 The Legion Outpost 8: Summer 1974 Editor/publisher: Harry Broertjes Welcome everyone to this installment of Ink Stains, where we all revel in the glory of the fanzines of years gone by. In this case, way back to 1974 and the eighth issue of The Legion Outpost! This fanzine's main claim to fame is the early and constant contributions by much loved artist, Dave Cockrum (whose work you see on front cover above). Though Dave was already working for DC on The Legion of Superheroes, he continued his ties with fandom though this and other zines. He was widely admired and well loved. If you appreciate Dave and his work, then there are a few essential books you can get from the prolific Cliff Meth. He states that "There are two books: The Uncanny Dave Cockrum, an art portfolio that 40 leading comics creators participated in ($45, limited edition, hardcover, signed) and Comic Book Babylon, which details the battle for Dave’s rights and royalties (introduction by Stan Lee — $28). I have copies of both if anyone wants one." Email Cliff at [email protected]. Do it now, holmes! If I remember right, I am in the first one! Editor and publisher, Harry, Broertjes, was kind enough to answer a few questions from me via email. Before we jump into the zine proper, Harry will tell us about his beginnings with comics. "As a kid growing up in the late 1950s and ’60s , comics were omnipresent as fun, throwaway amusement for me and all my friends. When I was in the first and second grades, we had to endure a 90-minute bus ride to and from school, and inevitably there would be an assortment of comics along for the ride; we’d pass them along from row to row with no concern about how beaten up they’d get, since sooner rather than later they’d be thrown away anyway. Around the time I turned 9, and was no longer riding that bus, I became interested in the Superman family comics, including the Legion of Super-Heroes, and started saving them. Collecting might be too strong a word to use for the start of this — I continued to roll the spines and make amateur repairs when a center page fell out. But over time, as my collection — by now you could start to use the word — grew, I started to take better care of them. And I’d been wholly sucked into the universe of Mort Weisinger-edited titles. I’d occasionally buy some of Julie Schwartz’s titles, like the Justice League of America, Green Lantern and the Flash, but it took a little longer for Batman (whom I saw enough of in World’s Finest Comics anyway). My interest in Marvel’s books was minimal at best during those early years." So, on to the issue at hand! The first feature is an interview with the incredibly precocious Jim Shooter. His history in comics was consequential and somewhat divisive, but man....what a beginning! He was selling stories to DC at 14 years old! In fact, only a few years later, he quit (he tried Marvel for a bit, but then quit that)! Of course, he later went back and became a fixture at Marvel. Interestingly, he did not come at from a fan of comics per se, but as a way to make a living...but eventually, the grind of school and work wore him down. I really doubt anyone could duplicate or top that beginning!   page layouts for LSH by Shooter  more Shooter layouts  Harry says of his meeting Shooter, "You could write a book, or at least a few chapters, about my strange adventures in fandom. But the most interesting story concerns my tracking down Jim Shooter, the wunderkind Legion writer of the late ’60s, who had vanished from the scene. I did a phone interview with him that appeared in Outpost #8, and then met him in person in August 1974 when Jay Zilber and I were driving to New York for our first face-to-face meeting with Mike Flynn and other Legion fans. I urged Jim to return to writing comics, which he did in 1976, first for a short stint at DC and then the much longer one at Marvel, where like it or not (and for some people it’s a solid not) he had a profound and, to my mind, extraordinarily positive impact on the company and, by extension, comics in general. There’s a parallel world where none of this ever happened, and it’s likely that we wouldn’t recognize the comics business there, if it even still exists. " In fact, it surely could have, considering a job offer that Harry mentions, "At one point in the ’80s Jim Shooter offered me a job as an editor at Marvel, but I ended up turning him down. My sense was that comics were the fun part of my life and work was, well, work. If comics became my work, the whole dynamic would be upended. By the way, that is Jay Zilber to the right of Harry, on that trip to New York!  A spot illo adorning the Letter Column. As for how Harry became exposed to, and involved in fandom, he explains that it was "...a letter to the editor in Superboy #182 (February 1972) written by Mike Flynn, who became a lifelong friend. He was announcing the formation of the Legion Fan Club. Fortunately, editor Murray Boltinoff included Mike’s mailing address, which he almost never did in his letter columns, and even more fortunately, the issue appeared just before Christmas break during my freshman year at Northwestern. That gave me some free time to respond to it — something I might not have done if I’d seen it at some other point during the school year. Mike and I began corresponding, and before long we cobbled together The Legion Outpost #1, which was intended to be the fan club’s newsletter. It didn’t take long for the Outpost and the fan club to effectively became one and the same, and after