Ink Stains 201:Title 1

4/24/2026

Al Milgrom has made in incredible career in comics as an editor, writer, penciller, and inker...he can do it all! But everyone has to start somewhere...and that somewhere was Title!

Al Milgrom

Title 1: April 1972
Publisher/editor: Al Milgrom

Al Milgrom is probably the best example I can think of, of an all around comics professional. As you read above, he pretty much does it all, and has been doing it since the year of this zine, 1972! His Wikipedia page illustrates the breadth of his incredible career. I don't know exactly how much involvement he had in fandom, but at least we have this zine as evidence that he did participate! Several others contribute as well, including Mike Vosburg, Jim Starlin, and Tom Orzechowski, all who went on to stellar careers in the comic biz. On that Wiki page, Al's buddy, Walt Simonson talks about hanging with his future pro contemporaries when they were starting out, by saying, "At one point Milgrom lived in the same Queens apartment building as artists Walt Simonson, Howard Chaykin, and Bernie Wrightson. We'd get together at 3 a.m. They'd come up and we'd have popcorn and sit around and talk about whatever a 26, 27 and 20-year-old guys talk about. Our art, TV, you name it. I pretty much knew at the time, these are the good ole days."

Al was kind enough to answer a few of my oh so basic questions via email, the first being "how and when did you get into fandom?"

I was probably about 12 or 13. I saw an ad for the fanzine Alter-Ego (probably in a comic book) and sent in money for an issue. What arrived was just the cover--a Ronn Foss illo of The Eclipse, who was sort of a rip-off of Dr. Midnight. But I liked what I saw and sent in for a full copy which I received and liked even more! Don't know what happened the first time--perhaps the staples gave way and the interior of the issue got (as the saying goes...) lost in the mail. I then found my way to other fanzines including those published by the Texas Trio. Three guys who published a number of comics with their own original characters. I showed them to Jim Starlin and he immediately sent them samples. They gave him work at once. I did inking or scripting for some of Jim's stuff, I think.

I asked him to expound more on his zine, Title, specifically...

Title was my only foray into publishing fanzines. The Conan homage Jim and I did was originally intended for Skywald publications. The short-lived company owned by Sol BrodSKY and Israel WALDman (hence the name). They liked our work (no one else was quite interested yet). They said they didn't have a script and asked if we could write our own. Jim was never at a loss for story ideas and plotted and drew the tale. We sent it in--they said they liked it and would pay us upon publication. Unfortunately the company went out of business before they could use it. I then hounded Sol for a year to get our originals back. Then I used it in Title. I did both covers and did a 2 page job myself and got Mike Vosburg to write and draw one for me as well. Some sort of sci-fi tribute to Joni Mitchell. Rounding out the issue was a friend of mine from college who did a very interesting allegory about an escaped convict being hunted down as if it was a deer hunt. I inked that job too. As for the title of Title--I had done the cover and written "Title" as a holding spot for when I settled on an actual title. You see how that went! BTW the book also featured fine lettering by Tom Orzechowski. Another Detroit guy who became a professional. Ultimately I put the book together as a project for part of my grade in an art school/advertising class at the University of Michigan. I advertised it in some fanzine (Rocket's Blast/ Comic Collector?) It sold very few copies. Sigh!

There will be some input from Mike Vosburg later in the column. For now, my third question, I asked him if he had any fanzine or fanzine editors.

As I mentioned, I liked the Texas Trio and their publications. I liked the Work of Foss (who was heavily influenced by Joe Kubert), Richard "Grass" Green (a Kirby clone), and Biljo White, who mimicked Bob Kane. I saw some early work by Roy Thomas and Jerry Bails (a college prof and comics historian). There was art by Robert Kline (not the comedian), and Landon Chesney, and a guy who was heavily influenced by Ditko (Kujava?). There was some early Buckler, Wrightson, Cockrum, and Alan Weiss. The whole fandom thing was very exciting to me because it indicated there were others out there who loved the comics and who had aspirations of becoming pros.

My next question dealt with possible alliances in fanzines that proved worthwhile later in the early professional days.

