***%

Now entering Shadows Of The Night #9, a Penny

Saved Publication "byArnie Starkey. Said person may be located at 3306 So. 10th, Tacoma WA.,

98405* The phone number is reputed to be (206)

272-2787. Suspect is shorter and stockier than at first believed, and is considered danger ous when in contact with the English language

(a very inside joke).

Hello again to each and every one of you. This seems a

lit

tle strange, to be sitting at a typer again after not having done so since graduation. My thesis was the last thing to leave this machine
and thatfs been well over four months now. Please bear with me while

I try.to get my fingers back in shape. The past summer has been quite eventful for me. I designed

and constructed a show by myself in two weeks, while finishing my thesis, studying for finals, and doing my share of the costume work for the mainstage show. The show I designed was for a friend, off cam pus, and induced me to learn to construct costumes in a real hurry. I*d get to the theatre after work at about nine thirty, work on the work assigned to me till about midnight, work on my show till four, and then got up for classes the next morning. By the time finals were
over and graduation was upon us, I couldn't have cared less about

school. Itfs for that very reason that Ifm glad I decided to take

off a year. I finally paid off my loans, and now have a car of my own. It is a 76 Fiat station wagon, which comes in handy for carting stuff around. The one shadow over my graduation was the death of my last
surviving grandparent. This was the grandmother that had raised me

for the first seven years of my life. The funeral was the day before the ceremonies. For months, all she had talked about was of being at my graduation, and it will be a long time before I forgive my

self for being too busy to go and see her for the previous year. Somehow things did improve in the next few weeks, starting with my being able to take time from work to go to San Diego Con. Both Tom and Mary were really wonderful during my stay. I was a little
nervous about the whole thing at first. I had never been to California

before, nor had I ever flown, and I was going to meet a whole new

group of people. Besides this, I really felt like I was imposing tremendously. However, I loved the flight, thought California was great, and found the "gang" to be much less than intimidating. New experiences abounded from the start. My first evening found me eating dinner in downtown Hollywood, and the next day I was

driven iiiii around town by Mary and John Moore. That evening we met
g.
Jon Liggett and Roy Veldboom at the airport and from there things moved at an incredible pace. Some things of course stick out in my
mind. There was the three hour wait to register for our rooms to begin with, T.V.'s that had on again off again powers, an elevator

that wouldn't stop at our floor, and even opened up between floors,
mesmerized fanatics who drooled all over Wendy Pini's Wii chalk

drawing, balloon weilding maniacs who got off on crushing people Hulkstyle, millions of cutesy-pie elves, peeping maids who made surprise "roomchecks",vand a Denny's where we once were waited on by the same waitress breakfast, dinner and even for a late night snack. We sat at
the same table, and she probably thought we never left. At least I

came to that conclusion when she brought the juice Mary didn't get that
morning when we came back at ten that night. #///</

SOTN #9:2

Of course there were other things that I should mention, with us one morning, picking up some original artwork, and finding
such as meeting Brent Anderson and Terry Austin, who ate breakfast a stack of comics that would have cost me a good three times more in oeattle. One of the pieces of art I brought back was a page of the'
Legion by Chaykin and Austin. .

The night we got back to Long Beach allowed us to wind down

some. We stopped at the Black Angus for dinner, and it was here that we discovered the mammath croutons that have since been immortalized

I'll not soon forget.

joined up with the troup on the first day in San Diego. Let me also note 555L5/5'!I5S v51l1ivg/J/%5 truth when he reported my falling over a tnttW tit it fttottoi dancing midget in the Men's room. Well, who could blame him, it was a disco tune, and he was moving right along. *,.,. * The next day was spent exploring Disney Land. This was another lirst for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the Haunted House and Pirates of the Carnbean. The tecnology involved is absolutely astounding. Also sitHnf ir\ tne front car of the Space Mountain ride was an experience that

iL^ySrJSL6?^0^^!:^^; Ishould back with us, since Mike Forrester had iUi ft to ftto UUHiii traveled also bring "P that he had

above the^others. In fact, there really wasn't that much going on at

that it s really the people you spend time with at conventions that

4.v.

j,00kin back on the trip, there isn't one detail that shines

the con itself. I think it was Tom who I was talking to about the fact

make them so worthwhile. I would like to thank again Tom, Mary, Jon,
Mike, John, Roy and UM Liz Schiller for best vacation I have ever
had.