a few issues the fan club was a memory. While I was in college, I also discovered APAs through an entirely separate avenue. A friend of a dorm-mate belonged to CAPA-alpha, and I looked into it. After graduation I joined it as well as APA-5 at a time when its members included Frank Miller, Paul Chadwick and Mark Verheiden. In 1976, Rich Morrissey launched Interlac, the apa that became the focus of my fandom work for literally decades." Back in this issue of The Legion Outpost, we continue with two features on two different conventions, one with Mike Flynn covering Julycon, the other being Harry's coverage of not only a Legion convention, but a visit to the DC offices! The article mentions meeting such luminaries as Mike Grell and a now professional king of the letters columns, Guy H. Lillian III, among others. Below is a photo of the traveling circus!  sadly, a typically grainy bw fanzine photo (Mercy Van Vlack second from left in front)  Bruce D. Patterson! More inside scoops from Harry here, discussing a few of his favorite zines from the scene at that time. "In the ’70s I read a variety of fanzines, most of which were low-circulation and that I’ve forgotten. But somewhere I have a box full of individual little zines, many of them reproduced using blue ditto, which meant they were micro-circulation publications, many of them of lasting only one or two issues. There’s probably a lot of history in that box — history in the curiosities sense, not a substantial sense. Basically, once I entered the world of APAs, they became my favorite zines. I rejoined Interlac a couple of years ago after a hiatus of about 10 years, although I don’t contribute as energetically to it as I did the first time around. For those who aren’t familiar with APAs, the acronym stands for Amateur Press Association. They’re essentially closed-circuit fanzines, with members sending their contributions to a central mailer who then collects them and distributes one of each back to everyone. CAPA-alpha is monthly; Interlac is bimonthly. These days, I don’t see or read many actual fanzines that are published for the wider fannish world; there’s the occasional Alter Ego, which years ago we would have called a prozine. I’m not sure where the one-shot TwoMorrows titles fall on the spectrum, but I pick up some of those as well. Back in the day, before the internet, Paul Levitz’s The Comic Reader was a must-read newszine, and I kept with it almost from the start to the very end, by which time two guys by the names of Jerry Sinkovec and Mike Tiefenbacher were publishing it. There were the occasional RBCCs, too.  unfortunately, I do not know the artist of this nice illo Following is Update, by Rich Morrissey (subbing for Jay Zilber), where he critiques a specific issue of LSH. Then, another interview appears, the subject being industry veteran (and Marvel family writer...that is, Captain Marvel, Mary Marvel, etc...) Otto Binder. Several C.C. Beck Marvel illustrations adorn the interview, one of which you can see below, in addition to a photo of the writer himself.   Harry's schedule back then was busy and varied, as he states here, saying "This was during college and the years afterward. Looking back, I have no idea how I juggled classes (and later, work) with a regular social life, editing a fanzine, writing apazines and keeping up with a separate universe of friends, most of them at a distance — which meant lots of letter-writing and occasional phone calls. After I moved to Florida in 1976 and started working for the Miami Herald, I’d fly to New York two or three times a year to attend comic conventions, where a lot of us gathered in person for a long weekend of fun, comics and inevitably some sort of rowdiness and fooling around. The conventions were also a great place to meet and talk with the pros who worked for DC and Marvel. As New York started to fade as a convention venue, Chicago became the go-to place in the 1980s, and then San Diego in the ’90s. Harry fills us in on what his life was like after fandom and brings us up to date as well below. "I had kept up a steady stream of Interlac zines, one every two months, for close to 30 years. But then I got married, and a higher priority for my non-work hours emerged. I still kept up with comics, but I dropped out of Interlac as of issue #175 of my zine. A couple of years ago, now that I’m retired, I rejoined ’Lac, but my participation is far more limited than it used to be. I took early retirement from the Miami Herald in 2014 after 37 years of being a copy editor, page designer, night city editor and Page One editor. Over the course of a couple of years I took my collection and prepared it for sale. I had 147 long boxes of comics, all bagged, tagged and organized, stacked seven-high in a storage bay. By then I was long past the point where my original idea for boxing them — to have my comics handy in case I ever needed to refer to them, or just to reread them — was lost in literally four tons of boxes full of comics. Even if I’d wanted to, it wasn’t practical to retrieve a comic from its box because inevitably it would be in a box at the very bottom of one of those seven-tall stacks; it was easier to just order a new one online, or find it in a collection, or just say the hell with it. So I sold them all, and was happy with the price I got. The dealer was happy to get them and make a lot of money from them after the carrying costs. And the people who bought or will buy them are happy to have a comic they want. It was win-win-win. These days, now that I’ve turned 70, I’ve done such pulse-pounding things as serve on my condo board for eight years, walk our dogs and just take things easy. From college to retirement I worked my ass off at the Herald and the two papers I briefly worked at beforehand, and the more-relaxed life I’m now enjoying is my reward." Lastly, the letters column appears, with a letter from Dave Sim, no less! There is also an insert of a couple pages, The Legion Outpost Bulletin. The sublime back cover by Cockrum is seen below.   