 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. 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. 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]
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 Fandom Circus 1: 1977 Editor/publisher: Rich Lisiura/Twin Oak Enterprises
    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. [email protected]  Wonderful World of Comix 4-5: Fall 1970 Publisher/editor: Neal Pozner Hello and welcome to the new installment of your friendly neighborhood fanzine column, Ink Stains! Today we go inside another issue of Neal Pozner's great little half zine zine, The Wonderful World of Comix. It was around this time that you started to realize Neal meant bizness! He ups the ante in art, columns, and page count, starting with the fully rendered John Buscema viking on the cover, seen above.  Jumping right into the interior content, after the editorial page, we are treated to an interview with veteran, Syd Shores. Sadly, other than (I assume), the caricature of Shores, there isn't any of his art accompanying the interview. The interviewer mentions some painted work and other art that they saw while in Shores' house, but no pictures of any of it, darn it! Shores was one of those stalwarts that, as a kid, I never really properly appreciated (along with others like Kirby, Trimpe, Swan, etc). We DO get to see some early Klaus Janson along with the article, as you can see at left. I keep trying to get that Janson interview, but with no success!  Next up is a lengthy roundtable discussion of the comic code. Some intelligent and insightful comments are made by the participants, including Dr. Frederic Wertham, Duffy Vohland, Syd Shores, Mike Sekowsky, and Tony Isabella. A typically energetic spot illustration by Dave Russell (seen at right) adorns the article. Following the comic code article is Gordon Matthews ...Moralities of War, which focuses on a few issues of Star Spangled War Stories, featuring Enemy Ace, and dwells on, well...the moralities of war as they are depicted by the characters in this comic. A sequential story of 2 pages follows, featuring Pozner and John McLaughlin's Duplicate Man, which you can check out below.    Neal and buddies Bill Wilson (of The Collector), Bill's mom, and Vohland next take us on a tour of the DC offices, complete with a diagram of the office layout. Man, I would have been beside myself to be a part of that (or a Marvel tour). There is a simple but expert Neal Adams sketch you can see that came along with the article. An article on Dr. McCoy, from the original Star Trek, by Pozner (along with an illo by Neal) is next, and then, the fan fave column, Duffy's Tavern appears. Duffy bemoans the fact (in his opinion) that Marvel was falling behind DC in quality around that time, partially due to a policy to not have continued stories, and a plethora of reprints. Mini fan mogul, Bill Black, contributes an illustration of Black Bolt to the article.  There is another Pro-file, that being an interview with Joe Orlando. A nifty DD illustration by Klaus Janson is part of the article (at right), along with work by others. Conveniently, immediately following that is Meet the Fan, featuring Janson himself. Sadly, there is no general artist listing in this issue, so there are several illustrations that I cannot identify the artist of, but the work that IS signed that you can see in the PDF include Frank McLaughlin, Al Williamson, Mike Royer, and Joe Sinnott. Below, you can see the back cover by Gray Morrow. And another column comes to a close! Don't forget to view the pdf, if you want to see the zine in its entirety! Thanks for dropping by, and please feel free to leave a comment. Don't forget also, if you have any zines you want to donate, or scan for me, I am always grateful for that! Oh, by the way, the TBG you can access for this column is issue 4, and in addition, this link will show you the early days of TBG, behind the scenes, by Alan Light himself! https://www.flickr.com/photos/alan-light/albums/72157594258122660/   Xal-Kor 1: August 1980 Editor/publisher: Richard "Grass" Green/New Media Publishing   Welcome