Ink Stains 193: Fandom Circus 1

Fandom Circus 1: 1977
Editor/publisher: Rich Lisiura/Twin Oak Enterprises

Hello everyone! I am back from two trips very close to one another; a Magic the Gathering event in Spain (Castellon), and another in Orlando, Florida. Both events were very good, and in Spain I got to see a structure by Antoni Gaudi I had only painted before for an educational book company. Anyway, enough about me, lets get on to this month's subject, Fandom Circus 1. This was a pretty ambitious project, a big tabloid sized fan comic paper. In fact, that size made it a pain in the butt to "scan." I say that loosely, because I basically took phone pictures of the zine, and cleaned them up best I could. Jerry Ordway and the crew deserve better, but scanning that would have been difficult...and it was basically falling apart in my hands! Rich Lisiura, in the editorial, explained he had plans for it to be a fan populated endeavor, though I think it only had two issues (I only now remembered I covered issue two, which you can see here). You can see the super clean Jerry Ordway cover, pointing towards his future and laudable career in comics and featuring his and Bob Clement's character, Foxfire. A cool name and a very nice costume design as well. Below you can see a sample of the story. By the way, Jerry also did the lettering!

You may have seen mentions of InterFan in the column before. In fact, one of my installments focused on InterFan, I just cannot find it at the moment. It was an organization like no other, and you can read about it from the members themselves here. It was a service that hooked up artists and writers with places to get their work published. Many people went on to the professional ranks, including the above Sir Ordway. The next story, Incident at the End of the World was provided by Jim Bertges, Bill Neville, and Rick Burchett (with Sam Maronie), a funny little tale poking fun at, well, the idea of Heaven. Check it out below.

The third story to appear features Emrys by Paul Shaffer. Paul wears his influence on his sleeve, pants, and underwear, but does a nice job with it! Barbarians unite! See if you can spot the influence below...

Next one is from Carl Walconic and Jim Thompson and is called Too Many Gurus, and is the funny animal entry in this variety filled fanzine.

The last story, Values, is from Steve Clement, Jim McPherson and others, and is the sf entry...check out the faux computer lettering!

And that wraps up the first issue of Fandom Circus....well done, Rich and InterFan! The column ends, as the last few, with an issue of The Buyers Guide for Comic Fandom issue 5. You can see the gorgeous Fujitake cover below and you can see the whole issue here!

Thanks for tuning in! Who knows what fanzine lurks in the heart of the next column???

Ken Meyer Jr.
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