Ink Stains 203: Nova

Phil Hawkins/Tim Kirk

Nova: June 1972
Publisher/editor: Jim Rehak

Todd Spencer

Stephen Fabian

Every once in awhile, I will have the opportunity to buy a few zines from people I know. I did this with Alan Williams (hey, Al!), and more recently, Aaron Caplan, who I have known for a pretty long time. Luckily, he was at a local small comicon recently, and I am pretty sure I picked Nova up from him, among others. 

Editor and publisher, Jim Rehak says right up front this is the only issue planned of Nova​, and also admits it was harder to get everything he wanted in the zine. But, as zines go, it isn't bad at all. There are some interesting pieces of art, a few pro sketches, some standard or substandard fan illustrations, a few stories and a few short interviews as well. The paper quality is actually pretty darn good, thicker than your normal zine (it's just too bad there isn't enough material, and not enough good material, to fill those pages). Stay tuned, though, you will see Fujitake, Neal Adams, Fabian (seen at right), Gaughan, Hanley and more, so let's get going!
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Linda Stemler

Mike Iampieri

Nova is sort of a cross between a fantasy/sf/s&s zine and a comic zine, with only a tiny bit of the latter...but enough to notice. However, what is admirable to me are inclusion of pieces like the one above (as well as the one at left), and the cover near the top of the column. I apologize for the bad matching of the two pages above, but they were already mismatched in the zine itself. From what Rehak says, this is scratchboard. Another thing I appreciate Rehak doing, which many editors neglected, and that is a complete set of credits in the zine, with page numbers (though, to his detriment, ACTUAL page numbers on the pages themselves would have helped).

The first article is an interview with writer Richard Meade (also goes by Bob Haas, and as the interview revealed, many other pen names used for stories in the paperback book market). It's actually a good interview, considering the limited time Rehak bemoans about in his editorial. Coincidentally, Meade mentions living on Luzon (the big island in the Philippines), where I lived as a kid for awhile (both of our fathers were in the military). Speaking of Rehak, below are one of his illustrations for his zine.

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Jim Rehak

Unfortunately, Rehak's main artist is one Ray Allard. Now, maybe, if they were both in high school putting this zine together, the level of this art would seem up to par. I know it's better than I was in high school. Below you see one of the images from an Allard portfolio.

Ray Allard

Rehak was not a terrible writer, either. Next up is his post apocalyptic tale (with a hint of spiritualism) entitled A Brief Battle. Following is a very short (and somewhat terse) John Jakes interview. But then, the highlight of the zine appears in the centerfold, a glorious sword and sorcery piece by Dennis Fujitake done in 1971, the same year as his iconic TBG 8 cover (the original of which is one of few originals I own). Check it out below!

Dennis Fujitake

More fan fiction follows, friends, with The Wizardcave by A. Jack K. Adams. There are some good descriptions and details, but the ending is a little anticlimactic for me. Below is an illustration accompanying the story by the same Phil Hawkins who did the zine logo. It is spare in detail, but the stances are nice and naturalistic, the anatomy realistic and not overdone, like most fan artists back then (including myself). Rehak himself also supplies a few spot illos for the story.

Phil Hawkins

A short but friendly interview with legend Roger Zelanzy follows, which is then followed by The Special Effect, by Dave Belz (a good telling of a sequence of events, but no real pay off). A few full page illustrations (including what looks like a sketch for a cover by Gray Morrow...but VERY sketchy) fill out the rest of the zine, a few which I will show below.

John Cornell

Fujitake

Thanks for tuning into my ambling remembrances and critiques, folks, hope you return! Get the pdf, so you can see the other material, including Neal Adams, Jack Gaughan, Jim Hanley, Gray Morrow and more! Always remember I am very grateful when people can share zines or scans of zines for the column!

Ken Meyer Jr.
[email protected]

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