everyone to installment 191 of Ink Stains, your repository for all those great fanzines of the past that often served as a training ground for our treasured professionals. This time out, we are gifted with one of the most beloved fan artists (and writer), Richard "Grass" Green (from an earlier nickname, Grasshopper, which you will see as his signature on some very early work later in the column). I have to say, personally, I only knew of him in a peripheral sort of way. I had heard the name many times, but the few times I saw the work, it looked too crude to really interest me. But, I was not the most educated or enlightened comics fan back then. In the beginning, I also did not see the appeal of such giants as Ditko, Kirby, or Toth. Luckily, to paraphrase Monty Python, "I got better." In my little bit of research, I found out some interesting things about Green that were unknown to me before. But, before we get into that, let's start the preview of this actual sorta fanzine, Xal-Kor 1. Above you see the cover, and below you see the handwritten credits. A high school aged Grass is seen at left.  I remember when I was corresponding with another groundbreaking black comic artist, David Heath Jr and contributing to his No Sex fanzine (covered in Ink Stains several times), David talking about Par Holman, seen in the credits above. Looks like he lived in the Salt Lake area the same time as I did...missed my chance! Par inked the first story, and adds a bit of cleanliness to the art. Like a few other fan artists back then, Green's inking was a bit scratchy and weak (although, by 1980, Green had worked professionally for several years on projects I will mention later). You can see a page from the first story below.   I wonder if that mad scientist was a bit of a tribute to the Captain Marvel villain, Dr. Sivana? Probably coincidence. The second story features Green's parody characters, Wildman and Rubberoy and is drawn in an even more cartoony style. As I was looking through the fanzine (again, remember, my previous exposure to Green was minimal), I was struck by the Kirby feeling of the art, especially when more cartoony or when showing the less attractive characters. In my research, I found that Green had actually written to Kirby when he was young (in 1961), and got an answer back of encouragement and advice. The King! Green started publishing pretty early, both in his life, and in our history of fandom. One of his parody creations, The Frantic Four, was a FF parody when the FF was only a year old. Below and left are some very early pieces by Green.  You can see his early nickname, "Grass Hoppa," as his signature  Getting back into this issue of Xal-Kor, below are a few pages that struck me as particularly Kirby like.   As a character got more grotesque, the more Kirby like it got...and when I say that, I am thinking of early Kirby, like the Newsboy Legion, etc. Eddie Eddings, as you can see in the credits, also played a part in this zine. I remember sharing several fanzine appearances with Eddie...he was good at both ultra cartoony (Jetsons style, for example, as you can see below), and more straight superhero like work. He is still on Facebook, if you want to say hi! Below is a page from his parody story.   Green and his good friend and collaborator, Howard Keltner. Below you can see some very early work, only seen on the InterFan website. At this time, Green added an "e" to the end of his name, just because he thought it looked better, perhaps more arty?       Another place to see more information about Grass Green, including his stint doing erotic work for Fantagraphics Eros line, is the Lambiek comiclopiedia site here. He did not hold back! I don't feel like I can post the page shown there in this column for some silly reason, but go check it out! He also did some "afrocentric" work, most notably in the underground comics scene, such as Super Soul. Below is some information about that period from the Lambiek site. While Grass Green enjoyed drawing superhero comics as much as humorous comics, he eventually became part of the alternative and underground comix scene. These comic