The trip ended all too soon. Before I knew it, I was back
at the store, which has since been re-located to the mall. I did

the props for a new theatre group in town last August. Just last week a director form that company called and asked if I would design his
Christmas show, and I agreed. It's Winnie the Pooh, and should be a
lot of fun.

I have seen a few movies since school, which is something I'd

been promising myself for a while now. So far I have seen Raiders of the

Lost Ark, Superman (again), Little Darlings, Private Benjamin, Seems Like Old Times, Somewhere in Time (oh how I do love that Jane Seymour), and Fame, among others. For those of you who.might not know, Fame was
very true to life. That film really brought back memories of class ex orcises, first auditions, and friends lost in some form or another. I have been interested in such films much longer than I have known what

I was going to study in college. Before it might not have seemed so

realistic, but you would not believe the incredible life-style of per formers even at the college and high school level. As a semi-experienced Junior in college, not prone to excess, I was quite startled and fright
ened to be confronted by a young Sophmore actress who threatened to

committ suicide because I had not cast her in my show. Though I was younger than the other directors, this was to count as my Senior directing project, and I had a hard time dealing with the fact that this girl Whted to die because of a decision I hadn't thought twice about

my senior year) were trying times for me, I don't think I ever let any
of it get to me the way some people did. In any case, this film was
particularly satisfying to me.

at the time. Though auditions and asignments for design positions (jn

I've added considerably to my music collection as well. The

most recently acquired were Long Distance Voyager by the Moody Blues, Fame soundtrack, Time by ELO, and Stevie Nicks' album, Belladonna. I've
enjoyed each of these.

Thats about all I have to say at the moment. Try to have MCs

SOTN #9:3

in the next mailing, as well as a few comments on the latest issues of the Legion, since I am finally getting caught up on my comics. Below is a reduction of a sketch I did at Mary and Tom's and a few photos from
the con.

See you later, or talk to you...ugh, well mayhe write read about you later. Take care.

or

WELCOME TO:

BAD IMPROV THEATER #1

STARRING THOSE TWO WAPA CLOWNS...JON LIGGETT AND TOM DIERBAUM! nrirl .This ls.a sort of transcription of abit that Tom and I came up -ith and is xntended for WAPA #18 and possibly Interlac. The routine is cll

of o-ur^SS Jmthan Ligg6tt ^ * bS -printed with^r"

drivinfLS1^ Came about as Toffl and I(plus Mike Forrester) were doine^ad fLf^ !?e^ T aU%heT' We etc, Mien what of^ and HiJ (aM sena-bed) impressions, jokes had been goofingfollows

tl shltV
gT 1

^ ne

tMngS thSt JUSt haPPe^.-.a^vay on with

our nov/ in a locter room of sorts.

r^oT^lttl H?U Wil1^ that tMs iS 1966 John> Paul> Ring ^d

, Tom on,s?ageand am %?b0and g is (T) (J;
y) (as John) Yeah, George? (T) These fans have asked us to appear here.

(T) Hoy uh, John. Hey Johnny! (As George)

< Oh really? J) (T) Aye.

(J) Should we do the new number we wrote?

y) jell, I think it's a good number. (T) (As Paul) George, maybe we should do it after all IT) (As George) Ah. Maybe you're right, Paul
(J) Well, what do you think, Ringo?
J (As John) That Ringo*s a real animal.
let's go/
IT)(As George) Yeah, Yeah (as Paul) Yeah

yj ,No' I ***** thin- it would be agood idea at all. Nah

(J) (As Ringoin Jon's "Animal Voice") DO IT DO IT DO IT'"

Okay,we can count
(T and J sing):

(J) Well, let's do it. Ready guys? Let's'count to three, one, two, ,hree
"HERE WE COME, WALKIN' DOWN THE STREET.

GET THE FUNNIEST LOOKS FROM,

EVERYONE WE MEET.

HEY HEY, WE'RE THE BEATLES!

AND WE DON'T MONKEY AROUND

WE'RE TOO BUSY A SINGING,

TO PUT ANYBODY DOWN.

(J) Hmm...Nah.

(T) No. (J) Doen't quite work.

(T) No.

(J) Maybe we should give it to that young kid that's been hangin' around
U/ Oh yeah, right, I'll stick it here in Pavy Jones' Locker'
mm ROLL CHpAL CRASH ' ' '

(J) THANK YOU, THANK YOU AND... .THANK YOU. (T) THIS HAS BEEN BAS BfiPB.07 WB JJS, wi<J GtAtt trjvt.. gvsr. 'titrwv? &!

