 8p

Not really a cover but a cardboard slipcase for DeadSpawn #4.

• The Winter of ’94: The Death of Dreams [Jan Strnad/Rich Larson and Tim Boxell] 8p

• Blood Island [Bill Pearson/Don Newton] 9p

• Heartfelt Thanks [Kathy Barr/Ken Barr] 7p

• The Boa Constrictor [(?)/(?)] 1p [text article]

• Editorial [Sal Quartuccio/Bil Maher] 1p [text article]

• Felled [Robert Parsons] 10p

• Manimal, part 3 [Ernie Colón] 8p

• On the Day… the… Curse… Comes Due! [Mike Roberts] 10p

• Starblind [Nicola Cuti/Charles Roblin] 5p [poem] • The Winter of ’94: Conclusion [Jan Strand/Rich Larson and Tim Boxell] 8p Notes: Final issue. The editorial promised a next issue team-up cover by Neal Adams and Richard Corben, as well as stories by Ernie Colón, Mike Nasser, Bil and Nish Maher, John Byrne, Terry Austin, Steven Grant, and others as well as the long anticipated “Scarecrow” story by Bil Maher, but it never happened. The “Manimal” strip was collected in a one-shot comic published

by Renegade Press in 1986. It’s also coverfeatured here with a great painting by Neal Adams. Best stories this issue were Strnad’s final two chapters of “The Winter of ‘94.”

Best artwork was Ken Barr’s work on “Heartfelt Thanks.”

Grave Tales 1. cover: Mike Roberts/frontispiece and inside back cover: Don Newton/back cover: Alfred Rethel (1974) • Title page art [Frank C. Base?] 1p • Table of Contents [Bill Pearson] 1p

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the printing bill. It was his first tentative step in publishing, dealing with printers and distributors. He revived the title years later [in 1991] in his line of Creepy-like titles for Gladstone Comics, and to my amusement, reprinted my original foreword from the one-shot. I’d moved back to Phoenix after many years in the New York area, and met Don Newton, a very talented fan artist with, I knew, professional potential. He’d done a lot of fan art, but had never had a pro script to work with. I wrote ‘Blood Island’ especially for Don, and had a complex storyline in mind for additional chapters, but events changed our plans. I sent the magazine to my old friend Nick Cuti at Charlton. Don was offered scripts by the company, and I was offered the job to replace Nick as assistant editor, since he was quitting to do freelance writing full-time.”

© respective owner

• Aztec Sacrifice Pin-Up [?] 1p

• Coloring Contest [Bill Pearson?] 1p Notes: Publisher: Bruce Hamilton. Editor: Bill Pearson. $? for 36 pages. The title page on my copy notes that this issue was #981 of 1000 copies printed. It also notes that the covers were suitable for coloring via watercolor, ink, pencils, or markers, and the pages by pencils, crayon, or chalk. A contest page in the back offered a free copy of this or a future issue as well as other graphic goodies for anyone who colored and signed the entire book. “Blood Island,” the best written and illustrated story in the issue, was intended to be a three-part serial, but this version of Grave Tales only lasted the single issue. In the early 1990s, Hamilton revived Grave Tales as a much tamer black-andwhite magazine. The back cover artist, Alfred Rethel, was a 19th century artist who lived from 1816–59. Bill Pearson says, “I was the editor and publisher of Grave Tales. It could have been a witzend issue actually, but for some reason I published it as a one-shot, hoping, as all one-shot publishers do, that it would become a series. Also as usual, I needed help in financing the thing. I was involved with Bruce Hamilton at the time in various amorphous business ventures, and managed to talk him into fronting

Deadspawn 1. cover: Joseph Treacy (June 1975) • Editorial [Joseph Treacy/Pablo Marcos] 1p [text article] • Hello, Atlas, Goodbye? [David Anthony Kraft/Rich Buckler, Jim Craig] 3p [text article] • Moe Howard Tribute [Joseph Treacy?]

1p [text article with photo] • Inkling [Greg Spagnola] 2p • Centerfold [Joseph Treacy] 2p • Insert: The Victim [Mark A. Batdorf ] 2p [text story, inserted into the actual magazine] • Deadspace [Randy McClellan/E. J. Pace] 1p [text article] • Graphic Thunder! [David Kirby/Jimmy Traylor and Ed Vance] 2p [text article] • Abra Cadaver! [Randy McClennan/ Joseph Treacy] 3p • Vaughn Bodé Memorial [Joseph Treacy/ Joseph Treacy and Vaughn Bodé] 1p [on inside back cover] • The Amazing Prophecies of Nostradamus [?] 1p [on back cover] Notes: $1.00 for 16 pages. Publisher and editor: Joseph Treacy. This was an extremely odd magazine hailing from Virginia. It started out as a regular comics news fanzine, with comic info and the occasional amateur art and story, but each issue became progressively more elaborate in design until by its fourth issue, I’m not even sure if you could

2. cover: Joseph Treacy/back cover: Marc Hempel (Aug. 1976) • A Moment with the Contributors to This Issue: [Joseph Treacy] 1p [text article, frontis] • Mryum in the 21st Century [Doug Hansen] 5p • Dragon South [Joe Sinardi] 5p • Shauna, Where Are You? [Conway Perez] 3½p [text story] • Impressions [Marc Hempel] 2p • Sammy Shark in Ocean Hijinks! [Ron Wilbur] 1p • The Dragon and the Damsel [Greg Spagnola] 5p • A Record [A. B. Clingan] 2½p [text story] • Abra Cadaver: Love At Last! [Randy McClennan/Joseph Treacy] 4p [last page on inside back cover] Notes: $? for 30 pages. Now the magazine is largely a comic-story fanzine. Recognizable names include Ron Wilbur and Marc Hempel. Hempel’s work is the best in the issue. The Perez prose story had its first page cut into the shape of a head. Better story and better art but still largely an amateur effort.

3. cover: Len Lisiewicz (1980) • It’s a Nice Place to Visit… But! [C. C. Klingan/Joseph Treacy] 4p [text story] • The Karmov Effect [Gene Day] 4p • Sal Amanda versus Tortilla Gila [Greg Bear] 4p • Rainy Night Haunting and other poems [Serena Fusek/Len Lisiewicz] 4p [poems] • Wicked Messenger [Eric Kimball/Thomas Canty] 1p [poem] • House of Sardonyx [Russ Martin] 4p • The Return of Mr. Yummm in the 21st Century [Doug Hansen] 5p • Screamers at the Peak of Demons [Randall Larson/Gene Day] 4p [text story] • Proof Positive [Marc Hempel] 2p Notes: $? for 30 pages. Now it gets weird.

