Ink Stains 184: FOOM 6

FOOM 6: Summer 1974
Publisher/Editor: Marvel Comics/Tony Isabella

Face Front, True Believers! It is November, and in the Ink Stains world, November (this one, anyway) is the month of the Mighty Marvel, specifically their house fanzine, FOOM (Friends of Ol' Marvel)! It is interesting and fitting that some of the bigger and well known of the recent (then) fans ended up on the staff of this fanzine (as well as Marvel itself), including Tony Isabella (Fantastic Fanzine and more) , Duffy Vohland, Roger Slifer (both of CPL), Dave Cockrum, Paty (Greer, later Paty Cockrum). Above you see the front and back covers of this issue...the front by (I assume) Marie Severin, the back by Ed Hannigan (I think), who was the production chief of the zine (which means he could also have been the sole production person). This fanzine is of interest partially because of people like Cockrum (who did several pin ups this issue you will see), very recently big name fans...but also for the various pieces here and there by professionals of the future.  By the way, I have covered other issues, you can see 7 here, as well as other issues which you access from the Ink Stains page here. So, on to the content!

First up, other than the editorial by Isabella, is one of many FOOM contests, this one entailing the reader filling in the script for a page of Marvel Art (in this case, a Jungle Action page by Billy Graham). Then we get an interview with Jarvis, the Avengers' butler. It is actually pretty darn long, considering it is a fiction. It is adorned by several gorgeous Cockrum pin ups you see below.

The always delightful Marie Severin comes in next with her "My Son, the Superhero" series, seen below.

Following that is an article on an actual living person, Avengers writer, Steve Englehart. I need to interject to let you know that the always incredible Comic Book Creator has an Engelhart interview coming up in the next issue (which you can get here). I have been doing creator portraits for the last few issues, and here is a sneak peek at the portrait I did of Steve below.

It was interesting to me to find out that Steve initially had plans to be a comic artist, not a writer...his loss and our gain!

The next several pages are filled with news about various Marvel projects, staffers, comics, and characters, featuring comic covers from the then current crop of the cream (Department of InFOOMation)! One thing I noticed, skimming those pages, is that supposedly art god Frank Frazetta was set to provide covers (assuming the paperback book cover paintings) for Savage Sword of Conan, but I don't remember ever seeing that, so I guess it fell through after all.

Preview is next, featuring behind the scenes info and art (from Rich Buckler) from Man Gods from Beyond the Stars, something that is mentioned to appear in Marvel Preview...I must have missed that one too. Anyway, next we see the FOOM Fan Art Gallery, featuring old buddy Carl Taylor, future pro Rick Hoberg and one Tony Pezzela. See below.

FOOM Forum is up next, lamenting no current Silver Surfer content (the illustration is not credited, but I am wondering if it is also Carl...maybe he can tell us when he sees this column. The letter is from Lester Boutillier, by the way. Another contest of sorts appears next (The Code of the Circus), with an illustration appearing to be possibly by Paty. The actual letter column appears next, then a feature definitely by Paty (written by Isabella with help from Alan and Paul Kupperberg), featuring the star of Not Brand Echh, the mighty Forbush-Man (as well as The Vision and Scarlet Witch). See a sample below.

And, Mighty Fans of Fanzines, that about wraps up this incredible installment of Ink Stains! Thanks this time goes out to Anaphylactic Aaron Caplan for helping with the scans and figuring out some page discrepancies (see the pdf of side by side and page by page comparisons between what appears to be a correct issue and one that is...well...not so correct). Also, Magnanimous Morphin Manny Maris for initial help with that same problem. I am Krummy Ken Meyer Jr, signing off, but not before I remind you to check out the pdf of the whole issue...and come back next month for more! Oh, and of course, you can also use the navigation at top to see the rest of my site if you have a few months to spare!

Ken Meyer Jr
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