Ink Stains 186: Nimbus 2

Nimbus 2: December 1975
Editor/publisher: Frank Lovece

Welcome back to the world of fanzines, specifically those from around 1967 to 1981. It was a glorious time. That is, if you didn't mind sending quarters taped to index cards and waiting weeks to get your fix. But of course, it was all worth it! That anticipation (thank you, sir Furter) was part of the charm!

This month, as you can see above, we are going to run down the halls of Nimbus 2 with big sharpie scissors. Issue 3 was stellar and covered in the column already (see here), so we are going backwards...sorta apropos, consider this column is being written 50 years later! OK, no more stalling!

In the editorial, Lovece states that this issue is COSMIC! Several characters falling into that category are covered and/or depicted visually, as you can see in the first example at left, Warlock by Steve Leialoha.



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Hoy Murphey starts us off with Adam Strange, The Thinking Man's Hero. A nicely designed masthead by Rich Bruning (inked by Leialoha) adorns the article (seen at right).

Following that is an article on the beloved Charlton hero, E-Man, in Man...and E-man by editor Lovece. I remember really loving this series, especially at the beginning. I suppose. you could say it was possibly slightly inspired by silly characters such as Plastic Man, but modernized (Nova Kane, E-Man's partner was, after all, an "exotic dancer!") I think the tone of the series perfectly fit Joe Staton's cartoony and very charming visual style. The article is adorned by a Mike Zeck spot illo of the character, seen below (Karl Kesel does a piece featuring Nova).

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Mike Friedrich (leader of the wonderful series, Star*Reach, the first "ground level" comic) regales us with tales of Warlock (and, to some degree, Captain Marvel as well) in Cosmic Crossroads. Nice to get some inside info! The letters page, The Never Ending Story, follows. One of the letter writers is Dean Mullaney, one of the pair that later created Eclipse comics, where my silly short run on Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters and the Clint mini-series was kenneled! Several nice illos complement the article, including a very early and very sleek piece seen at right by John Byrne.

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Above you see a certainly cosmic illustration by Don Maitz, who appeared in several zines back then, and later went on to become one of our best fantasy illustrators! Check out his awesome website here!

Peter B. Gillis then has the gall to bother GOD for an interview! I wonder if Stephen Colbert asked God if he remembers Mr. Gillis? Right after that is the cool pin up you see below from Sam De la Rosa and Ric Cruz (InterFan regulars back then) of Charlton hero, Captain Atom.

Up next is the big "get" of the issue, an interview with Marvel's wonderboy, Don McGregor! I can testify from my interactions with him that he is one damn nice dude. It's pretty darn long, but Don never had a shortage of words! And there are several nice spot illustrations throughout the article by Leialoha, De la Rosa/Cruz, and Tim Corrigan.

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On the heels of Don is Super-Heroes, Space Opera, and Spiffy Stuff by Paul Kupperberg. Then, Dave Fryxell's Protean Thoughts appears, featuring thoughts on Warlock and Master of Kung Fu. That about wraps it up! There is a nice back cover from future pro, Keith Pollard (and Duffy Vohland), very reminiscent of John Buscema's work. I am hoping to add some thoughts from editor Lovece....but I don't know how quickly it will emerge, so check back!

Remember, you can see the whole zine as a pdf, so check it out...lots of art was not shown above! Thanks to Frank for the initial pdf.

Seeya next month!

Ken Meyer [email protected]