This isn’t a magazine. Rather, it’s a little illustrated cardboard box with nine individual stories printed on card stock, some in the

shape of greeting cards and others in foldout poster form. Both “Rainy Night Haunting” and “Screamers at the Peak of Demons” have full-size poster art printed on the back of their stories. The first is a reprinting of the cover/box art, while the Gene Day one is original artwork. Kimball’s poem here is the only work of his I’ve seen in comics outside of his two stories for Star*Reach. By copyright dates on the stories, this was probably originally intended as a more traditional issue to be published in 1977. The stories are a giant leap over the previous two issues. These could easily have appeared in a pro magazine of one kind or another. It’s certainly a unique item but the weirdness doesn’t stop here.

a paper doll cutout with clothing and a paper stand. Regardless of how the stories and poems are presented, they are generally of high quality and worth reading. I particularly liked Trina Robbins’ effort. Gene Day’s effort was an unusual art experiment, consisting of inked art which almost looked like a negative image along with photographic panels. The order of the stories listed was organized by their listings on the back cover of the wraparound box.

4. cover: Joseph Treacy (1982) • Poster and Pin-Ups [Robert Rodriguez, Laurence Bartone, John Findley] 4p [color] • Ronman [Gene Day] 5p • Elfquest: Sentinel [Richard Pini and Wendy Pini] 2p [poem, color]

She-Devils © George Pérez

call it a magazine. “The Victim” was a glued insert, with the pages in the shape of the swinging doors of a western saloon.

• Troyu [Ron Wilbur] 5p • Mister Yumm Goes Berserk [Doug Hansen] 6p [color] • The Lives of Mrs. Livwright [Janet Fox/ Rudy Nebres] 4p [text story] • Once upon a Time [Trina Robbins] 6p [color] • The Pink-Eyed Pinto Duocorne [Stephanie Stearns/Bruce Weinstock] 5p [text story, color] • Joke Row: Bird Blanket Bingo [Chuck Fiala] 5p • The Old Bishop (and His Pup) [Rick Geary] 6p [color] Notes: Final issue. $7.95 for (?) pages. This issue tops the production madness of #3 by several degrees. Again, this is a series of folded posters and pamphlets inside an illustrated box-like cover, this time with a large cutout in the front of the box so that Robert Rodriguez’s poster art can be seen. The pages numbers I’ve listed are approximated. The Pini’s “Elfquest” effort takes up the same number of fold-out “pages” that the “Mister Yumm” story does. It’s just more of a poster than a story. Several of the prose stories’ artwork occupies two pages, but that is simply so you can see the art more clearly. I’ve counted those pages as one. “Mister Yumm” features one of its pages as a pop-up effort. Geary’s contribution isn’t a story at all but

Hot Shot Presents: She Devils 1. cover and back cover: George Pérez (1975) [back cover reprinted from Hot Stuf ’ #1 (Summer 1974)] • Introduction [James Glenn] 1p [text article] • She Devils: The Deadly Sparklers!

[George Pérez/George Pérez and Bill Garrison] 28p • Conjure Ad [George Pérez] 1p • The Dragon Poster [Geroge Pérez] 1p [pin-up] Notes: Publisher and editor: James Glenn. $1.00 for 32 pages. As seen in the notes for Hot Stuf ’ #1, this issue was probably done in 1972 or 1973. By 1975 when this work finally appeared, Pérez was already a professional working at Marvel. She Devils featured story and artwork by a very young Pérez, and looks it. The artwork was quite crude, but it did show a lot of promise. The story, however, was unimpressive.

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• Lotsa Yox featuring Rodger Farnsworth USAAF [Herb Trimpe/Herb Trimpe and Wally Wood] 2p • The Silent Minority [Mike Ploog] 2p • Token [Herb Trimpe] 4p • Backword [Flo Steinberg] 1p [text article, on inside back cover] Notes: Publisher and editor: Flo Steinberg. $1.00 for 32 pages. Steinberg was well known in the comic community as Marvel’s receptionist in the 1960s and as Warren’s Captain Company head in the 1970s. This is really an underground comic book about New York City done by mainstream artists and writers. It’s not bad, either. Wood’s “My Word” is an X-rated follow-up to his EC story “My World.” While my personal favorite was Ploog’s largely wordless strip, I also liked “Peep Shows,” “My Word,” “The Tube,” and “Over & Under.” “Over & Under” featured the parallel lives of a gutter street whore (no, you can’t call her a prostitute or hooker, this girl was a whore!—written and illustrated by Hama on the right-hand side of each page) and an upper-class advertising slut (written and illustrated by Neal Adams on the lefthand side of each page) and how their lives were not as far apart as one might assume.

Goodwin’s “Peep Show” is a very amusing view of the early 1970s “adult” bookstore offerings. This is a rather impressive package with some extremely sexual graphic depictions and storylines. Well worth a look.

Dr. Wirtham’s Comix & Stories 1. cover and back cover: Clifford Neal (1975) Early George Pérez work from Hot Shot #1.

She-Devils © George Pérez

Big Apple Comix

• Can You Spot the Air Breather? [(?)

Petchesky] 1p

1. cover: Wally Wood, Stu Schwarzberg, Larry Hama, and Paul Kirchner/back cover: Ralph Reese (Sept. 1975)

• The Tube [Wally Wood/Al Williamson and Dan Green] 3p

• Foreword [Denny O’Neil/Michele Brand] 1p [text article, frontis] • The Man without a City [Lou Schwartzberg/Marie Severin] 3p

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• “A Nice Place to Visit, But…” [Linda Fite] 1p • Over & Under [Larry Hama and Neal Adams] 5p

• Peep Shows [Archie Goodwin] 2p

• New York City: The Future [Paul Kirchner] 1p

• My Word [Wally Wood] 3p

• The Battery’s Down [Alan Weiss] 5p

• The Editor Speaks: [Clifford Neal] 1p [text article, frontis] • Chichen Itza Comix [Clifford Neal] 8p • Decoding the Codex [Clifford Neal] 2p [text article] • Startling Confessions! [Clifford Neal] 7p [pin-ups] • Crime Comics [Clifford Neal] 6p • Decoding Crime Comics [Clifford Neal] 1p [text article] • Pin-Ups/Cartoons [Clifford Neal] 9p Notes: Publisher and editor: Clifford Neal. $(?) for 32 pages. All of Neal’s stories and

Pages from Steve Bissette’s “Grave Concerns” and a Mike Roberts horror tale from Dr.Wirtham’s #2 and 3 respectively. © respective owners

art were credited to Oisif Egaux. Dr. Wirthham’s was largely an underground comic but also published a fair amount of ground-level material. This is the only issue that Neal contributed all of the artwork for. His text article “Decoding the Codex” is largely incomprehensible (at least to a non-artist). His artwork isn’t bad. His stories are particularly good.