/'

TH&

/*L6,

CcvLD MUAPO 6&TTA

eyre****0** -!'* A)r& <^&> *****

*>0&-

6Kfl1,/' L

DO j&)AI77t/fi& tfM'M^
AMD
/r

6t> i& rz> cv&AtL AT

etP/zfss.

-T'&) AM 4- >& /r 4~Stf/L-

THAT(s t#- *WrLtrrce ~2>to S//f

"BUT.,,

5^ "^flT^
4emr *vTS TKOTti

He'j sick.

To/* 3

^_ ^ ^ T7T^ zv^A'^ r~'

\m '^^r fXJ**t<* ****''**'>

B0T n*.^^^ ^mwa < Vo WS,r a,^/V ART.

; ^iceA ***<* asmabout rA*' *rrrt BStD&> ' vB sriu. Lite n> **" "** ^^.,
a
A.3rAJ&H

^eAt> ^

*l*br ~'aa M*> eu*s '/*> wws c&jru&i

^ /t^ rA& "* surra;

-=*T

'

jP_

L/Ai^HOPe *** "* 6*\"VTIIJFOti -reot! REAL !

Z^Z,yn\ tec -rost-nveiL ***>

A0V BBUi VAAX&*

lOOK "KB vtr*
?

" " " < *uA c/jie our

to *># <"* **f

/> seen*)'- y~*.'?**.'

..ear**7** sras:*oH **fo

CO.

ear
-fflAi ftlLfEfc

i4*d iik ftenses <f ia* -30U&S'

Wr\0O3-

ey
*Low Budget funnies #1 - Oct 1977 - Sue and Bob Vojtko ********

Alternative #6-The aeronauts-story by John Merkel/art by Tim I!iller(Kirby

Swipes)
Pittsburgh Comix & Fandom-fansine-Roy Thomas Interview Sum strips & such, Pitts jokess,fThe only city in the world thatfs named after itfs sewer system,)

Fantasy Crossroads - Robt E. Howard Zine-Hanley art, Steve Fabian Art, Mercy

#2 1975

illoes, Prose, Frank Cirocco, Hanley interview, Anderson

Spots, lotso Weird Howard stuff (A western??)

Green Lanterns Light! Neal Adams cover

Ken Gale prose, nice art....

Fantasy Unlimited #25-April 1975 - 3ri#iish Fanzine -sum nice art by Rafa

The LEGION OUTPOST #9-1 have a few copies of this one -$1,00 @ Curt Swan cover, etc.,
Fabtasy Unlimited #27-Brirftish Zine - Silver Surfer Feature....

Fantasy Unlimted #26 - Captain Marvel issue! Superswipe art,Quotes from

Chairman Beck, Bridwell, John Pierce....

Fantasy Crossroads - Ellison Fiction,Fabian, Hanley, Mercy, Cirocco art, Richard

#3 May 1975

Lynn article gnd strips(American History)

*DFCFR #7-0ct 1975 - Silly Legion art by Mercy and Arrddvarrks jokes-weirdness
*The Tellurian Defense - Carl Bonadera fan fiction strip of super deeds....

The Heroine Addict #9 -Mercy cover! art byStrick, Smith,galajL S. Taylor,

Chris Padovano, Rodi, Delorme,Gibson,Tom Luftft...

ThreemoreLegion Outpostfs # 9 $1.00 a pice.

Fantasy Unlimited -#28(British Fanzine) Wrightson issue.

*The Journal - Newspaper, #17, Fan 1975,Zilber column, art by Merc1.

The Heroine Addict #9 - again?!

Free FaH#4- 1973 - Personalzine, mimeo, Paul ChadwickChatter-nice to read.

PCC Annish 1975-m. Seierin Cover, all sorts of Fannish stuff inside ( addresses
of all the members as of 1975)

Pittsburgh Fan Forum 9-July 1975 - More Fannish folliesfrom Pittsburgh

True Fan Adventure Theatre-Vol2, # 1-Lea Wein Cover! Decker, Wasserraan, Thf Gaff, Tony Tollin, Rf Small,and Spanier, 1975#

Torch #24 - Dwight Decker Zine, 1975*

Star Jack #1 - More Decker, Born January 26, 1952*

Torch #25 - Cover by Sherman//Decker-Roger Leloup info(?)