Oh, yes--I did some early work with Buckler. That was short lived. Ultimately I got a job working for Murphy Anderson at DC inking backgrounds for him. After a year of that I got to ink a Starlin job (Gray Mouser) in Sword of Sorcery. Then I helped Cockrum on a job, then Simonson on the lead feature in that same Sword of Sorcery issue. Then Jim dragged me over to Marvel to ink him on Captain Marvel. He just announced to John Verpoorten that I would now be inking the book. John looked up, shrugged and I was in. My Marvel career had begun!

Speaking of Vosburg, here Al talks about his long relationship with the writer/artist.

Starlin and I (or should I say Jim and I--Gemini) became aware of Mike because at the time he also was publishing a fanzine he called The Masquerader. It featured articles and strips, including one he drew. Don't recall the name but it was some sort of acrobat character. Pretty well drawn! Mike was a few years older than we were and considerably more advanced artistically. I think we were about 13 and Mike was 17 or 18. We got somebody to drive us out to his house in Pontiac Michigan...only a few miles away from where we lived. We got along well immediately. He had a bunch of Kubert originals that the DC editors had sent him for writing thoughtful letters. Mike, like Foss, was heavily influenced by Kubert but ultimately Mike was better and ended up getting pro work in comics and storyboarding. I became good friends with Voz and remain so to this day!

Not wanting to inundate Al with too many questions, I asked if he had any anecdotes he wanted to share about his time in comics.

I actually tried to put together another comic when I was working and living in New York. Inspired by Flo Steinberg who published a "ground level" (as opposed to Underground comic). It was quite good with work by Wally Wood and Herb Trimpe and others.

I commissioned jobs by Starlin (seeing a pattern here?), Bernie Wrightson, and was looking for another job or two to round out the book. But ultimately, I was too busy working for Marvel to ever get it done. Too bad, I might have at least had something to sell at conventions these days!

Time to get going with this zine! The first story, Joan, is by Mike Vosburg, who was smart enough way back in 1972 to write a story that could as easily be talking about our present. Below, you can see a few pages.

Mike Vosburg, Tom Orzechowski

Mike was also incredible generous with his time (I want to add, I once visited Mike at his place and he was very accommodating and showed me around to many of my oohs and ahhs towards his art!) and granted an interview via email as well...read up below, Jethro!

Ken: What was your introduction to comic fandom? At what age was it?

Mike: When I was 14 my friends Fred Jackson and Augie Guzman told me about Jerry Bails and his newsletter. Since Jerry only lived about 20 miles away I talked to him on the phone and visited him. Fred and I had been doing our homemade comics for a couple of years so I thought I could start doing them as a fanzine. I started corresponding with artist Ronn Foss and several other fans and it opened up a whole new world to me over the next few years. By the time I was 15 or 16 I had already “met” the majority of people I would be working with in comics a decade later.

Ken: In particular, how did you become involved with Al Milgrom and his Title fanzine?

Mike: Starlin hitchhiked out to my house when he was about 13 and he introduced me to his friend Al and we started getting together. Jim was off in the navy for a while and when he got back he started working with Marvel pretty quickly. Al had finished up his studies at UM and I think Title 1 was a chance for him to create a portfolio to show what he could do in the field. Despite having me contribute it was a very professional looking book. lol.

Ken: Did you have any favorite fanzines as a reader and, alternately, as a contributor?

Mike: I loved the work of artist Ronn Foss so anything he did I always watched out for. The same with Biljo White and Richard “Grass” Green. I was always more interested in artists than articles. Once I finished my run on the six issues of Masquerader I didn’t do much until I graduated from high school. I was far more interested in basketball, but I badly sprained my ankle in a game and couldn’t play for a couple of months and in that time I started drawing and writing comic stories again….and never stopped. I did a few things for Bill Duday and Marty Arbunach and lot os stuff for fellow Detroiter Arvel Jones.

Ken: What were some of the first comic books you loved?

Joe Kubert was my idol in comics and Leonard Starr in comic strips. Again, I was far more interested in the art than the writing. While I loved Classics Illustrated, once AI started reading a lot of books the comics stories had a hard time competing. But Wally Wood, Frazetta, Williamson, I was always looking at and later Will Eisner and eventually Alex Toth, who I never appreciated as a kid.

Ken: Did any of your fanzine connections lead to later pro work?