2. cover, title page, and back cover: Clifford Neal (Winter 1976) • Hot Dog! [Will Meugnoit] 7p • Alien Mercy [Mike Roberts] 5p [credited to a Max Frizbee on the splash page]

Pin-Ups [Clifford Neal] 5p [text article] • EC Pickins [Bill Black] 4p [miscredited to Bill Flack on the splash page] • Angel of Death [Larry Rippee] 1p • Dr. Wirtham’s Ad [Clifford Neal] 1p [on inside back cover] Notes: “Grave Concern” was Bissette’s professional debut. Mike Roberts’ artwork was heavily influenced by Richard Corben.

Nice selection of early Meugnoit, Veitch, Bissette, and Rippee art.

• Snuff-Box [Clifford Neal] 5p

3. cover: Greg Irons/title page: Clifford Neal/back cover: Mike Roberts (1977)

• “Snuff Box” and Binary Systems Analysis [Clifford Neal] 1p [text article]

• Until Death Do Us Part [Mark Burbey/ Doug Potter] 6p

• Hitler Pin-Up [Larry Rippee] 1p

• Heavenly Bodies [Mike Roberts] 7p

• Grave Concern [Steve Bissette] 2p • The White House Horror [Rick Veitch] 9p

• Pin-Ups [Clifford Neal, Larry Rippee, and Al Davoren] 4p

• Bumpen Grinder Burger Contest and

• Dead Heat [Clifford Neal] 6p

• Love among the Worms [Mark Burbey/ Rich Larson] 7p • The Brain Meets the Zarg [Hector Tellez] 1p • Dr. Wirtham’s Ad [Clifford Neal] 1p [on inside back cover] Notes: Pretty much a horror issue. Best stories here were by Mark Burbey. Best art was on “Until Death Do Us Part” by Doug Potter and “Love among the Worms” by Rich Larson.

4. cover: Greg Irons/title page: Clifford Neal/back cover: Mike Roberts (1979) • Cheating Time! [Mark Burbey/Gene Day] 8p • Martian Meringue [Mike Roberts] 9p • Tales of Gregor, Purpleass Baboon [Greg Irons] 2p • Some Binary Notes on 20th Century Fox [Clifford Neal] 1p [text article]

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• 20th Century Fox [Clifford Neal] 6p • No Clues [Larry Rippee] 1p • …People Are Strange… [Par Holman] 1p • The Hood: 3-Deep Threat [Steve Vance/ Steve Vance and Bill Black] 9p • Death and Dumb [Mark Burbey/Rich Larson] 8p • The Tell-Tale Fart! [Steve Bissette and Rick Veitch] 9p • Dr. Wirtham’s Ad [Clifford Neal] 1p [on inside back cover]

Notes: $1.50 for 48 pages. Roberts’ art again looks heavily influenced by Richard Corben. It’s pretty good though. In fact, all of the artwork in this issue was impressive. “The Tell-Tale Fart!” is quite amusing potty humor. “Cheating Time,” “Martian Meringue,” and “Death and Dumb” are also quite good. A better-than-average issue.

• Black Cat City [Jay Kinney] 3p

5/6. cover: Greg Irons/alternate cover: Steve Bissette and Rick Veitch/title page: Clifford Neal (1980) [this is a flip book with each cover being a front cover and numbered as a separate issue.]

• Pin-Up [Larry Rippee] 1p

• Cell Food [Rick Veitch and Steve Bissette] 8p • A Portrait of the Arteest as a Burnt Baboon [Greg Irons] 2p • Mirror [Eric Vincent] 8p • Diary: One Night on Market Street [Michael Gilbert] 1p • The Puzzle [Greg Budgett and Gary Dumm] 8p • The Pen Is… [Clifford Neal] 1p • Sloty Beagle and the Scab King [Greg Budgett and Gary Dumm] 1p Alternate side • Dr. Wirtham’s Ad [Clifford Neal] 1p [frontis] • Crazyworld [Mark Burbey/Marc Hempel] 10p • Squaw-Man [John Ellis Sech/Robert L. Smith] 9p • Little Minds [Mark Burbey/Rich Larson] 6p • Tools of the Trade [R. C. Harvey] 2p • Pin-Ups [Jay Kinney, Eric Vincent, Will Meugniot, and Clifford Neal] 4p Notes: $2.00 for 48 pages. Another largely horror issue with some excellent art and stories. “Cell Food” by Bisette and Veitch was probably the most impressive work here, but Iron’s underground style wears quite well on “Portrait of the Arteest….” There’s also high quality work from Vincent, Gilbert, Hempel, Burbey, Sech, Smith, and Larson while both Budgett and Dumm show considerable promise. No real weak spots at all. This is one fine magazine. “Sloty Beagle…” is printed sideways. For years I was under the assumption that this was the final issue. It’s not—there was another flip book issue (#7/8) that appeared in 1983 and two more issues (#9–10) that appeared in 1987. I have no info on those issues but I’m definitely going to be looking for them!

Tesserae 7. cover: Ken Macklin/frontis: Neal Adams/ back cover: Tony Salmons (Spring 1977) A page from “Crazyworld,” with art by Marc Hempel.

Crazyworld © Mike Burbey and Marc Hempel

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• Editorial [Charles Boatner] 1p [text article] • Me An’ Stick [Steve Oliff] 1p

• The Defense [Ken Macklin] 4p

• Squopoite [Al Greener] 1p

• Tower of Death [Eric Toye/Brent Anderson] 6p

• Mind Probe #4 [Ray Weiland] 3p

• Digging Around [Ken Macklin] 2p • Mean Stick [Steve Oliff] 1p • The Agony of Will [Mark Clegg and Charles Boatner/Mark Clegg] 11p • Robots [Charles Boatner/Charles Boatner and Anna (?)] 14p

• Big Bang Real American Comix [Doug Hansen] 1p • Bang-Up All American Comix [Doug Hansen] 1p • Weird Dick [Rick Grimes] 1p • B.B. Brain [Ray Weiland] 2p

• Pin-Up [Frank Cirocco] 1p [color, on inside back cover]

peared from Doug Hansen, Steve Bissette, Rick Grimes, Joel Milke, and Rick Veitch.

The best work here belonged to Howard Cruse. The rest of the book is pretty much awful.

Faerie Star 1. cover: Ken Raney/back cover: Tom Kirby (1977) • Introduction [John David Cothran] 1p [text article, frontis] • Marla Ravenhair: The Hunt [Ken Raney] 7p

Notes: Publisher: Graphic Stories Guild of UCSC. Editor: Mark Clegg with M. C. [Charles] Boatner listed as assistant editor. $1.00 for 32 pages. Apparently this is the continuation of All-Slug Comics (which presumably were #1–6) that was published by University of California at Santa Cruz. This may be Ken Macklin’s professional debut.

