Ink Stains 194: RBCC 147

RBCC 147: February 1979
Editor/publisher: James Van Hise

Welcome once again to the haven for fans of "that fanzine smell!" Maybe I should do a parody song about it to the tune of "That Smell" by, who was it, Lynyrd Skynyrd? Anyway, I digress...right off the bat! Today's column covers another issue of the lengthy and impressive Jim Van Hise run on RBCC. So many incredible covers! So many new features! The issue covered here is 147, with an energetic and cleanly rendered battle between Batman and Captain America by Marc Hempel. I loved his art from the beginning. To me, he seemed to come out of nowhere with a beautiful style, an already accomplished knowledge of the human figure, and inventive figure positioning. Luckily, I got Marc to answer a few questions via email, look below! Above you see Marc's contribution to the issue. 

Ink Stains: How and when did you start reading comics?

Marc Hempel: As a small child I watched a lot of animated cartoons on TV (e.g., Rocky & Bullwinkle, Hanna-Barbera stuff, Looney Tunes, A Charlie Brown Christmas). I started reading comic books while on a family vacation in northern Wisconsin in the summer of 1965 – Tales of Suspense, Tales to Astonish, a Jimmy Olsen 80-Page Giant, Doctor Solar, Fly Man, and, significantly, The Amazing Spider-Man (#29). A year and a half later I bought my first Creepy (#13).


IS: Who were some of your favorite artists back then?

MH: Ditko was a favorite and an early influence. Loved all the Warren artists, though I wasn't really aware of Frazetta at the very beginning. Later on I was a big fan of Neal Adams, Bernie Wrightson, Richard Corben, Moebius, Lorenzo Mattotti, Chris Ware, Jim Woodring, and many others.


IS: What were the circumstances behind your first interaction or awareness with/of fandom?

MH: On a snowy Chicago day in January of 1973 I received my very first issue of The Buyer's Guide for Comic Fandom. From there I moved on to RBCC and Paragon Publications ... eventually doing art/comics for all of them. Oh, yeah – and I drew a comic strip for a fanzine called Nucleus (see below).


IS: I assume you came into contact with Mark Wheatley in fandom, how did that come about? Any other long time friends that you met through fandom?

MH: I saw an ad for Mark Wheatley's Nucleus (issue #8) in the pages of TBG, liked what I saw, and so I sent him photostats of comics pages (from an underground, science fiction comic book I'd been working on) with hopes of getting published. I was 16 or 17 at the time. Well, Mark loved my art, I illustrated What Happened to Jory in the next issue, and we continued to stay in touch as I worked toward my BFA at Northern Illinois University. After I graduated in '80, Mark invited me out to Baltimore to work with him at Insight Studios and make comics. Well, I'm still here and, surprisingly, we're still good friends!


IS:  As a reader, what were a few of your favorite zines? And, were there a few favorites to actually work with?

MH: I didn't read many fanzines...but it was very exciting and a lot of fun getting my stuff published by Nucleus, TBG, RBCC, and Paragon Publications when I was 18‒20 years old.


IS: .Any anecdotes or memories of working with RBCC and Jim Van Hise?

MH: Jim seemed like a nice guy and he treated me well – about all I can say. I seem to remember that he requested that I draw Batman fighting Captain America for the one RBCC cover I illustrated.


IS:  I almost feel like you sprung fully formed into fandom, unlike Mark, for example who "grew up" in front of us in his zine, but I know that can't be true. Did I just miss a lot of your work showing growing pains or did you consciously wait to start showing the work?

MH: Well, I'd been drawing and creating comics since I was very young (beginning at age 2½), and contributed comic strips to both my elementary and high school newspapers. I also created logo designs for the high school basketball team and concert band, plus yearbook illustrations and poster and program cover art for musicals. I went straight from that into working for comics fanzines during my early college years, then had my first professional sale in 1978 (Gasm magazine).


IS: Please list any specific places/publications you would want people to see (the new Breathtaker collection comes to mind), and feel free to list urls of sites and such.

MH: The new, remastered Breathtaker 35th Anniversary Edition hardcover! Baltimore Comic-Con 2025!


IS: What non comics activities do you enjoy...hobbies and such? If you have any unpublished work you wouldn't mind letting me show, it would be a great addition to the column and thanks for your time!