artists not only worked independent from major publishing companies, but could also draw and publish whatever they wanted. It inspired Green to also take a more provocative route and publish his work independently. By 1969, he drew the comic strip 'Lost Family' for Frost Illustrated, a weekly newspaper aimed at the African-American population of Fort Wayne, Indiana. A very young Seitu Hayden assisted on the inking. Green's work could be read in Super-Soul Comix issue #1 (1972), a hard-edged exposé of racism and bigotry in the United States, distributed by Kitchen Sink Press. The star of these comic books was Soul Brother American, an African American who just returned from the Vietnam War. As if his misery wasn't enough already, he is also beaten up by police officers. Yet Soul Brother American discovers a serum that transforms him into a superhero. Now he is able to fight against the racist corporation Bigots, Inc., who terrorize his city. Green's work was also present in Good Jive Comix (Pooo Bear Productions, 1972-1973), Bizarre Sex #2 and Teen-Age Horizons of Shangrila #2 (Kitchen Sink Press, 1972). The InterFan site mentioned earlier has tons of great stuff (you can see their Green page here), including a beautiful tribute from his wife, Janice. You can read it below.  I would like to say that we were a very special couple. My husband was very dear to me. He was truly sent to me by God. I enjoyed the time we had together. Remember, the pdf here has the whole issue, and there is a lot in there! Thanks for stopping by. Remember also, I am always very happy when people are willing to share their zines for the column, send scans, or contribute remembrances, anecdotes, etc. Don't let Manny be the only one! Oh, almost forgot! From now on, I will supply a link to a pdf of an issue of The Buyer's Guide for Comic Fandom from the great Alan Light...TBG was my avenue into fandom! This time out it is issue 3, click here. Below you can see the super clean Dan Adkins cover. Unfortunately these were all taken with my phone...I don't have the time or resources to scan those huge pages!   FOOM 9: March 1975 Publisher/editor: Marvel Comics/Scott Edelman Hi, everyone, and welcome to another unhinged installment of Ink Stains and imagine my inthusiasm, inknuts! This time out covers another issue of the Marvel house "fanzine," FOOM, specifically issue 9. Much Byrne to be had, which you will see! The unfortunate thing is, much of the artwork is not signed, so I am guessing at the artists (though Duffy Vohland is the common thread and usually the inker, as he brought much of the art into the mag). See the image below, to start.  possibly Byrne and Vohland, maybe Paty The first article, Ride the Wild Cosmos, explores Galactus and his herald, The Silver Surfer, and features the illo above as well as the Paty (I think) illustration below.  Continuing in the galactic theme, Stern's next article focuses on Captain Marvel, and starts with the nice Don Maitz/Vohland illustration below (I am guessing the production department added all the color). There is also a clean Gil Kane (inked possibly by Dan Adkins) that you can see in the pdf.  Never one to resist milking a theme, FOOM continues with a piece featuring The Watcher, accompanied by some John Byrne work seen below.  ....and the milking is not done! Him/Warlock is the start of the next article (Man is the Father to Him), this time written by Duffy Vohland, and featuring a stylish Stephen Fabian/Vohland illustration (eyes down);  Various house articles follows, including a Marv Wolfman Wakanda piece, The 1974 Irving Awards ballot, the letters column, and the Department of Infoomation (with what looks like a Dave Cockrum sketch). Humorist Charley Parker (not that one) follows with Doctor Foom Meets the Mud-Thing, seen the opposite of above.  Lastly we are gifted a parody Kung Fu cover by Byrne, his slick style already in evidence.  OK, folks, that is about it for this installment of Ink Stains! Remember, you can see it all in the pdf! Sorry for the shortness of my text this time, I am catching up from a convention. Or maybe you should say thank you?