He provides the best two stories in this issue.

Steve Oliff’s work is also noteworthy. Anderson’s art was still somewhat crude, not yet of professional quality, so this work may have been done years earlier as it clearly didn’t match the quality of work he was displaying in Venture during the same time period.

Most of the issue was taken up by the editors’ contributions, and the best that can be said is that they are okay, although certainly non-pro material. This magazine eventually evolved or served as a prototype for the later professional magazine Dragon’s Teeth.

• The Unbeliever [(?) Giovammo/Tom Kirby] 2p • Captain and the Sorcerer [Charlie Thompson/Dave Sim] 9p • Olde and Younge: Dealers in the Strange [Will Meugniot] 10p • Paper Dragons [Gene Day] 5p • Time’s Revenge [John David Cothran/ Earl Geier] 4p • Hobo Dreamer [John David Cothran/ Gene Day]3p • Contributor’s Notes [John David Cothran] 1p [text article with photos, on inside back cover]

The Journal of Popular Culture

Notes: Publisher and editor: John David Cothran. $1.75 for 40 pages. Ken Raney’s art looks very much like Barry WindsorSmith’s circa 1973. This was a pretty good little fanzine. Strong art from Sim, Day, Raney, Meugniot, and Geier, and the stories were decent as well.

1. cover: Steve Bissette and Rick Veitch (1977)

Andromeda

• Deadline [George Erling] 1p [frontis] • Frabbit Comix’s [?]

• Moorzen: Pinball Death [Jack Venogker and Tucker Petertil/Tucker Petertil] 6p

• Another Duck [Rick Grimes] 1p

• Sees [Al Greener] 1p

• Barefootz [Howard Cruse] 1p

• Barefootz [Howard Cruse] 1p

• Arena [Jack Venooker and Steve Bissette/ Steve Bissette] 3p [last two pages on the inside and back covers]

• Drivin’ That Train [Joel Milke] 2p • Day After Tomorrow… [E. F. Pasanen] 1p • Carnival Pin-Up [?]

• Warehouse Archives [Tom Veitch] 1p [text article] • Two-Fisted Zombies page [Rick Veitch] 2p

• Carmalita [Kathleen Kenoe] 3p

Notes: Publishers: Jack Venooker and Walter Gachner. $2.00 for 32 magazinesized pages. There’s a big gap here between artists who were clearly almost professionals and artists who were equally clearly never going to be. Noteworthy material ap-

1. cover: John Allison/frontis: Robert McIntyre/back cover: Paul Rivoche (Sept. 1977) • Editorial [Dean Motter] 1p [text article] • Pin-Up [Franc Reyes] 1p • The Man Who Walked Home [John Allison/John Allison and Tony Meers] [24p from the story by James Tiptree Jr.] • The Escape and Pursuit of Jeanne d’Arc [Dean Motter] 19p • A Day at Ygsrd’s [Jason Ross] 2p • Troll: Cerebral Swamp [Don Marshall] 1p • Arik Khan Ad [Robert McIntrye] 1p [on inside back cover]

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(above) John Allison’s cover for Andromeda #5. (right) “The Fiddler and the Swan” by Charles Vess from The Horns of Elfland.

The Horns of Elfland © Charles Vess.

Notes: $1.25 for 48 pages. Publisher: Bill Paul. Editor: Dean Motter (?). Somewhat similar in intent and approach to Star*Reach, this Canadian fanzine focused on adaptations of major SF authors and one-off SF/ fantasy stories. Allison and Meer’s excellent adaptation of the Tiptree story may have been originally intended for Marvel’s Unknown Worlds. “Jeanne d’Arc” is largely wordless and was probably a substitute for the Motter/Steacy serial “The Sacred and the Profane,” which was intended for this debut issue but appeared in Star*Reach when this issue was delayed. McIntyre used the young girl who modeled for the frontispiece several more times.

2. cover: Don Marshall/frontis: Robert McIntyre/title page: Paul Rivoche/back cover: Dean Motter (June 1978) • Process [A. E. van Vogt/Dean Motter] 16p [text story] • The Hidden Diaries: She Confronts Reality and Is Betrayed [Ken Steacy and Jeffrey Morgan/Ken Steacy] 3p

3. cover: Paul Rivoche/frontis: Robert McIntyre/back cover: Don Marshall (Sept.

1978)

Notes: The nude woman in McIntyre’s frontispiece was a swipe from a Playboy centerfold spread (circa 1976). That particular centerfold used to hang on the wall in the painter’s shop I worked for part-time while in college. A Eurasian girl, if I remember right.

Best story here (for comics, anyway) was Don Marshall’s “Here’s Mud in Yer Eye!” Best art was Paul Rivoche for “Exile of the Aeons.”

• Editorial [Dean Motter] 1p [text article]

4. cover: Ramy Bar-Elan/frontis: Robert McIntyre (Dec. 1978) [wraparound cover]

• Wirely L. Wiremire [Tom Nesbitt] 1p

• Editorial [Dean Motter] 1p [text article]

• The Dark Side of the Moon! [Tom Nesbitt/Tom Nesbitt and Nick Pollwko] 20p

• Exile of the Aeons [B. P. Nicol/Paul Rivoche] 26p [from the story by Arthur C. Clarke]

• The Narrow Land [B. P. Nichol/Tom Nesbitt] 32p [from the story by Jack Vance]

Notes: The van Vogt story may have been abridged by Motter, but without a copy of

• Here’s Mud in Yer Eye! [Don Marshall] 20p

• Shawn of the Ruins [George Henderson/ Gene Day and Jim Beveridge] 8p

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the original story I can’t tell. Gene Day only provided layouts for “Shawn of the Ruins,” however it was a good story and provided the best art of this issue. Tom Nesbitt and Ken Steacy also did good work. Very nice covers from Marshall and Rivoche.

• For Tomorrow We Die [Brian Lee and Marc Griffiths] 9p • Space Stuff [Tom Nesbitt] 6p

Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers’ “Slab” and the first appearance of Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty’s Ms.Tree, both from Eclipse magazine #1.

Slab © Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers.

Ms. Tree ™ and © Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty.

Notes: “The Narrow Land” is a very odd story but was well done and featured the best art and story. I also liked Tom Nesbitt’s solo story, “Space Stuff.” “For Tomorrow We Die” was a wordless story reproduced from pencils.