Harry makes it into Comics Interview! Well people, that about wraps up this installment of Ink Stains! Thanks first to Manny Maris for scanning this issue for me from his collection, and of course, Harry Broertjes, for taking the time to answer my questions! I hope you find the time to comment and come back next time! Don't forget to view the pdf!
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 The Heroines Showcase (formerly The Heroine Addict) 12: Winter 77/78 Publisher: Steven R. Johnson, Editor: Ted Delorme  I chose to cover this particular fanzine primarily because of the contributions of two fan favorites, Lela Dowling (who has been "Mrs. Frank Cirocco" for awhile now), and Brent Anderson. Brent did the sublime cover you see above, the illustration at left, and several others scattered througout this issue. Brent would be a solid pro three short years later. I had and have a strong connection with Brent, since we were pen pals from his fanzine days (in Venture and his own Mindworks) through to his conversion as a pro, and now, mainly through Facebook. In fact, Brent inked the very first artwork I ever had published, a Bruce Lee drawing that appeared in a convention program book (Bay Con 1, covered here). We were and are both huge Bruce Lee fans and did many illustrations of the Little Dragon. The Heroines Showcase used to be The Heroine Addict...pretty clever, but probably good that they changed the name. The staff list is pretty strong, containing people like Mercy Van Vlack, Gary Winnick (also a Venture member), Bob Rodi, Dowling, Anderson, Anna Greenleaf, and others, including the late Tom Luth, official colorist for Usagi Yojimbo (sadly, you can see his obit here). The first article this issue is a fun interview with Red Sonja artist, Frank Thorne. Below, you see him as the wizard he dressed as at conventions, many times with future Elfquest artist, Wendi Pini (as Wendi Fletcher, she contributed to several zines back then).   Now, as the zine title obviously suggests, the focus here is comic heroines. Above you see Darrell McNeil and Brent Anderson's versions of a few of that select group. One of those is covered in the following article, A Tale of Four Wonder Women, by Carol Strickland, covering the WWs of Earth, Earth-2, and a few other iterations. The Club News page follows, where editor Ted Delorme submits his resignation and goes over a few editorial policies and lauds fellow zine members. There is also a very nice pencil illustration of the then-ubiquitous Farah Fawcett....though I cannot tell who actually did the art.  A Black Orchid feature is next up (Who is Black Orchid?), though this is before the excellent Vertigo series of the 90s. Then, publisher Johnson covers Miss Victory in Golden Age Girls (two nice Anderson illos accompany the article).  I want to jump in here and mention the contributions by Lela Dowling (the inside front cover seen above). She was in several other fanzines of the time (such as Princessions, Animag, and Rigel) and transitioned into independent black and white comics and then...well, heck, let's let her tell it! Below are some generous answers to some insipid questions that will flesh out the Lela Dowling story! 1. How and when did you get into comics (and/or fantasy)? Well, I’d have to say that my parents were at least partly responsible. Not only did they approve of anything that would encourage their kids to read (they were both school teachers), my dad especially was a big fan of early comic books. He was really put out with his mom for tossing out his little big book collection while he was overseas serving in the U.S. Army in WWII! He and my mom were also big fans of Pogo, and had a bunch of Pogo comic books that my brother and I enjoyed, -- they got so worn that he finally had the whole stack bound into a book that I still have. So I’d have to say Walt Kelly’s work was the biggest influence on my early cartooning style. As for later, I recall when I was in high school and home sick one day, I went rooting through my brother’s comic book box for reading material to keep me amused, and developed a taste for beautifully drawn comics. I literally picked up an issue of Green Lantern & Green Arrow #76, and said to myself, ‘Now that is a beautiful cover.” Man, I wish I still had that comic, but I had to sell it during some of the leaner years of being a self-employed artist! I began actively visiting comic shops to seek out the best stuff. Anything by Hal Foster, Neal Adams, Craig Russel, Jim Starlin, Ross Andru, Michael Kaluta, Jeff Jones and many, many others.  2. What was your first exposure to fandom? I met a guy in one of my commercial art classes at Foothill College, Alan Tyler. We started dating, and he took me to my first little sci-fi convention in San Francisco. I think that was the con he went to in full Planet of the Apes mask makeup, and my mom got a photo of us going out the door—me with my portfolio case, Alan with his prosthetic makeup -- she thought it was hilarious that her daughter was dating an ape! It was a lot of fun, and that got the ball rolling. I started making friends in fandom, and that was where I was introduced to fanzines. 