Ken Meyer Jr. [email protected]  (Cover spread, front cover on right by Wilson, back cover by Bill Schelly) The Collector 1, 2, 3/4, 5/6, 7:1967 Editor/publisher: Bill G. Wilson From small things! This installment covers the first 7 issues (two are double issues) of The Collector, from Bill G. Wilson. This particular column is mostly for historical significance. Usually, I tend to spotlight artists (and some writers) who started in the zines and went on to much bigger things. However, being so early in this great fanzine's run, there aren't really many of those. But at least you can view the pdfs to see where it all started! The cover illustration from issue one below the photo is most likely by Bill himself when he was, oh, maybe 12 or so (crazily, ALL of the issues in this column were done in one year, 1967). In fact, see the famous photo below that also includes people like an almost equally young Gary Groth, along with a ton of young comic pros (bill is front row in glasses, second from right). I grabbed the photo from the late John G. Fantucchio's site.  The guests all named and numbered are 1. John Verpoorten, 2. Stu Schwartzberg, 3. Bill Peckmann, 4. Jerry Bails, 5. Jean Bails, 6. Jean Thomas, 7. Roy Thomas, 8. John Buscema, 9. Tom Fagan, 10. John Fantucchio, 11. Mary Fantucchio, 12. Kathy Roberts, 13. Charlie Roberts, 14. Ellie Greim, 15. Martin L. Greim ,16. Richard "Grass" Green, 17. Arvell Jones, 18. Ed Aprill, 19. Gil Kane, 20. Hal Foster, 21. Phil Seuling, 22. Carole Seuling, 23. John Benson, 24. Bill Pearson, 25. Howard G. Groth, 26. Al Milgrom, 27. Joe Sinnott, 28. Michelle "Mike" Nolan (directly to the left of the "28"), 29. Rich Buckler (directly to the left of the "29"), 30. Ron Buckler, 31. Woody Gelman (the face directly above the "1" in "31"), 32. Greg Theakston, 33. Chester Grabowski, 34. Joseph Goggin, 35. Terry Murray, 36. Edwin Murray, 37. Bob Lewis, 38. Bill Thailing, 39. Bill Devine, 40. Stan Landman, 41. Mark Hanerfeld (Directly behind Stan - just the outline of his head is visible), 42. Eliot Wagner (face partially obscured by Len Wein), 43. Len Wein, 44. Ellen Vartanoff, 45. Irene Vartanoff, 46. Marv Wolfman, 47. Pami Texler, 48. Dick Giordano, 49. Alan Weiss, 50. Mary Skrenes, 51. Mrs. Don McGregor, 52. Don McGregor, 53. Sal Trapini, 54. Gray Morrow, 55. Jerry Weist, 56. Angelo Torres, 57. Archie Goodwin, 58. Al Williamson, 59. Tom Long, 60. Jeff Jones, 61. Gary Brown, 62. Greg Potter, 63. Jeff Potter, 64. Mark Dickson, 65. Gary Dolgoff, 66. Bill G. Wilson, 67. Gary Groth, 68. Paul Webb (partially hidden by Gary Via), 69. Gary Via, 70. Al Hewetson, 71. Pauline Goldberg, 72. Stan Goldberg, 73. Lamar Blaylock (partially obscured), 74. James Moorhead, 75. Craig Dawson, 76. Neal Tillotson, 77. Tom Watkins.  I will show the covers to all the issues, and a few spots, but there isn't that much to show, to be honest. Please feel free to see the pdfs for 1, 2, 3/4, 5/6, and 7 to see the whole story.   Marshall Lanz  (Cover spread, left back cover by Wilson, right front cover by Paul Legrazie Jr.)  It's very common to see these sorts of humble beginnings with zines that lasted as long as The Collector (29 issues, really taking off around issue 20 or so, in my opinion). These early issues are mostly composed of short articles on established characters like The Spirit, Superman, The Phantom, etc, as well as a few editorials, ads, checklists, etc. Check out the pdfs for yourself! There are a few spot illustrations here and there, such as the one at left by Fred Hembeck, long before the humorous style be became known for.