5. cover: John Allison/frontis: Robert McIntyre (June 1979) [wrapround cover] • Editorial [Dean Motter and Paul Rivoche] 1p [text article] • The Big Hunger [B. P. Nichol/Tony Meers] 25p [from the story by Walter M. Miller] • Klang! Klang! [Derek Carter] 4p • Visit [Don Marshall] 2p

Tom Nesbitt] 17p [text story] • Thrust [Alan Dean Foster/Don Marshall] 12p • Alan Dean Foster Checklist [?] 1p [text article, on inside back cover] Notes: Final issue. Hsu’s art was quite nice and very unlike the Liverpool Press-inspired porn cover art style he used at Warren and for his own Quadrant series. Don Marshall’s work was also quite good.

The Horns Of Elfland 1. cover/title page and dedication: Charles Vess (July 1979) • Charles Vess: A Friend of the Tale [Ragan Reaves] 5p [text article]

6. cover: Tom Nesbitt/title page: Ken Steacy/ back cover: Peter Hsu (Nov. 1979)

• Demon Sword [Charles Vess] 10p

• Why Johnny Can’t Speed [B. P. Nichol/ Peter Hsu] 16p [from the story by Alan Dean Foster] • Where Do You Get Those Ideas! [Alan Dean Foster/Paul Rivoche] 2p [text article] • The Metrognome [Alan Dean Foster/

1. cover: Gene Day (1979) • Gifts of Silver Splendor [Gene Day] 16p • Hive [Gene Day] 6p • Days of Future Past [Gene Day] 6p [reprinted from Imagine #2 (June 1978)] • Gauntlet [Gene Day] 6p • Paper Dragon [Gene Day] 5p [reprinted from Fairie Star #1 (1977)] • War Games [Gene Day] 10p

• The Bellergon Version [written: B. P. Nichol/Tom Nesbitt] 16p

• Alan Dean Foster [Dean Motter] 1p [text article, frontis]

Future Day

• The Shadow Witch [Charles Vess] 11p [text story]

• Black Legion [Gene Day] 7p [text story] • What Is a Graphic Album? [Terry Nantier/Steve Bissette] 1p [on back cover] Notes: A hardcover magazine-sized book.

These stories may be reprinted from various Canadian fanzines. Good stories and art throughout. Well worth buying.

• The Fiddler and the Swan [Charles Vess] 25p [text story]

Eclipse

Notes: Only “Demon Sword” was done in comic form. “The Fiddler and the Swan” was very much in the style of Vess’ later The Book of Ballads and Sagas material from the 1990s. Beautiful artwork appears here accompied by fair to middlin’ stories.

• Editorial [Dean Mullaney/Don Maitz] 1p [text article]

1. cover: Paul Gulacy (May 1981)

• Slab [Steve Englehart/Marshall Rogers] 19p • Amber III [Jim Starlin] 6p • Death [Howard Cruse] 3p

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• The Chimera [P. Craig Russell] 10p • Cartoon Man [Marc Hempel] 5p • Crystal Sett in Loose Hips Sink Ships!

[Chris Browne/Trina Robbins] 1p • Ms. Tree: The Girl in the Red Wedding Dress [Max Allan Collins/Terry Beatty] 8p • Next Issue Ad [Terry Beatty] 1p [Ms. Tree is featured.]

Notes: Publisher and editor: Dean Mullaney. $2.95 for 64 pages. After several years of publishing a number of one-shot graphic novellas, Eclipse made the plunge

and began an all new anthology. It was a pretty good one too! Unlike most comic magazine anthologies, this one doesn’t focus on one genre and, in that respect, could be seen as a direct continuation of Star*Reach’s and Imagine’s style. Gulacy’s excellent cover was later reused in 1984 as a cover for the Spanish edition of Creepy (a title that, by that date, had been cancelled in the U.S.) The Englehart/Rogers story started out as a Superman/Creeper issue of DC Comics Presents but was pulled back and reworked by the two creators after editorial differences with DC. A plug on the last page asked readers to watch for the team’s upcoming

“Sundancer,” but that strip either never appeared or changed its title, perhaps to Coyote, when it did. There were three “Amber” stories by Starlin. “Amber I,” oddly enough the last to appear, debuted in Epic Illustrated in 1985, although it had originally been done in 1979 for a never-published independent fanzine by Al Milgrom. “Amber II” appeared in Heavy Metal in 1979. Russell’s “The Chimera” is reproduced (rather poorly) from his pencils. To my knowledge, it’s never been inked. The “Loose Hips Sink Ships!” story by Browne and Robbins was probably originally intended for Playboy, which had been running one-pagers by Browne in their short-lived comic section. This was the debut of Collins and Beatty’s excellent private eye series, “Ms. Tree.” Best art is probably

by Marshall Rogers, although the artwork overall in this issue is very good. Best story would be the beginning chapter of the “Ms. Tree” murder mystery, which sported an overall series title of “I, for an Eye.” The ads throughout the lifetime of this magazine focused on independent comics from various publishers and are a good indication (and record) of how fast the independent publishers’ movement of the early 1980s was both growing and changing comics in the process of that growth. The ads also had great art by the likes of Brian Bolland, Charles Vess, Paul Gulacy, Ken Steacy, and more.

2. cover: Michael Golden (July 1981) • Editorial [Dean Mullaney/P. Craig Russell] 1p [text article] • Rick Rabbit [Steve Leialoha] 8p • He Always Wanted to Write for Ernie Kovacs… [Joe Owens and Martin W. Herzog/Ken Steacy] 5p • I Am Coyote [Steve Englehart/Marshall Rogers] 11p • What’s the “Little Blond-Haired Guy” Doing Here? [Don McGregor/Billy Graham] 3p • Cover poster pull-out [Michael Golden] 1p • Sax Rohmer’s Dope [Trina Robbins] 4p [from the novel by Sax Rohmer] • Role Model [Steve Gerber/Val Mayerik] 8p • Quick Trim [Howard Cruse] 2p • Crime in the City [Rick Geary] 1p

A full-page splash from part two of Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik’s “Role Model.”

Role Model © Steve Gerber and Val Mayerik

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• Ms. Tree: One Grave for My Tears [Max Allan Collins/Terry Beatty] 8p

Panels from Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers’ “I Am Coyote” serial.

Coyote ™ and © Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers

script). No weak spots at all here, although for some reason, Emerson’s ten-page “KonTiki” story was split in two for no apparent good reason. The back cover featured a fullcolor ad of Steve Gerber’s Destroyer Duck Lawsuit Benefit Edition #1 with art by Jack Kirby.