Weird Faan Fiction #2 - Pozner art, Faaaaaan Fiction*

^Alternative #2, Vol4 1976 - MerkeJ story, Van Vlack art (Have lotsa these.)
*Nimbus #21 a newspaper fanzine, Brunning, Pollard, Vohland, Charlton, S$i,Cuti,
Don Mali*, John Byrne*

Comics Unlimited#36, May 1976 - British Sine - Planet of the Apes theme.

Pittcon 78 - Con booklet for Pittsburgh's'comicen.Interesting stuff, but Ifve got too many copies - lotsa fan art*

First Flight #2-(second flight?)Fan art & strips - pretty good.

Harlequin special ed. #1 - Jim Korkis zine, 1974. Never mind, It's all about animation^ I'll give it to my sister.

*Sadhana #1 - I-Sapa contrib-interesting Lenny the Heasel story(Strip).

#It's not easy Being Green- Mike Kuypers craziness No's 1-5

*Cosmic Angst Funnies #1- From Capa alpha, Don Markstein....

Delap's f & sf Review, Dec 1975, issue #9* RevfeS)ws?l?!!

*Apa-H #50 - A sandwich, March 1976, with a contrib by "Guru Zew Flarhm"

(Harry B., Zilber, M. E. Van Vlsck, Flynn, Morrissey.)

and othersI I have severl of these....

DC Comics Special Ed. Of Amazing World for Superman's Birthday party, 1976
2 copies of Dc triviata and art!

* Creation 1976 con booklet handout-newsprint-Lotsa art, J. Kahn news, etc, etc.

The Buyer's guide Parody! FandomFunnies #3(1 have one extra, copy)
What ih - Spanier, Pozner, Isabella, Capa-Alpha zine (Pozner), Nyapaman!
Mutated Panther#1 - one shot by Flynn/Zilber

Pittsburgh Fan Forum Dec 1976 -Destiny photos (as Red Sonja) and Fannfsh art&such.
Comics Unlimited (British) #37, 7-76, Daredevil article, amdEllison info.

CU #41, Nov 1976 - Conan, Stan Lee interview, art & letters.
CU # 34, Mar 1976 - The Shadow, the Atom.
Fan-Thing - #1, June, 75 - ? Fannishnesso I guess.

#
ANOTHER Buyer's Guide Parody By Fandom Funnies Folks (Hullo, JayZ?!!)

Another Legion Outpost # 9.($75)

A phjlJotocifopy of The Shadow,*Gone cf the radio shons, 1933?

*It's not easy Being Green #6....Mike Kuypers. Hulk interview!

*Apa H #52, May 1976 - Full color cover ! Silliness.

Comics Forever #10, Jan 1975 - Fannmshness!Ditto!
*2001 - Fanzine - collector's edition....Strips, prose, art.

PPFSZT #8 - 1975 - Erichsen art,Early Brent Anderson Strip, Cirocco cover.

Chronicle Three - LOTSA Byrne art, Duffy, Breo zine, 1973# Slifer, too.

Whizdash - The Detroit Con Debate Btwn. Lee, Infantino, Warren (BJ Spirit")
and Steranko.

Sene thing, but with the Ellis cover of Karate Kid and Shooter doodles of Tinya and Jo Nah. 2 of theses up for grabs.

Another copy of Fantasy Crossroads #3 - Slliesn Fiction, Fabian, Hanley, Mercy,

lichard Lynn article.

Heavy Metal #9*, Dec 1977 - Wein/Chakin piece, usual French crap, cover has
no logo. "CUT OFF !! All of IT!!?!W Nah, just the tip.

Endeavor #9, 1975 - Erichsen, Cara S., Anderson cover, McDonnell, mimeo zine*

WAM^H? - Den^Howard Zine -1980 - Ursual K. LeGuin, Conway cursing, etc.

Apaperback! The Fall of the Towers, Sam Delaney. e^f^2S!f O^fwA^.

Pittsburgh Fan Forum, jan 1979 - Dick Tracy issue-mucho fax and illoes.

Apa-5 # 4-5 - 1975-P. Chadwick, Art Scott, Liilie, Small, Korbas, Puryear, Napier,
Montchalin, Verheiden, Terry Dale.

APA-5 #4S - 1975-Harris, P. Chadwick, Sbott, Weilage, Miller, kaodaas, Main,

Korbas, SirJcovec, Verheiden,Decker, Kujava, Liilie.
2 vols.