Check the main Ink Stains page on my site to see all the previous installments covering all of the other issues to see the incredible progression! Thanks this time goes out to Manny Maris, for the scans for all these early gems!  FOOM 8: 1974 Editor/Publisher: Scott Edelman/Stan Lee Hi Everyone! Wow, it's about 3:15 on the first of April and I just NOW realized I have a column to do! AGGGGGG! OK, I picked one that was already scanned (thanks to whomever did it, I cannot seem to find a reference to that person) and more or less ready to go. Luckily, this issue of FOOM has something interesting going for it...it features a still very young and new John Byrne! Below you will see several illustrations throughout this installment from the most famous Canadian Marvel creator! Funnily enough, his Wiki page states that his first professional published work was in an earlier issue of FOOM on the fan page, while working for Charlton would start about a year later. Who among the readers has an eagle eye and spot the somewhat obvious mistake on the cover? Hint: there is a Split Enz song that references the error (or, to be exact, you have to insert a "don't" into the song title). Anyway, enough obscure musical trivia, onto the zine!   You can see that Duffy Vohland inked the two pieces above, as well as the others seen below. Duffy's first goal was to be an artist, and he inked Byrne and others early on, as well as inking a good amount of Marvel projects (you can see a checklist here). He also ended up as FOOM editor himself (in this issue, he is listed as contributing editor)! The editor of this particular issue, Scott Edelman, has a little essay featuring Vohland here. You can see the genial dude at left. His column, Duffy's Tavern, was a mainstay of many a zine. As for this zine, after the cover, there is a funny ad for subscriptions that promises you can "win Don McGregor!" Seems like Don was augmenting his comic career with babysitting around this time. Don? As usual, there are some humorous features in FOOM, and you can see one below, with contributions from Marie Severin and Dave Cockrum.   Following that is some miscellaneous items, then the letters page appears, and after that is an article on Captain American by another CPL member, Roger Stern (Sterno to his buds). The two Cap Byrne/Vohland illustrations at top adorn the article, and as a sort of sub article, Manchild in a Troubled Land, featuring Cap sidekick, Bucky, seen at left. There is also a short piece on Cap's other partner, Falcon (with another Byrne/Vohland illustration behind the text). There is also another article, this one focusing on the 1944 Cap film (no shield...or Bucky!). An additional piece follow that, covering Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, who are, as we all know, Cap's creators. The fan page which Byrne contributed to earlier follow that, and one name I recognize is George Lane! You can fine George on Facebook. Check out the fan page below. When I told George about the column, he posted this on Facebook: "Issue Eight! That was around 1973 after I was first married. I sent in a bunch of spot illos to Marvel while I was studying Gene Colan and Dave Cockrum from his LSH run at the time. I sent in a Silver Surfer, Captain America, Spider-Man, Vision, Medusa, Reed Richards, and the Banshee that was used. Tony Isabella sent me the artwork back with a request to ink them and send them back with full pages showing different angles of art with assorted characters and panel layouts. I was young, so I did panel layouts with fighting scenes of the original X-Men vs. Silver Surfer, The Defenders attacking the Inhumans, one large panel of the Hulk fighting the Man-Thing, etc. I made no copies of any of the art and sent it in full of the hope of being hired by Marvel! I never heard another word! A few years later, I was meeting Gary Barker at an Indianapolis flea market and he came running up to me to take me to a comic dealer who had the FOOM issue eight that you are covering. He was so excited to show me that I was on the Fan Page of that issue of FOOM! I was not aware of that! I had to buy it!"  There are several company related ads and articles after that, the Dept. of InFOOMation follows, which nicely condenses several creators remarks on their upcoming/current (at the time) projects. Some creators included are Len Wein, Don McGregor, Doug Moench, Marv Wolfman, Steve Gerber, and more. And that about wraps up this issue. However, I am going to end it with a funny little one pager from Charley Parker featuring Dr. Doom and all powerful Forbush Man! Somewhat related to this post, but definitely to the blog in general, here is a link to Alan Light's TBG Days page...TBG was what got me into fandom in the first place, thanks, Alan! Have a great April, everyone, and hopefully come back next month for who knows what! Remember to view the whole issue pdf!   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.  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).
 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. 