3. You have a very distinctive style...who were your main influences? The English book illustrator Arthur Rackham for my fine art, and Walt Kelly for my cartooning. I’m sure there were others along the way who influenced my style, too. 4. What were your most positive and/or memorable moments in fandom? Wow, that’s hard to say. I was involved in comics & sci-fi/fantasy fandom for years, it was what I lived for! Socializing with ‘my people’ after years of being that odd kid who read a lot and liked scribbling unicorns and dragons. I had no artist friends until I was in college. Once in fandom, I made many friends who are still a part of my life today. I started selling my art, and was introduced to new writers and art styles. But no one event stands out apart from the rest. Bear in mind, that was a long time ago and at times, 'it's all a blur!' 5. Did you have any favorite zines both as a contributor and as a reader? You know, although I found fanzines interesting, I didn’t really get into them like some folks did. But early on Steve Johnson latched onto me thru mutual friends, and put me to work illustrating his fanzines, The Adventuress and The Heroine Addict (later renamed The Heroines Showcase) I guess I was a rare creature in those days—a girl artist who liked comic books, and not just the ‘girly’ comic books, I preferred the superhero comics. 6. There is one main connection you made because of fandom (that I am thinking of), but please mention that and any other long running friendships you have because of fandom. [I was referring to her husband, Frank Cirocco, but maybe it was too obvious!] Uh, are you referring to publishing? That would be Steve Johnson (god rest his soul) for his fanzines, which led to Schanes & Schanes for the art portfolios & comics work, which led to some comics work for … geez, I’ve gotta take a minute and go look up some of this stuff, … a little bit of work for Marvel, and a lot of comics work for Eclipse Comics, etc. But then there’s also the boyfriend connections I made thru fandom, and let me tell you—dating someone who understands one’s addiction to comic books, sci-fi, fantasy, animation & manga is a whole lot easier than a relationship with, well, a run of the mill normal person. Which I have tried. So that may be why I’m married to comic artist & graphic commercial artist Frank Cirocco, ha, ha! He ‘gets it’. 7. Did your experience and/or connections in fandom lead you to or help you to secure any later professional work? You betcha! I think the biggest example of that was getting a job at LucasArts during the early years of computer games animation. There were no computer animation classes back in the days of pixels-as-big-as-bricks, and I was hired purely because of my sequential storytelling abilities, in other words; my published comic book art. Published work also proves that you can follow instructions, play well with other adults, and meet your deadlines. I was hired and taught the basics of computer animation on the job. One week of tutoring, and they threw me in at the deep end -- creating animation for Maniac Mansion, The Day of the Tentacle. I worked there for almost 2 years, but left after Sam & Max Hit the Road, when it became apparent that I would have to learn to do 3-D animation, and I just didn’t have the technical ability to do that. 8. What have you pursued and accomplished since leaving fandom (feel free to supply any links, sites, etc)? I’ve always likened my move from one art career to another as leaping from one burning building to another one that is only starting to smolder. So I started out in fanzines, moved to sci-fi convention artshows, which then turned into a few gigs doing art portfolios & prints until that market slowed, and from there into comics, which tanked with the collapse of the black & white market, so I jumped into computer game animation, which led to avatar design for Yahoo!, which led to commercial art, and that’s pretty much where I’ve stayed—with brief forays into book illustration and fine art, etc. (When I was twenty I visited Neal Adams studio in New York, and his advice was ‘get into commercial art, that’s where the money is.’ Given my limited abilities as a painter, I have to agree.) 9. What is your life like now? What do you regularly do, and what are the things you have the most fun doing? I used to still do sci-fi & fantasy art for some of the bigger convention artshows like Westercon, Baycon, WorldCon and the like, but people’s interest in original art started to change, and the internet offered so much more to draw people away. My convention art was selling for minimum bid, or not at all. It's too bad, I really enjoyed creating pen & ink & watercolor pieces. So I stopped doing it and focused on purely commercial art freelance assignments. I’ve been working for the same computer ‘edutainment’ company for the past 10 years on a project called Reader Bee. I illustrate the page layouts for games that teach kindergarten-age kids to read, and design word icons. It’s fairly easy work, and my boss and I are very simpatico so it’s easy to figure out what she wants. Unfortunately, it sucks up all my time, so I haven’t produced much else artwise, though I have projects that I’m hoping to work on as I get closer to retirement age. I’ve also had to look after my elderly parents for several years (and during the pandemic, too!) who still lived in their own house, and that finally ended earlier this year with my father’s passing. So maybe there’ll be time to work on the comic books, cartoon strips, and fantasy artwork that I still want to do. There are days when It’s really, really hard to focus on the paying work, when what I really want is to work on some personal art project. Other than that, Frank, our dog and I hang out on the balcony of our house up in the beautiful Santa Cruz Mountains and say to each other, “We live here!” He keeps busy with his ebay pop culture collectibles store, Pop Daddy Vintage, and I keep house, work on Reader Bee, and occasionally push a pencil around on some paper. It’s a pretty good life!  