3. cover: John Pound (Nov. 1981)

the McGregor/Colan debut of the superb “Ragamuffins.” Colan’s art is reproduced from his pencils, and the repo job is none too good, but his artwork still shines, while McGregor’s tale of boyhood discoveries rings true in every respect. Unlike the first episode, Val Mayerik’s artwork on “Role Model” is a pen-and-ink job. Vess’ “Homer’s Idyll” story had an earlier installment that appeared in Heavy Metal. The only story I didn’t like here was the rather pointless “Vamp Dance,” but that may just be a matter of opinion. The letters page debuts.

• Editorial [Dean Mullaney/Lela Dowling] 1p [text article]

4. cover: Carl Potts (Jan. 1982)

• The Hitch-Hiker [Billy Graham] 6p

• I Am Coyote, part 2 [Steve Englehart/ Marshall Rogers] 11p

• Editorial [Dean Mullaney/Joe Desposito] 1p [text article]

• Forgotten Tales of the Kon-Tiki, part 2 [Hunt Emerson] 6p

• Vamp Dance [Kaz] 3p

• I Am Coyote, part 3 [Steve Englehart/ Marshall Rogers] 12p

• Among the Scarabaeidae [Michael Kaluta] 4p

• Forgotten Adventures on the Kon-Tiki [Hunt Emerson] 4p

• Down the Drain [Eytan Wronker] 1p

Notes: Golden’s cover was later reused for a European cover of Creepy. “Coyote” was the debut of a new Englehart/Rogers serial.

“Rick Rabbit” was originally intended for the never published seventh issue of Quack! and was almost certainly done in 1977. Mayerik’s art for “Role Model” is reproduced from his pencils and looks much better than the previous issue’s printing attempt with Russell’s pencils. This was a very good issue with fine stories and art from all participants.

• Ragamuffins: Kindergarten Run [Don McGregor/Gene Colan] 10p • Homer’s Idyll: A Bag Full of Dreams [Charles Vess] 4p • Large Cow Comix [Hunt Emerson] 2p

• The Demon Chronicles [Alex Simmons/ Jim Sherman] 12p

• Dope, part 2: The Fatal Cigarette [Trina Robbins] 4p [from the novel by Sax Rohmer]

• Dirty Pool [Larry Rippee] 2p • A Fistful of Graveyard Dirt [Don McGregor/Billy Graham] 6p

• Role Model, part 2: Caring, Sharing and Helping Others [Steve Gerber/Val Mayerik] 7p

• Dope, part 3: A Star Is Born—And Falls [Trina Robbins] 5p [from the novel by Sax Rohmer]

• Because [George Pratt/Kent Williams] 1p

• A Victorian Murder [Rick Geary] 4p

• Ms. Tree: Death Is a Little Black Book [Max Allan Collins/Terry Beatty] 8p Notes: Another solid issue with a fine cover by Pound and strong work from Rogers, Englehart, Robbins, Collins, Beatty, and Mayerik, but the best story and art goes to

• Ms. Tree: If a Tree Falls… [Max Allan Collins/Terry Beatty] 8p Notes: Good cover by Potts and good, solid stories. Don McGregor’s “A Fistful of Graveyard Dirt” is the best story here, while the best art is from “Dirty Pool” by Larry Rippee (who also provided the amusing

5. cover: Michael Kaluta (Mar. 1982) • Editorial [Dean Mullaney/(?)] 1p [text article] • I Am Coyote, part 4 [Steve Englehart/ Marshall Rogers] 11p

• Dope, part 4: Pipe Dreams [Trina Robbins] 6p [from the novel by Sax Rohmer] • Ragamuffins: Recess, Bondage and Nuns [Don McGregor/Gene Colan] 9p • Ms. Tree: The Last to Know [Max Allan Collins/Terry Beatty] 8p Notes: Behind a beautiful Kaluta cover was yet another solid issue. The previously unpublished “Among the Scarabaeidae” by Kaluta was done in 1970. Solid segments of “Coyote,” “Dope,” and “Ms. Tree” appeared, while the excellent ending of Emerson’s “Kon-Tiki” and another fine installment of “Ragamuffins” were all most welcome.

Colan’s pencils on “Ragamuffins” were presented with slightly better reproduction than the first installment.

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• The Masked Man [B. C. Boyer] 10p • The Fate of Charity Hope [Sean Carroll] 4p • Dope, part 6: To the Brink [Trina Robbins] 6p [from the novel by Sax Rohmer] • The Twin in the Doorway [Don McGregor/Tom Sutton] 10p • The Underground Lighthouse [Hunt Emerson] 11p • An Autobiography [Kevin C. Brown] 2p • I Am Coyote, part 6 [Steve Englehart/ Marshall Rogers] 9p Notes: Very nice cover by John Bolton.

“I Am Coyote” was supposed to have its finale here, but the story actually wouldn’t end until the next issue. “An Autobiography” follows the format of Robert Crumb’s classic strip “A Short History of America”— this time featuring the history of a car and a movie theater over a period of years. “The Masked Man,” one of the better Spirit-inspired series, debuted. B. C. Boyer’s art was at times awkward, but that very awkwardness was rather endearing and his storytelling skills were very good. Best story in this issue. Hunt Emerson’s amusing effort featured the best art. However, I’d also like to point out the fine quality of the McGregor/ Sutton effort on “The Twin in the Doorway.”

Beautifully drawn and written, it strikes a strong emotional chord.

8. cover: Marshall Rogers (Jan. 1983) Notes: Ms. Tree was cover featured and received her big finale. This was an excellent mystery novelette. The letters page also included letters dealing with Steve Gerber and Jack Kirby’s Destroyer Duck. “Alice Quinn” was Harvey Pekar’s first appearance in a mainstream or independent comic, although he’d been publishing his own American Splendor as an underground comic for several years. Lenny Kaye, the lyric writer for “Luke the Drifter” was a member of altrocker Patti Smith’s band and a friend of Dean Mullaney’s brother Jan, who was also a rock musician. Best story and art go to the McGregor/Sutton story “A Walk up Avenue U,” but it’s a close call. Lots of good stuff here.