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]  Grymalkin 3: 1979ish Publishers/editors: Mike and Gay Brewer  Welcome to the first Ink Stains of 2025! An eventful year in many ways, some I can't even bear to talk about. On the brighter side, I now have the first of two eye operations done, with the hopes of never having to wear those damn glasses again! So far, so good. But, I digress...this month's entry is the third issue of Grymalkin. This is another of the wonderful half size zines of the time, alongside such greats as CPL, No Sex, The Comic Reader, and The Wonderful World of Comics, among others. Also, like many zines of the era, it is populated with conventions sketches from the pros, as well as interviews fan fiction, and other enthusiastic contributions. I wasn't able to track down the editor brothers, so unfortunately, it's only me this time! To the left you can see a typically stylish illustration by P. Craig Russell (you can see my interview with him in the main column index here on my site), the subject of an interview in this issue of Grymalkin that runs about 2 pages. It is followed by a fan fiction piece entitled The Blue Plague from Robert Oliver Jr and Mario Giguere, as well as a very short story/sorta poem from Joseph M. Shea called A Conspiracy of Sadness (with a cute little illo from Kenneth Smith paired with it). Close by is a con sketch from George Perez, seen below, as well as a dramatic illo from Marshall Rogers, which follows.    Above you see an illustration by the late and very much missed David Heath Jr (editor of the previously mentioned No Sex) for the Ken Hahn story, Mindsucker. That masthead brings back memories of all that press type from long ago! Below you see a centerspread illo from Mike Ray that looks like it was intended to be a cover. Now, if you remember the artists from back then, you might get a strong Mike Roberts vibe from this...wonder if is him under a pen name? I don't even know if Roberts is still with us. A nice illo, regardless.  Up next is a story from Allen D. Cockrell that goes by the name of Requiem Passing. It is accompanied by a nicely halftoned full page illustration from Bruce Conklin, seen below. There is also a nifty little Frazetta sketch you can see in the pdf.  The next story is by Harry Bose, called From the Moon to the Earth, and has an illo by Earl Johnson Jr adorning it. It is followed by Another Day at the Office, a little sf comedy skit by John Kelly. Unrelated, but beside it, is a fairly dynamic sketch by the great Howard Chaykin, seen below.  E-Man makes an appearance in sketch form from Joe Staton next, and a Jim Starlin interview follows that. Before the editorial on the last page is a Jerry Collins sketch, seen below. Jerry was in soooo many issues of No Sex, I remember David liked his stuff a lot.  That is Grymalkin we see exiting the building, who will take it's place next month...only the Shadow....  Rick Harrison What a drama queen! As I was saying, thanks for tuning in this month and please stop by next month. Thanks this time, yet again to the big man, the king of kings, master of all he surveys, Manny Maris, for the zine this time! Check out the pdf to see much more art, all the stories, etc!
Ken Meyer Jr [email protected]  Lollapaloosa 3: November 1979 Publisher/editor: Mitch O'Connell -I just heard that Carl Taylor has passed away (today, Jan 1). He posted art a mere two weeks ago. Terribly sad news...Carl is represented in this issue, as well as a ton of other zines from back then...he was everywhere! His great combination of Gil Kane and Jack Kirby made for dynamic and action packed work...and you could tell he loved what he was doing. He will be missed.- Well, folks, glad to see all of you here for the 184th installment of Ink Stains...man, that is a lot of typing! The last column of the year covers Mitch O'Connell's third issue of Lollapaloosa. I have covered a few other issues of this zine, as you will see if you go through the index here. I noticed Mitch's art early on, probably one of his several TBG covers. I always saw the little bit of Wrightson, along with perhaps some Neal Adams and Marshall Rogers, the last two being very well known for their work on Batman, Mitch's favorite comic character (as far as I know, and as exhibited in this issue). In fact, you can see one example below on the table of contents page!  