Characters such as Sheena, Rima, and others follow in Drumbeats at Midnight, The Jungle Heroine Debate, by Jeff Thompson and editor Delorme. then, in The Heroine Revue, the obscure Jet Dream and her Stunt Girl Counterspies appear (in Gold Key's The Man From U.N.C.L.E.). A fanzine review column follows, then the letters page, and we are outta here! I have to say thanks for Lela, for contributing some illuminating info for this installment (that's a lot of alliteration for a blog boob), and there may be a similar contribution coming from Brent Anderson...keep your eyes peeled and I will announce when it gets inserted into the column. Tune in next month around the first for the next installment of Ink Stains! Remember to go to my site to find this column entry and get the pdf! (click on the fanzine name for the pdf)
Ken Meyer Jr. [email protected]  Yancy Street Gazette 18: April/May 1968 Editors: Steve Zeigler, John Hoecker, Jan Bertholf Hello and welcome again to Ink Stains, your friendly neighborhood fanzine review column, taking you back sooooo many years to the halcyon days of teenage boys (mostly) publishing home made magazines from their basements covering all their favorite comics, characters, artists and writers. This month it is another issue of The Yancy Street Gazette, notable mostly for the constant contributions of Dave Cockrum (for me, anyway). Of note also are contributions from future professionals Roy Thomas and Tony Isabella.  Above you see a sampling of spot illustrations from the other staff artist, Al Grinage Jr. He was a very prolific fan artist, also contributing to zines like Gary Groth's Fantastic Fanzine, among others.  Onward with the contents of issue 18, which starts with some club news, then moves on to an installment of The Gadfly, by Marvel Mirror editor Greg Kishel, the subject this time being On The Relevancy in the Comic Book. Ann Henry follows with Villains and the Negro, ending nobly with "Let us be the first group to eliminate racial stereotyping and unwarranted prejudice." Pat Janson in next up with The Complete History of the Comic. Pretty lofty goal for a fanzine article! Luckily it is listed as part one of a series. A popular reappearing section, New YSG Members is next.  Pawns of Dr. Doom, by Andris Taskans, is next, and examines and takes issue with (in typical great fannish detail) a specific issue of Marvel's Strange Tales. Don't poke the bear! Tony Isabella, that fandom stalwart, brings us On the Corner of Yancy Street, mainly talking about the zine itself. Resident pro, Roy Thomas, gives us an inside view on why Pros Rank Kirby No. 1 in View From the Top. No surprise there...he ain't called The King fer nuttin! The letters page (It's Clobberin' Time) is the last entry in this issue of the fanzine. But, I saved the best for last. Below you see a plethora (I said it) of work by the great Dave Cockrum, already exhibiting his lithe and sinuous figure work as far back as 1968.   And that is it, the Yancy Street Gang has exited the building, leaving behind a mess of beer bottles, stogies, and old newspapers. What a buncha hooligans!
Thanks this time goes again to Marvelous Manny Maris! Check out the pdf of the entire zine! Ken Meyer Jr. [email protected]   Yancy Street Gazette 21, 9/1968 Publisher: Yancy Street Gang Editors: Steve Zeigler, John Hoecker The Yancy Street Gazette was one of those long running zines that I somehow missed out on way back when. Who knows why, because they had many of the same contributors as my favorite zines of the day, including in this issue, Dave Cockrum and Al Grinage. Al was, to me, sort of like the Vinnie Colletta of the fanzine scene...someone who didn't necessarily have the flashy style of, say, Fantucchio, but was consistent and very prolific. I remember his work in early issues of Fantastic Fanzine, for example, and there were many others. Above you can see his Marvel-ous cover, as well as a Hulk spot to the left! The Yancy Street Gang was similar to the later CPL gang, composed of several young fans that would work together on projects, usually containing a few artists and writers. In the YSG case, those individuals were Steve Zeigler; Jan Bertholf; and Amy, Jane, and John Hoecker - all of whom were in high school when they created the most popular Marvel fanzine of the 1960s and whose Marvel fan club ranked second in membership only to Marvel’s own MMMS fan club at the time, as stated in the wonderful book covering elements of fandom, Tales From the DMV (you can get it here...for some dumb reason, I have lost my copy). There is also a very nice article on a fandom reunion event at SDCC on the Fantucchio site here. So, let's jump into issue 21, the final issue. It seems apropos I mentioned Colletta above, since the editorial touts several of their interview "gets;" Don Heck, Colletta, and, in this issue, Werner Roth...several artists who were sometimes the objects of derision for their lack of a cool style, but who were fast and dependable. This issue starts off with the Club News section, then follows with a con report on the Gateway Con II. One of the main things that drew me to YSG was the inclusion of several illustrations by fan fave, Dave Cockrum. He contributes several spot illustrations sprinkled throughout this half size zine. Below you can see two of them (the Iceman adorns the Roth interview), as well as a full page illustration.   