• Editorial [Dean Mullaney/George Pratt] 1p [text article]

• My Transformation [Rick Geary] 2p

7. cover: John Bolton (Nov. 1982)

• I Am Coyote, part 5 [Steve Englehart/ Marshall Rogers] 11p

• Editorial [Dean Mullaney/Kent Williams] 1p [text article]

Notes: Final issue. One of the best (and largely overlooked) of the black-and-white anthology magazines drew to a premature

6. cover: Paul Gulacy (July 1982) • Editorial: Two Girls for Every Boy [Dean Mullaney/Peter Kuper] 1p [text article] • Ms. Tree: Kiss Tomorrow Hello [Max Allan Collins/Terry Beatty] 16p • Alice Quinn [Harvey Pekar/Sue Cavey] 6p • A Li’l Monster Making a Phone Call [Larry Rippee] 1p • Luke the Drifter [Lenny Kaye/Paul Gulacy] 2p [song lyrics] • Dope, part 5: Limehouse Blues [Trina Robbins] 6p [from the novel by Sax Rohmer] • A Walk up Avenue U [Don McGregor/ Tom Sutton] 6p

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• The Masked Man: Frankie [B. C. Boyer] 10p • Mr. Walk-Down-the-Street [Larry Rippee] 1p • There’s an Alligator in My Pool! [Jim Bourgeois] 9p • Ragamuffins: The Other Side of the Street [Don McGregor/Gene Colan] 12p • Dope, part 7: Mollie Gets Amorous [Trina Robbins] 6p [from the novel by Sax Rohmer] • I Am Coyote, part 7 [Steve Englehart/ Marshall Rogers] 11p

close as Mullaney announced plans to convert to an all-color comic line. Eclipse Monthly, a 32-page color anthology book, replaced Eclipse Magazine, with “The Masked Man,” “Dope,” and “Ragamuffins” all continuing their serials there. Mullaney’s editorial that thanked numerous staff members was an inside joke to make it sound like there was actually a staff putting out the magazine, instead of Mullaney largely working on his own. People mentioned included Madelyn Feinberg, who was Dean and Jan Mullaney’s mother. James Shannon and E. Lessly were two pseudonyms of Dean Mullaney’s (Shannon was the name of Buster Keaton’s character in the silent film Seven Chances, and E. Lessly was Keaton’s cameraman]. Alice B. Stockham was the fifth woman doctor in the U.S. and a pseudonym of cat yronwode’s, while Gail “Sailor” Duval was the name of the character played by Lauren Bacall in the Bogart/ Bacall radio drama, Bold Venture. Only the typesetter, Chuck Spanyay, was an actual living, breathing person. “I Am Coyote” concluded its first adventure, with Johnny Carson appearing! Another excellent installment of “Ragamuffins” appeared. The only sour note this issue was Bourgeois’ “Alligator” story, which featured an underground style art with, for me, a none too interesting storyline. Otherwise, a very good issue.

Gates of Eden 1. cover: Michael Kaluta/frontis: John Byrne/ title page: Raoul Vezina/back cover: Rick Griffin (May 1982) • Altamont [Steve Leialoha] 8p • The Day J.F.K. Bought the Farm [Michael Gilbert] 1p • The Way We Wore [Trina Robbins] 4p • I Was a Teenage Mets Fan!! [Fred Hembeck] 4p • They Said It Couldn’t Be Done [Frank Stack] 3p [story and art credited to Foolbert Sturgeon] • Pudge, Girl Blimp in Massage Muddle [Lee Marrs] 1p • ’69 [Jeff Jones] 1p • High School in Limboland [P. Craig Russell] 2p • Communal Life… [Rick Geary] 3p • Dial M for Monster [Tony Eastman and Kim Deitch] 2p

• Chicago ’68 [Spain Rodriguez] 5p • Nowhere to Run [Sharon Kahn Rudahl] 3p • The Return of the Casebook of Doctor Feelgood [Frank Stack] 5p [story and art credited to Foolbert Sturgeon] • Pocked Lips Now [Gary Hallgren] 4p • Cartoon Page [Randy Caldwell] ½p • Pin-Up [Jim Starlin] 1p [on inside back cover] Notes: Publisher: Tom Skulan for Fantaco Enterprises. Editor: Mitch Cohn. $3.50 for 48 pages. This was a magazine-sized prozine dedicated to telling stories about the life and times of the 1960s. Both ground-level and underground artists participated. A beautiful cover by Kaluta and a rock poster by Griffin highlight the covers. There are some pretty

good stories here. I especially liked “Chicago ’68” by Spain, “The Way We Wore” by Trina Robbins, and Michael Gilbert’s JFK one-pager. Best art and story, however, goes to Steve Leialoha’s autobiographical “Altamont,” which dealt with the nightmarish Rolling Stones concert there in 1969. Other good work appeared from Craig Russell, Fred Hembeck, Frank Stack, Jim Starlin, Rick Geary, and Lee Marrs, who provided a Pudge, Girl Blimp story. A second issue was promised with covers by Jeff Jones; pinups by Frank Miller, Trina Robbins, Steve Leialoha, and Charles Vess; and stories by Neal Adams, Kim Deitch, Rick Geary, Michael Gilbert, George Pérez, Leonard Rifas, Spain Rodriguez, Frank Stack, and Raoul Vezina. That second issue never appeared, although Spain’s conclusion to his two-part story did finally show up in a Fantagraphics anthology. Well worth looking for.

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Bop 1. cover: John Pound (1982) • Re:Bop [Catherine Yronwode/Jim Engel] 1p [text article] • Fandom Confidential Ad [Jim Engel and Chuck Fiala] 1p [fumetti strip] • Teen Beat ’63 [Fred Hembeck] 6p

Wood and Russ Manning. One of Toth’s, and thus the comics field’s, best stories. “Much Too Much” is a comic interpretation of a Jerry Lee Lewis interview. “Losers of the Blues” is a parody of Robert Crumb’s “Heroes of the Blues” card set. There’s no filler in this issue whatsoever. Even the ads are top notch. Just a fine, fine magazine.

• Baby Blues [Joe Schwind] 2p [fumetti strip] • Kitz ’n’ Katz: The Lost Chord [Bob Laughlin] 1p • Baby, That’s Rock ’n’ Roll [George Moonoogian/Denis McFarling] 4p [text article] • East Virginia Blues [Trina Robbins] 7p • Losers of the Blues [Bruce Sweeney/ Dennis Lieberman] 2p

Notes: Publisher: Melissa Ann Singer. Editor: (?), although Chris Claremont is listed as an editorial consultant. $2.00 for 48 pages.

This is one of the great “What ifs…?” of the early independent comics. This first and only issue was quite impressive with a great story, promising artwork, and engaging characters.

It was intended to run 16 chapters or issues.

I’ve seen the artwork for parts of the never published second issue, and those pages are just as good as the work in #1. I vividly remember the sense of wonder and joy I experienced when I finished this first issue years ago. 30 years later and there’s still a nagging sadness over what could have been.