#50 - 1975 - Liilie, Art Scott, Harris, Srishsen, Brown (Gary), Morriseey,

Napier, $gg, dggy^ Verheiden, Decker, Fabian(Roy),

Montchalin, Merkel.

APA-5

APA-5

APA-5

APA-5

APA-5

APA-5

APA-5

APA-5

#5U^n 1976-C. Warner, A. Scott, L. Hall, M. Verheiden, S* Kujava, D. Dorman,

2 vol.

M. Montc^Slin, T. Mgntl, K. Erichsen, G. Brown, C.

Korbas, D. Decker, M. Weilage, R. Harris, R. Ifebian, M. Main, S. Liilie, M. Tiefenbacher, F. Miller.

$S$x #52 -Harris, Scott, Erichsen, Chadwick(P), Bentley, Verheiden, G. Brown,

Decker, Merger, Montchalin, Korbas, Morriseey, Merkel.
#53 - More One vol

#54- More. Censored covdr by MW (irrepressible) 2 books (vols)

#55 - Mercy cover, 2 vols, Beautiful Karris strip on a fan gone mad!

#56, #57, #58, #59(two vols)

, #61 (2 vols.), #62, #63, #69

If you want any of this stuff, just circle it and send $.25 cents per
Nbook11 to cover the postage. If you arder a lot of *em and think the

postage will be less, send MK me less. Whatever, the ones marked with an

asterisk are free (Ifigger I can fold em and mail like a letter) for the
asking. Cheers!
of them.

As soons as I sorts out ny KA stuff, I!ll send out a list

Mercy Van Vlack

P.O. Box 213

King of Prussia, Pa. 18* 19406

Name

Other info(address, etc)

Competes(Comments, toe)

State

Zip_

J^tinish drawing line here, my finger is worn out)

the same as the music ue had recorded a nd were unable to play because of technical aif ficulties, but it was humorous and gave everyone s omething

to remember in years to come when they

the wedding.

recall

And we did have some very special people

No.14 OCT. 81

INTERLAC 33

there. The genuine outpouring of love and good wishes which we received helped to make it literally, the happiest day of my life.
Well, I've already said more about
the wedto

UNDER THE GUN PUBLICATION 36

ding here than I intended to, wanting i nstead

wait for a special project which Melone y and I

will be doing as a souvenir of the day, with pictures. (Sort of like having you
for home movies, you know?

complete
over

Bear with u s, folks,

this

we're newlywed3.)

If you don't see it

mailing, you'll see it next time. Ana, of course, I am pressed for ti me as I write this page. The rest of the zine is already complete and the whole thing will be go ing out to be printed tomorrow. The bulk of th is zine will be ii.ailing comments, which I am co mmitted to not falling behind on again. There's a lso a

two-page installment of "Tunes", which several weeks before the wedding, when

was I

done

was

hoping to complete a substantial part o f this issue in advance. "Tunes" is the only result these good intentions. Actually, I sho uld be happy that I was able to get anything d one in
time for this mailing at all.

of

Mrs. few days into the TV guide

Chadwick and I hung around Philly for a after the wedding before I plunged back thick of the things at TVSM, the cable publishers I told you I was working for
NEWS that I couldn't decide whether

on a free-lance basis last time. Well, they did a little persuading since I reported in the pre
vious U.P.

or not to go fulltime.

Well, they made a better

money offer than I expected and made the fringe benefits sound good, so as of next week, I'll
JIM

BROUGHT TO YOU CHADWICK

BY:

be commuting out to suburban Jenkintown on a

2061

SOUTH STRai.T

daily basis. And with the schedule that company has been operating on, daily includes Saturdays
and Sundays.

PHILADELPHIA, PA 191^6
Greet ings. Three year s

ago this mon th, I became an

of INTERLAC.
To mark this anni-

As an associate of mine at the company puts it, we are essentially art directors in training. My work will include less actual paste-up duty
and more assigning work to other people and

official versary,

membe r I

I would t Ty a couple of new Watcha a 11 First , there's the logo. things. I got tired of the old one a long think of it? time ago, but kept it around merely for the sake But I found i t too of continuity and tradition, archaic, a hoi d over from my fascination wi th the kind of le ttering used o n posters in th e The title of this zine is unwieid iy sixties. as it is, and this streamlin ing, to my mind
tho ught

spe'ccing and ordering type.