After those two articles are pieces by Marvel bigwig Roy Thomas (View From the Bullpen) and future Marvel staffer Mark Evanier (There's no Plot like an Old Plot). The Werner Roth interview follows, and then Ann Henry contributes Superman Married?, followed by Dave himself giving us The Trials and Tribulations of a Comiccollector, complete with the masthead art seen below.  On the Corner of Yancy Street by fandom stalwart, Tony Isabella follows (sort of a general question answering column), then the letters page (It's Clobbering Time), a short fanzine review page and then they are outta here! The back cover is a pin up by Roth, seen below.  So far, it seems the Comic Attack site is still having provider problems so, for now at least, I will keep posting monthly columns here on my site. It is a bit of a pain, and I cannot do everything I can do here that I can do in Wordpress there...but, that's the way the columnist mumbles! Thanks once again goes out to my own personal zine guru, the mighty Manny Maris! Don't forget, you can get the whole zine as a pdf from the main Ink Stains section on this site. Leave comments if you like, they are always welcome!
Ken Meyer Jr. [email protected]  Hola 4: 1979 Editor/publisher: Carol Strickland Hello again, everyone. Well, due to some MORE problems on the comic attack site (primarily, the host company), I am posting this installment here, hoping they get their problems worked out soon. This time out, it is another wonderfully "fannish" fanzine, Hola 4! This very enjoyable zine was put out by one Carol Strickland, who went on to make a career as a traditional painter, among other things. You can find here website here. You can also find a short column by Carol here about Hola in particular. The title points out that is at least one Wonder Woman article each issue, but many other topics are covered, as you will see.  Above you see the front cover and back cover by, respectively, Bob Wright and Richard Bruning. Both were everywhere around this time (I particularly remember Bruning being on a few TBG covers, for example). This, the last issue, had several fandom regulars such as Ed Quinby, Mike Chen, and Dave Taylor, along with a few that were new to me, such as Robert Blair and Dave Stuckey. Future pro, Bob McLeod had a pin up (seen below), which he can't even remember doing (as he told me on Facebook). Another future pro, Kim DeMulder, was kind enough to answer a few questions me via email that we will get to in a bit. Some dork by the name of Ken Meyer Jr also had several spot illustrations sprinkled throughout...maybe I will be charitable and insert a few here and there.  (inks by Dave Taylor) So, to get the party started, "Strick" has Agora (a fanzine review column), and Jon Liggett give us The Turkey Trots (a faux awards column). The first full length column is by Nancy Northcott, Forsaking All Others, examining married couple characters at DC, illustrated by Quinby and Chen.   I decided to group the spot illustrations by artist, for the most part, which is why you see a few pieces by Ed Quinby above, including the piece used in the "Forsaking..." article. Ed went on to work for such publishers as Big Bang later on. Next up is Not-So-Super Women in Groups, covering some of the more obscure characters in the Legion of Superheroes (along with opinions on the female character's boyfriend issues) by Margaret O'Connell. One thing I noticed about the few zines run by woman back then is that they always seemed a bit more mature than your average fan fest most likely put together by a 14 year old boy in his family's basement (not that there is anything wrong with that of course, it gave us fantastic zines like The Collector and Fantastic Fanzine, among many others). This article is accompanied by illustrations by several artists, but the one that struck me the most is Strickland herself. Her characters look more realistic in stance, pose, and predictably, anatomy (that is, the lack of certain parts accentuated beyond belief). Check some out below!  I was able to talk to Carol through Facebook Messenger to get some great info! When I asked her how and when she got interested in comics, she said, "I got interested in comics because the two I first saw (an Action with Supergirl!) (an Adventure with Light Lass!) had honest-to-goodness action females. The medium combined reading and art -- what a concept!" As for fandom itself, she stated "For a few years I was on the edges of fandom as I got deeper into the medium (and grew up). By then I'd written into DC a few times. Then came that fateful day when Superboy #182 published a letter by one Mike Flynn (not the criminal national security advisor) (or at least so he claims) who talked about getting a Legion [of Super-Heroes] fan club together. Thus it was done, and soon after the club developed into the Legion Outpost, a fanzine, and then into an apa, Interlac. I was a member