Voyages

• A Night with Bo Diddley [Ron Courtney] 3p [text article with photos]

1. cover: Frank Brunner/frontis: Lela Dowling (June 1983)

• Much Too Much [Jerry Lee Lewis and Cat Yronwode/Billy Fugate] 6p

• Pin-Up [Terry Austin] 1p

• Reviews: Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On/ Jerry Lee Lewis Rocks/Hellfire: The Jerry Lee Lewis Story [Cat Yronwode] 2p [text article]

• Introduction [Howard Feltman/Lela Dowling] 1p [text article] • Bravo for Adventure [Alex Toth] 21p • Murder in the Garage [Rick Geary] 5p

• Barney Google with His Goo-GooGoogley Eyes [Murray Bishoff/Billy DeBeck] 2p [text article]

• Sugar in the Morning [Charles Vess] 1p • No Rest for the Weary [Howard Chaykin] 4p [color]

• The Mystery Dance? [Doug Erb] 2p • Records Reissues Reviews: Hoagy Carmichael/Gerry Mulligan Tentette And Quartet/Helen Forrest [Dean Mullaney] 2p [text article with photos]

• Cheshire Cat [Lela Dowling] 6p

• Cowboy Song [Harvey Pekar/Sean Carroll] 1p

• Pin-Up [P. Craig Russell] 1p

• Innerviews: Tripping the Light Fantastic [Bark Hawkins Karl and P. Craig Russell/P. Craig Russell] 3p [text article] • Queenie Hart and the Andromedan Grzblch [Trina Robbins] 8p

• Taps [Alex Toth] 5p • Surf City [Rick Geary] 1p [color, on back cover] Notes: Publisher: Denis Kitchen. Editor: Cat Yronwode. $2.75 for 56 pages. A ground-level magazine devoted to comic stories and articles about music. From Pound’s cover depicting dancing jukeboxes to Rick Geary’s back cover tribute to surf singers Jan and Dean, this is one lively magazine.

Plenty of highlights with Trina Robbins, Fred Hembeck, Billy Fugate, Cat Yronwode (pronounced Ironwood), Harvey Pekar, Bruce Sweeney, and Denis Lieberman producing great material. The best story and art however belongs to Alex Toth’s “Taps,” a wistful, sad, and moving tribute to the departed Wally

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• Profiles [various] 1p [text articles with photos, on inside back cover]

• The Ghost [Jon J. Muth] 3p • Blimp Tales [Charles Vess] 1p

D’Arc Tangent 1. cover: Phil Foglio and Freff (Aug. 1982) [wraparound cover] • Introduction [Phil Foglio, Melissa Ann Singer, and Freff] 1p [text article, frontis] • D’Arc Tangent: Clues and Omens [Phil Foglio and Freff] 46p • The Perils of Partnership [Phil Foglio] ½p • Next Issue Ad [Freff and Phil Foglio] ½p • Creators Page: Phil Foglio, Melissa Ann Singer, Freff, M. Lucie Chen, and Chris Claremont

Notes: Publisher: Nautilus Dreams. Editor: Howard Feltman. $4.95 for 60 pages in a trade paperback format. Excellent issue with a great cover, an installment of Toth’s 1930s set strip “Bravo for Adventure” and fine work

by Rick Geary, Trina Robbins, Jon Muth, and Howard Chaykin.

The Comics Stories from Star*Reach

W

hat follows is a small sampling of the more interesting short stories that appeared in Star*Reach and its sister magazines. The selections should give you a good idea of both the quality and variety of stories in those publications.

First up is Ed Hick’s and Walt Simonson’s spoof of the sword-and-sorcery genre titled appropriately enough, “A Tale of Sword and Sorcery,” which originally appeared in Star*Reach #1.

Next is Star*Reach #4’s “Marginal Incident” by Steve Leialoha. Leialoha applied a nice shading approach to the artwork that wasn’t typically done in comics at the time.

The first of two three-page short stories from Michael T. Gilbert is “Vignette: A Soft and Gentle Rain,” which first appeared in Imagine #3.

Next is Howard Chaykin’s “Starbuck,” from Star*Reach #4. This was the second installment in the saga of the sci-fi swashbuckler, and marked a change in art style from the first.

Gilbert’s “Encounter at the Crazy Cat Saloon” from Imagine #2 is the second of his short stories featured here, and was inspired by Jack Davis’ 1955 cover for Incredible Science Fiction #32.

“I’m God!” written by Dave Sim with art by Fabio Gasbarri was originally printed in black-and-white in Star*Reach #7. It was later reprinted in Star*Reach’s Greatest Hits with color by Gasbarri and again in color in Star*Reach Classics #5. Gasbarri, by the way, would go on to become a painter of fine art.

And, finally, comes P. Craig Russell’s beautiful “Siegfried and the Dragon,” one of his earliest efforts in adapting opera to comics. Even though only one page of this story saw print in an actual Star*Reach publication, we have included it here because when it did see print several months later in Epic Illustrated #2, it was not presented as was intended by the artist. At long last, the tale is printed in its complete and proper form. Enjoy!

A panel from Eric Kimball’s and Robert Gould’s one-page “Ravens” from Imagine #5, and the opening title page of “The Garbage Men”

by Gene Day and Fabio Gasbarri from Imagine #1.

Ravens © Eric Kimball and Robert Gould.

The Garbage Men © Gene Day and Fabio Gasbarri.

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TwoMorrows—A New Day For Comics Fans!

TwoMorrows Publishing • 10407 Bedfordtown Drive • Raleigh, NC 27614 USA • 919-449-0344 • FAX: 919-449-0327 E-mail: store@twomorrowspubs.com • Visit us on the Web at www.twomorrows.com

Reach for the stars!

Star*Reach’s influence was enormous, impacting nearly every aspect of modern comics and genres, and showcasing such creators as Dave Stevens, Frank Brunner, Howard Chaykin, Steve Leialoha, Walter Simonson, Barry Windsor-Smith, Ken Steacy, John Workman, Mike Vosburg, P. Craig Russell, Dave Sim, Michael Gilbert, and many others. In addition to extensive historical coverage and interviews by author Richard Arndt, the book also features full stories from Star*Reach and its sister magazine Imagine.

Featured stories include: •

“A Tale of Sword and Sorcery” by Ed Hicks and Walter Simonson

•

“Starbuck” by Howard Chaykin.

•

“I’m God!” by Cerebus creator Dave Sim and Fabio Gasbarri

•

And, presented for the first time in its original, intended version, “Siegfried and the Dragon” by P. Craig Russell, one of the first of his operatic adaptations.

Also included is extensive information about independent magazines like witzend, Hot Stuf ’ and Andromedea that both preceded and followed Star*Reach in its mission to re-invent comics for a more mature audience.

Foreword by Star*Reach founder Mike Friedrich.

Mature readers only.

TwoMorrows Publishing ISBN-13: 978-1-60549-051-9 ISBN-10: 1-60549-051-2 52795

9 781605 490519

$27.95 in the U.S. ISBN: 1-60549-051-2

Artwork © Estate of Jeffrey Catherine Jones Elric © Michael Moorcock