Mike: I did a few stories in the undergrounds to get my feet wet. When I started making the rounds with my work in NYC my fanzines were already a “letter of introduction”. With fan friends who were already working, they always gave me great recommendations, and lots of the pros had seen and were impressed with my fanzine. And when I’d come into NYC looking for work Al always graciously put me up at his apartment he shared with Walt Simonson.

Ken: What were the circumstances around getting your first professional work?

Mike: My first job was given to me by an editor at Gold key named Paul Kuhn who told me, "I don’t know anything about comics, but you seem like a nice young man.” Since he hired me, I agreed with him on both counts. Once somebody gave you a job, everyone was open to using you, since comics were booming and artists were in demand.

Ken: What were a few highlights of your pro career?

Mike: Moving on to drawing storyboards for animation and live action. Not to denigrate any of the talented folks I worked with in comics, but I wasn’t very interested in doing super heroes; I would have much preferred working on mystery stories and such. I often have to explain to folks that working in traditional comics was the least successful art job I ever had. Certainly my creator owned projects I’ve done over the years were much more satisfying and creatively successful…though they always had a very small audience. The jobs I had working at Marvel and HBO Animation, on the HOBO Tales From the Crypt series, designing installations for the LA Museum of Tolerance and storyboarding the the Narnia films brought me much more satisfaction, respect and income.

Ken: What is life like now for you?

Mike: I still do pretty much the same thing I’ve done most of my life: I get up every day, take a walk, and then come home and draw on whatever project of my own I’m working on for a few years. (On Sundays I’ve always attended Bill Stout’s figure drawing sessions for the past 30+ years.) I also read read and watch tv…and all this with my beautiful, witty and talented wife around….and our three-legged cat Sarah.

Milgrom appears next with a two pager called End of an Era, and featuring a Conan stand-in facing the future...terminally

Milgrom

The third story, The Deer (by Mark Worden, Mark Cohen, and Milgrom on inks) is told in a very effective and spare visual style, with evocative text.

In fact, the whole zine has a good sense of design, the paper is thick, a really nice product. See a a few pages from this story below.

Mark Cohen, Milgrom

D'Rok thunders into view next, by Jim Starlin, with some help from Milgrom. You can see in this early story why Starlin would become such a fan favorite in just a few years time. Co-written with Milgrom, there is a nice little twist at the end.

Jim Starlin, Milgrom, Orzechowski

Hey, you still there? Good, because that about wraps this sucker up! Al delivered a very professional zine here, assembling a great crew, showing his early skill at composition and understanding of the actual practical elements of publishing. Way to go, Al! Below you see his back cover, ending with a strong metallic KLANG!

In fact, this was, as Tom Orzechowski said on Facebook, "This zine was essentially the final fan work for all of us. Starlin had done layouts for John Romita on Amazing Spider-Man by then, and was about to begin his stint on Captain Marvel; he had me installed as letterer with his fourth issue. Al would very soon be assisting Murphy Anderson. Nine months after this cover date, I was doing lettering corrections at the Marvel office, soon to begin lettering for the b&w magazines. That same month, I crashed for a couple of weeks on Milgrom's couch. Oh, I lettered Starlin's story in this issue, as well as Vosburg's."

Comments are welcome, see the whole zine as a pdf and come back next time! Thanks go out to Al Milgrom and Mike Vosburg, as well as a last minute contribution from Tom Orzechowski!

Milgrom

Don't forget, as a bonus, you get to see issue 15 of TBG, with a great cover by Dennis Fujitake (below)! PDF here!

Dennis Fujitake

Mike Vosburg

Hey, don't leave yet! I have a couple of last minute additions from the wonderful Mike Vosburg! An explanation of what you see below is...well, below!

"Alter Ego and AICFADime were the first comic zines along with Biljo’s White’s Comic Art and Par Holman’s
Spotlight, with my Masquerader appearing soon after. I had the advantage of living fairly close to Jerry Bails. My first issue was in 1962 and ran for six issues. My 6th issue was done photo offset, which only Alter Ego was doing at the time. All done while I was in high school. And yes, I’ve kept copies of all the issues. While I was still in high school I was in contract with most of the folks I would be working with when I started in comics a decade later. "

Mike has a blog that shows much more of this great history here!