As I said last time,

And it's consisten makes it more readable. with the style of lettering I've been using the various ae ction titles i n the interior,

this is a young company linked to a booming field and holding a potentially lucrative future. On paper, this could be a once-in-alifetime break for yours truly. But the hours are incredibly demanding and I can kiss any free time good-bye until my first vacation six months from now. There is.the promise of shorter hours once the company gets over its
growing pains.
this will look

for

And certainly a few months of

better on the next resume than

The o ther change? No Le gionnaires on t he front pag e. T his too is sol. ething I've bee n wanting t o exp eriment with f or a while beca use

just doing paste-ups would.

get
nice

The fact that I

in a while is

to do
too.

an illustration once

coming

up

with

some cute, -Le gion "theme" id ea

is sue.
of

gets tiresome issue after shouldn't nave pointed this out and just wa ited
to see 11
anyo ne

I probabl y

So, as you can tell, I've entered a very important period of my life, one which is taking
the experience of the whirlwind transitions I

made

note

this.

have gone through over the last few years and building a new stability. INTERLAC has been

And speaking of things that are new...

along for the ride with me so far, and I am

hoping it will'be with me for some time to come.

Meloney and I got married back on the 26th

of September. The ceremony took place on the picturesque grounds of the Rodin Museum in front of some sixty of our friends and relatives and an unknown number of surprised bystanders. The weather in Philadelphia was letter perfect
that day. A surreal backdrop was provided by a parade for some obscure German revolutionary

war hero.

The "oom-pa-pah" of the bands was not

'jA^te^ay^^^ i
INTERLAC32
annish.

fhis was a strong comeback from the anemic &

The special features were pulled off

well. And when was the last time we had a five section mailing? Lotsa interesting stuff here

and amazingly I was able to MC it all within a twenty-four hour period. It probably shows. Oh well, let's get on with it.
HI .' T7A ULTRA POY I
THINK. I-f*\ NOT DEAD, BUT reflecto iseven t h o u g h i w reflecto.

ous that Gary lov es to flaun t his intellect and you get the feeli ng that he likes to write things that he th inks a good percentage of his readers won't und erstand jus t to intimidate them and "prove" his own men tal superiority,

'^his explains why

number

of

debates

that arise

" C skip rr.

\THE LEGION OUTPOST BULLETIN
real lze resp o n s e

Harry ^
you

While I
inr

in the magazine a nd involve Groth often turn into nit-picking over semant ics. As far as the "rules" he applies to certain comics reviews, I can only w oncer where he gets them. He often q uotes them as if they were established, gene rally recog nized facts. But the area of serio us comic bo ok theory and analysis devoted to th e language of the medium is still too limited still jus t barely scratched, for anyone perfor m the convo luted investigation that Groth does a nd present it as a generally
recognized determ ination of quality. I oust add that I do agree t hat Rogers has some limitations in his storytelli ng ability and that he is far from being a grea t comics ar tist. But there's certainly a more direct way of doing this than using the dogmati c mishmash of intellectual theories employed by Dr. Gar y And His Wondrous
Thesaurus.

tne

number

of

letter s

re ceived

to TLO <10 vas disa ppointin g to you, I was impr essed by th e nature of some of the misIt was interesting sive s th at did come your way to s ee t hat some pe o p1e who had virt ually cut off all contact, wit h fandom in gener al took the time to reflect on the past and, in some cases, con sider explo ring even thei r old ho bby again.
As
the gap and
duce

f or

the

over all

small
are

volume

issu e, betw een

I am not surprise d.
those w ho ac tive who merel y

In

of mail on f andoa, the

thos e
n

a ay 3
into

par ticipants ot hers prohas greatly wi dened sin ce the " good old When people like you and I f irst got com ics fandom, contribut ing to a nd/or proconsume
what
a

duci ng

fanzine
The

wa s

natur al

inte rest
cour se

reas ons

for

t his do

exten sion of our chan ge would, of

th emselves. with

fill up an
of wh o

entire

ar tide

lo t

it, I gues s, has to

economics.

can't aff ord to pr oduce a slick pubIlea tion but want t o publish will us ually find them selv es in apas. And sli ck fanzi nes are not Thos e

lly regarded as amateur publicat ions anymore, rath er professi onal maga zines. Personal iden tifi cation with the publ ication along the line s of what the o riginal 0 UTPOST p roduces is not poss ible when s uch an at titude p revails, rdle ss of the p ublishers ' "fanni sh" intenuaaa

but

s.