of all of 'em. I contributed to The Heroine Addict as well as its fiction counterpart, The Adventuress, and even got a mention in the immortal Glx Sptzl Glahh, which was devoted to the works of Sheldon Mayer." Another thing I am always interested in is how artists got started drawing. Carol said "I can't remember ever NOT drawing. Except when I procrastinate. Which is all too often, sigh. Trying to get my painting biz up and running now that I'm retired, and I might sneak in some WW subjects. Which reminds me while we're talking about comic illustrators: what ever happened to that Ken Meyer Jr. fella who used to do stuff for Hola!?" She continues with her fandom exploits, saying "Harry Broertjes made me fanzine reviewer at the Outpost even though I told him I had no idea how to do the job. What I ended up doing was reading a bunch of AWFUL zines. But I enjoyed Glx and the Heroine Addict. If I'd been a Batman fan I would have enjoyed Batmania. For some reason I didn't read any Star Trek zines." Following that article is Legion Lightweight by Robert Rusk, covering LSH character, Light Lass (everyone was "boy," "lad," "girl," or "lass" in the Legion, it seems), and Edge of Ending by Chris Polk, pointing out that the thirtieth century in which the LSH took place was no paradise. Strickland appears again, with The New Invisible Kid. She covers a character by the name of Tyroc (a black character in the LSH), and showing the maturity I talked about earlier, points out several things that hint (at least) at racism in this one page article. I also asked Carol about her life after fandom. She followed with "This "professional life" bit you mention confuses me. I grew up. I got jobs. Those jobs didn't pay enough to let me buy much fannish stuff. After a while the comics got so bad that I resented paying my hard-earned money for them. Now that I'm retired for two years I think I'm finally up enough on my feet to pay attention to a painting and writing business. Today I published book #6 in the Three Worlds superhero saga. I've had a LOT of fun writing that. I always looked at the Legion and Superman and his ilk in the comics and told myself, "No, that's not how they would operate." So my Legion is this HUGE organization filled with assistants, PR folks, lots more heroes than DC's Legion has because space is gigantic, you know. The cape types have troubles because they have powers, and so they can't act quite as human as they'd like to be. (Despite Niven, I've never figured out how Superman and Lois... you know. My characters had a difficult time coming up with an acceptable approach, but they managed.) Like I said: fun stuff." She continues, "Right now I've been retired for a hair over two years. I have (as of today!) ten books published, one of which is a Wonder Woman nonfiction "everything you need/want to know about her" book that I hope to get on audio by the end of the year, hopefully with an update. As soon as book #10 gets out to all the publishers it should, I can go back to passing my afternoons in the new studio that sits in the yard, painting away while I listen to audiobooks. I'm also now a certified tarot reader and am missing a class even as I type that is supposed to tell me how I can run a teaching/speaking business off that and CONQUER THE WORLD. Well. I'll lay out a spread for someone if they asks, and soon I might even charge them for that. Gotta finance my world travels somehow!" The X-men appear in two articles next, the first being The Princess and the Professor by Kat Nickell and An Outline of X-men History, by Robert Sodaro. Mike Chen appears as an illustrator, along with most of the other members of the cast, including myself. So, let's check out a page of Mike's work below. Mike went on to a very successful career in comics, working for DC, Marvel, Comico and more, as well as teaching at the Joe Kubert School.   One of the artists supplying spot illustrations for the X-men articles is Kim DeMulder. Like Chen, Kim had an illustrious career in comics (as well as also teaching at the incredible Kubert school), which he talks about in this installment of Ink Stains. As usual, I ask when the subject got into comics in the first place. Kim stated that, "I started collecting comics (mostly Marvels) in the mid sixties. I loved Lee and Kirby's Thor! I was also a bit of a car enthusiast (a sign of the times) so I also bought auto racing comics and CARtoons and Hot Rod Cartoons." Though he didn't have a ton of involvement in fandom, he "read several like Witzend, and of course The Comics Buyers Guide (which is where I found out about the Joe Kubert School)." At the time of publication of Hola 4 in 1979, Kim told me, "I was just finishing my time as a student at the Kubert School and having major concerns about finding work as an artist. I probably submitted that drawing in hopes of getting the well sought after "exposure". Of course there was no internet in those days!" He formed bonds at the Kubert school and elaborates with, "I still count several of my classmates as current, long time friends. I also had the chance to work with quite a few of them, professionally!" As for professional work, Kim said, "My first interview was with Paul Levitz at DC comics. I was showing inking samples and he liked what he saw and passed my portfolio on to Joe Orlando, who was the one to OK me to get some work. Shortly after that I started getting ink work from Marvel when my career really started taking off. Since then I have inked literally many thousands