MH: Well, I currently seem to be into changing my address (I've moved twice in the past year [a long and somewhat sad story]). More seriously, I've played drums since the early '90s (mostly vintage rock & roll), but I'm not presently in a band. In past years I've been a stereo photographer and collector of View-Master reels and other 3D things. And while I still consider myself an audiophile, I haven't yet figured out a way to set up my hi-fi gear in my current residence. I haven't created much art in recent months, so I alas have nothing I can share here. My latest endeavor: a full color Breathtaker/Bone piece for the Baltimore Comic-Con 2025 Yearbook.

One of the two interviews in this issue is with George Clayton Johnson (who wrote for the original Star Trek series, as well as Twilight Zone and the book, Logan's Run, among many other things). Above you can see George in all his hirsute glory! It is a long and comprehensive interview with a credits summation as well, so check it out!

The first bit of fiction/art is the story, Tales of the Forgotten Wilderness: Something Lost, Something Never Found, by editor Van Hise and artist Ron Wilber. Ron Wilber was an interesting and ultimately, tragic character. His illustrations stood out from the usual superhero work, as they were primarily fantasy subject matter, rendered in an appealingly labored and almost pointillistic style. I recall seeing his work in several other fanzines (and, as mentioned in RBCC, he features prominently in the companion zine, Fantastic Exploits, which I have yet to see). As to the tragic aspect of Ron, Van Hise told me, "I was in contact with him a lot until he died in September 2016. He lived with his mother and after she died he became depressed and started drinking. He fell down his cellar stairs but never went to a doctor to be checked out and he developed a blood clot in his leg which finally moved to his heart. A cousin of his gave all of his original art (hundreds of pages) to someone to sell but I've never seen it offered anywhere. I had known Ron since the 1970s."

Van Hise also mentions (in the RBCC Contributors page) that Ron had sent him a few illustrations that seemed to invite further contribution on Van Hise's part, which is what prompted him to write the story to the illustrations, and Ron provided more art once he saw the story Van Hise had composed. You see a few here and you will see more in the pdf.

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The next feature is Critique, the regular column covering new fanzines, magazines, books and more. This is one example of what an essential part of fandom RBCC was back then, especially under the guidance of Van Hise. Accompanying the article are two full page illustrations, by Bret Blevins and a very young Scott McLeod, seen below.

Up next is another regular feature, Comics Commentary, various ruminations on the comic industry, this time bemoaning the lack of experimentation. In addition, we are treated to another wonderful illustration by the underused (and big fave of this writer) Dennis Fujitake. I also included below another illustration from later in this issue by Dennis, which showcases in better form Dennis's command of  beautifully sinuous figures, recalling two of his favorite artists, Steve Ditko and  Jeffrey Jones.

Don Rosa's Information Center is up next, another regular feature of this long running and revered zine. Filling in the visual gaps are several illustrations by Eddie Eddings. His work seemed everywhere back then. We even shared space in the crazy Afta, specifically issue 3 (which coincidentally, has an ad in this issue!). I asked Eddie via email how he became involved with Jim and RBCC and he said simply, "I merely got in contact with James Van Hise and with his approval started sending my art. Many months later, Don Rosa asked me to take over the illos for Information Center. Those days were filled with excitement!" As you can see, Eddie mastered that cartoony, Loony Tunes/Hanna-Barbera style effortlessly! Check the PDF for several more fun cartoons by Eddings.

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Next up is another interview, this being with Doug Moench, conducted by Mark Burbey. Along with the vampire themed Fujitake pin up you see above, within this interview you can see some stunning and detailed pages from the ill fated Future History Chronicles that appeared in (from what I can gather in my limited time), Marvel's Planet of the Apes comic magazine. Seems Mark and his artists were always under incredibly tight deadlines, from what I read in the interview. Tom, I feel, was never truly and fully utilized to the best of his abilities, or at least, not very often.

R. C. Harvey's regular column covering the classic comic strips, Comicopia, follows, and the rest of the zine is pretty much filled with ads (which, in themselves, is a nice trip down memory lane). The last thing we see is a typically gorgeous illustration on the back cover by Mike Zeck. I so loved his work then...I have said many times that my favorite work of his was back then, doing fanzine work.

Before I forget, this installment also features TBG 6, of which you can see the always amazing Dan Adkins on the cover below and get the complete issue here! Be aware that I have flipped a few ads so they are viewable and you don't have to flip your noggin to read em. Thanks to Larry Thomas for the photos!

That is it, folks, another installment of Ink Stains has ground to a crunching halt! I hope you liked it, please download the pdf here and feel free to leave comments. Who knows what zines lurk in the mind of me? Tune in next month to find out!

Ken Meyer Jr.
​[email protected]