Now, as you can see, THERE ARE A LOT OF ARTISTS LISTED ABOVE! In an email from Mitch, he himself said, "I seemed to have just wanted to have a whole bunch of art by pros to make my ‘zine look legit. A clue to that is the cover screaming, “THE WORKS OF 26 COMIC ARTISTS” (although I can’t remember any specifics of what was going through my head at the time)." I have always thought Mitch was a very dedicated artist, a real workhorse, and from a very young age too. The Hunt, which you will see some of in a bit, was done when he was only 18 years old, while the Batman story was done at only age 16. Far beyond my skills at that age! Of this exact period of his life, Mitch said... 1979. I had just moved to Chicago and was attending The School of the Art Institute while living in my Dad’s house. Divorced parents, moved after high school from my Mom’s apartment in Boulder, Colorado to the Windy City. My Dad was working/big wig at a downtown advertising agency and one of his co-workers had a printing press. I’d draw everything up, hand over the actual art, then after I got the printed pages I stapled ‘em all together. As I can see from the index page it had a press run of 500 copies.  Mitch did a ton of work in this zine, inking several illustrations, doing two stories, writing articles, and of course...all that stapling! The first article explores EC Comics, The Cause of Juvenile Delinquency? As for the surfeit of art, Mitch told me that "The cover was a convention sketch I got in person at one of the early Chicago Comic Cons. As for the other art, it was a mix of more convention sketches and pieces I saw in other ‘zines and asked if I could reprint ‘em." Mitch does a much better job than some zine editors in crediting all the artists, even the reprints in this article, for example. A Roy Krenkel "portfolio" follows, consisting of convention sketches (some very sketchy!), one image seen at left. Following Krenkel is one of several quite exhaustive checklists composed and researched by Mitch (this one being Howard Chaykin). On the subject of a Wrightson checklist later in the issue, he said "This issue had the 3rd installment of my Wrightson index. I would track down EVERYTHING he did, from book collections to when his art appeared in a Buyers Guide ad." The first sequential story then appears, featuring his favorite character, entitled Last Laugh. Of that, Mitch said it "...was drawn at the tender age of 16, and I actually got permission from DC to use it in Lollapaloosa. I was drawing comic stories all the time, mainly because my goal was to be a professional. I mailed off copies of the results constantly, and I still have the handful of rejection letters from the very nice (but unimpressed) people at Marvel and DC." See a few pages from this precocious talent below.    A Marshall Rogers index follows, and then, the Art Gallery, featuring work from Joe Staton, Mike Nasser (Netzer), Vaughn Bode, Mike Vosburg, Mike Grell, Fred Hembeck, Jack Kirby/Mike Machlan, and John Buscema/O'Connell. You can see a few below and at left. After those visuals, two more checklists follow, the first covering Jim Starlin, followed by the aforementioned Wrightson index (part 3). A Don Martin portfolio follows, composed of very quick sketches, as Mitch describes, "...were from my Dad. It seems they hired Don for an ad campaign and these were his idea sketches. As far as I know that’s as far as they went."     Another index appears, covering Barry Smith, and then the second story appears, The Hunt. Check out a few pages below. Mitch, though, is a little tough on himself regarding this story, saying ... The Hunt looks very silly (I was 18), but some things that stick out is one example of taking style from another artist but having no idea of the reasoning behind it. That lined shading on every wall was gleamed from Berni Wrightson’s Frankenstein art, and he of course got it from Franklin Booth. I also like the other techniques of toothbrush splatter for the ground. I’d block off an area of the paper, dip a toothbrush in ink, then flick my thumb across the bristols. Also, extensive use of my many sheets of zip-a-tone was a must. Fun fact, that’s me with the glasses, and my Dad’s van is our vehicle.    Another index follows, this time covering Neal Adams. There was a nice illo accompanying it that Mitch reprinted, which you can see below.  An ad appears, then the back cover by Frank Brunner, (seen below). For those of you that don't know, the Rog-2000 was a John Byrne character first appearing in the fanzine, CPL (Contemporary Pictorial Literature), from the group consisting of Byrne, Robert Layton, Duffy Vohland, Rogers Stern and Slifer, and others. It later appeared in various Charlton comics.  Well, that wraps up this zine and this installment! Thanks for coming by and hopefully leaving a comment of some sort! Thanks this time goes out to Mitch O'Connell for his time, and Manny Maris for the scans for this issue! Remember, you can see the zine in it's entirety as a pdf here! Have a great New Year's eve!
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