of pages for both Marvel and DC and others. Probably my favorite title would be Swamp Thing. I inked that one for about five years! With Swamp Thing I felt the most freedom to do the illustrative, textural inking that I really enjoy." Nowadays, Kim has not stopped with the prodigious output! He said that "I now consider myself semi-retired, but I keep active with my artwork, doing private commissions and art that I want to do for myself. Not just line art but plenty of full color painted work. I have self published a book of my own art and a book of the art of Rowena. I lived with Rowena (the well-known fantasy painter) for nearly 20 years before she passed away three years ago, and it was a profound experience for me! I do a few conventions a year, including the Garden State Comic Fest In Morristown, NJ each June. I have also been teaching at the Kubert School since 1989. I post most of my artwork these days on my Facebook page."  Carol did form some bonds during fandom, saying "I would say that my core "friends" group on Facebook is from the Interlac roster. A while back people were talking about another reunion, but that (to my knowledge) fell through. Aww..." A trio of Wonder Woman centric articles is next, including A Comic Fan-atic Quiz by Beverly Thon follows, A Wonder Woman Chronology by Al Schroeder III, and The Amazing Invisible Plane by 'Ron. One of several illustrations seen in these articles is by Bob Hardin, producing a very retro Wonder Woman, seen at left. A Black Canary article by Kathleen Glancy is next, then Al Shroeder III appears again with The Elementary Yet All-Encompassing Explanation for Everything and Everyone...Almost (whew). The letters page follows and that about wraps up the issue! Oh, wait...I mentioned another artist that appeared in the zine and he will be super pissed if I left him out...check out a few very vintage pieces below.   OK, now I have shamelessly plugged myself, all my credibility is gone and I will go in the corner and not come out for 20 years...be there for the next Ink Stains! Thanks to Kim DeMulder and Carol Strickland for participating!
Oops, almost forgot the pdf! hola4.pdf Hi everyone. We will see how temporary this solution will be to the Comic Attack site having some problems. For now at least, here is installment 150! I'll be Damned 4: January 1971 Editor/publisher: Mark Feldman  Mark Feldman has a pretty interesting back story...the best place to read about him (and a ton of other people and events, such as Gary Groth/Fantastic Fanzine, Berni Wrightson, and others in the Maryland/DC/Virginia comics/fanzine scene of the early 70s) is the super book by "The DMV fan project," a collective from that area of the country, Tales from the DMV. If you love fandom, you gotta get this book! There is a chapter on Mark and his beginnings, and he was a real go-getter! His goals were to open a great comic book store (he did), start a comic convention (ditto), as well as a high quality fanzine (duh!). This particular issue was done while Mark was a senior in high school! In addition to the three issues (more on that later) of IBD, Mark also published the only issue of Scream Door (affectionally referred to by some as Web of Horror 4, WOH being an above ground horror magazine that lasted 3 great issues, with some unpublished work left over). The story on the numbering (IBD had three issues, numbered 1, 2, and 4) is that Mark thought it would be funny to drive collectors mad, numbering issue 3 with a 4 instead (especially his buddy and EC completist, Bruce Francis). Heck, I only found out about this crazy scheme in the last few months! At any rate, learn more in the DMV book, for now, let's get on with this issue. (Go here to get it, if you want.) After the beautifully rendered cover above, the quality continues inside, with work from some of the biggest and best creatives of the time, including Wrightson, Tom Sutton, Gray Morrow, Dan Adkins, Stephen Hickman, and Frank Brunner. Another day I will profile issue one, which is bigger, and includes interviews with many of these and other superstars. The first story is a Wrightson beauty entitled Out on a Limb (and he doesn't mean trees). Filled with many of the standard Wrightson traits (beautiful line work, grotesque physicality, moody shadows, sinuous organic shapes), and it comes complete with an EC shock ending. Check out a few pages below.     Up next is the second installment of Tom Sutton's Pilgrim. Strangely enough, this second part is as manic and filled with visual detail as the first installment was stately and sparse. Below are a few of the five pages.    There are a few pin ups before the next story...check em out.   The last story is the second and last part of Nest Egg, by Stephen Hickman and Dan Adkins (they don't list who did what, but it looks like Hickman layouts and Adkins inks). Aaaaaaand......   The zine finishes with a pin up by Tom Sutton, seen below, and a back cover by Brunner. Though Feldman only produced 4 fanzines in his short run at publishing, they were humdingers...now, his plans to conquer the worlds of comic cons and comic stores would begin...right outta high school!  Thanks this installment go out to the Galactus/Watcher of the zine world, Manny Maris. Also to the writers of the DMV book, and to the current runner of the Comic Attack site, Gid Freeman, for continuing to fight the battle against crappy service providers! Get the pdf in the Ink Stains section of my site here.
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