CM^OIIC<-

by his review of the Englehart/Rogers story j ECLIPSE #1 and his confusing analysis of the artwork therein; you know, if you reverse the
and hold it next to the origaal in a mil
it nrnvftn t.lint +ho r. > *. *> 1 n ^ b- *. -;*.-+ +w~

\KRYPTON BLEU #> 31/32

are going to need it.

BobToToTX

Good luck
lou

in your stay at the editorial helm of LOC.

here;

Let me not mince words

I think the New Media Publications have

o like TCJ.

Unlike a lot of people, the maga-

thus far been shit on newsprint. The graphic sensibility which they reflect in their layouts, selection of type, and choice of illustrations is beneath what I've seen in most high school
newspapers. What is so appalling about this is

ine's often negative tone does not blind me

1.0 the fact that it is the most professionally packaged of all the comics-related publications,
a and it's the only one I am not embarrassed to be seen reading in ^uwj.xv*. e The quaj.1 uy oi tne - "^-"6 j.* public. He quality of the ritinc and the crsnhi rs mairoa rv>^ TniTauAr +u~ writing and the graphics makes the JOUittfAL the

that this insult on paper is being delivered

through other people's financing.
out of his money.

I am not

about to cry over Hal "Who cares what it looks

like, I'll make it sell" Schuster being rooked

From what I've heard about

only one (so far) that can reasonably claim to

be aimed at adults. (If 1 want "gosh wow", I'll

stick to apazines, thank you.) Yet it's obvi

the man, the quality of his publications couldn't be associated with a more suitable guy. Let's
just credit my displeasure to envy. Oh how I would love to have someone finance a magazine

for me whose budget take3 into account typeset ting and color covers. As far as editorial content of these "maga

different personality and power mixes.

Why

eliminate that possibility?

Who is it hurting

zines",
lines as

there's a lot to be desired along those

well. I think the editors are so con

to keep so-called "deadweight" heroes around? Here's a better games Which members of

cerned with avoiding the alleged negative as

INTEHLAG would you keep and why, if we had to reduce our roster to 25. (&oy, that should
cause some trouble.) Your satirical Legion tale ("One Hero Must GoDoubled And Rehashed") was hilarious. I laughed out loud at "2d Via Boy". It is an in teresting coincidence that two Funny Legion stories appeared in the same mailing and that the second one should be by Ed himself. Now thi3 3ort of fiction I can really get into.

pects of THE UOMIOS JOURNAL that what they do present is readily dismissed fluff. To say no thing of the fact that the magazines, particu larly LOC, are dominated Dy articles that are in

philosophical agreement with the editors' own ideas about comics. (Being critical.of the X-

MEN, for example, seems to be a prerequisite.)

If I haven't already completely alienated

you, Bob, here's one more word of critical com ment, this one more personally directed, though
it can certainly be applied to others. What is this idealistic ambition that we always hear at least every six months about someone doing a
"Sixties zine"? That motivation itself is not

\THE PHANTOM ZINE gg

Brad Horning\ Sound3 like

^orry,

the convention you were at was lots of fun. Didn't get a chance to read your massive

fiction piece, "Moonlight Psychopath".

sorry.

inherently wrong, but it is doomed to failure in the type of market and with the type of pack age you're working with. Sixties zines could not have color covers, typeset interiors, and a pretty much guaranteed circulation of several thousand copies. Form defines content. The

only way to do an actual sixties type zine (and

I firmly believe that such an effort is doomed

to failure anyway) is to finance and distribute it oneself, using the traditional printing

processes (ditto, mimeo, or offset).

zine
self-indulgent writing.

The sixties

goal usually becomes a mere justification

for bad fan art, poor production values, and

\G.'.j.A'f NIMVJruITH #9
lations on

Mike *'orre3ter\ Uongratu-

tne strong finish in the ,goboo Poll, I think th at effectively puts to rest the theory adv anced by Tom Bierbaum last year that
you weren
you

t being suitably recognized simply beweren't associated with any influen-

cause

tial cliqu
I agre e with you t hat the number of members It is in the Leg ion should n ot be reduced. amazing ho w people oft en stressethe potential inherent i n the concep ts behind the Legion, but are then q uick to lop _off x-nuraber o f Legionnaires bee ause they ar e supposedly " deadweight" . I don't th ink anyone w ill argue that the qualify of the wri ting on that series has be en less than
earth-shak ing in recen t years, yet n o one is proposing that the boo k itself be do ne away with. Why then a re some folk 3 in the apa 3 o quick to

call for t he eliminati on of particul ar characters simpl y because so me writers (wh o haven't done much good in ofcher departments anyway) either mi3 handled or i gnored certain Legion-

say that all m embers mu3t 3ome generall y stay in the backgr ound as supp orting members ? The reasoning 30&ati.jos 3003 tha t'.if 'a partieu lar member . inn'6 3pot lighted a mi nimum number o f times, he or she sho uld be gotte n rid of. Thi nk of a basenaires? A nd

who'3

to

get

equal time?

Gan't

ball team,

(A most fit ting eompariso n,since a

team and

major leag ue

the Legion hav e

almost

exactly th e same numbe r of people on the ro3ter.) Every team has its sha re of .200 hit ters who mostly sit on the bene h and some who get to bat

only a fra ction of the amount of tim es as the star piaye rs. Yet no one cries for reducing the
roster bee ause emerge ncy will

needed. bility.
One
me about

It
of
t

never know w hen an arise w hen such peopl e will be also cuts down on strate gieal flexi-

you jus t

the things that has always fascinated he Legion is the possibility for nuraerous, uni que line-ups within sub-aivisions of the group, with each smaller band being able to
have its o

wn Individual

chemistry

based on tha

\"THj. LEGION NEEDS YOU"

Caldwell.

Round-Robin \ Excellent

What did happen to that Hembeck story that

effort on the part of all involved, particularly

was originally planned as the back-up to this

anniversary story?

ti1>it>).Wi-tlt+ organizers Jon Liggett and Roger

I am just amazed at how such a thing

Hell, I've been hearing that stuff about

Jack Kirby's work not looking like a Marvel comic for years now. As far back as 1975, when he returned to Marvel again,to do Captain

was pulled off and in such a relatively short

amount of time with, what to my mind was, a limited level of fanfare. Usually, projects

such as this get a tremendous amount of build-up

and then die stillborn. It was a good approach

America, some of those brilliant Marvel letterhacks were protesting that his style wasn't
suitable to Cap. It's to laugh.

to do this all at once, presented in one package, rather tnan run it through in installments and

assign chapters as it runs along. In those cases, progress is inevitably stalled by a few

people not doing their chapters, and by the time

they do, interest in the project usually begins

to fade! lMltmiM*UMMlMMJUIUii UMUUWMtil D4

I am not familiar with anyway.

fflON FUNNYSTUFFARTSUPP
.LIES PERSPECTIVE DRAWING I

SEX MONFYPOWER CORRUP

Kudos to cover artists Caldwell and oierbaum. I was able to identify everyone without looking

J>00RUSEOFTBMlSFERLETi
ER1NGPR

at the key, except Mike 'orrester, whose face

A fine effort all around. I laughed and

LHEAVYH
BETA

laughed.

Next time you do this, count me in.

!wor
'iLISHM

AGES LISM FAL tIB

IT Y

\THE EDIBLE OOi-.PL^X #10 Tom Bierbaum\ Personalr ly, I've always been pa tial to"noisy, -owdy" fans, jus t as long a s su ch boisterous be havior I believe I've isn't com ing from an ass hole. done a lo t of person al g rowing over the last few years ana one of
the

SERES
CHIU

more

noticeable

changes
that

IRFAG/S
'WHYA 'PMOR
CARP.
COS

to people
I am much

who

knew

m e

in

years gone

by i s

AR O L

more outgo ing and less repress ive of

EAT

Much of th at I owe my feelin gs than I o nee was. to people I've met t hrou gh fandom whose own . 0 f course forthrigh t approach rubb ed off on me. there wer e other fac tors that enabled me to bury
fannish the withd rawn youth I wa s, but since the friends s eem to be. t he o nes who have hun g around longest d uring that time , I focus on them.

LVIS
PAS OVEFOOL ATCHBOR ADSTUFFA LEEPCHE KINMA1
Mike xtaub\ Don't look at me

\VihIZY'a WrtZOO ffl Mike Gold .\ The 20th An n i versary issue of FANTASTIC FOUR was easily Byrne's finest hour on the book. Which is say-

ing less about that particular issue than it

deserves. Except for that shining moment, h i s
n n

to lynch you for saying you think John Forte's

great artist. The work he did, as I have said

Vmip-HT.IIR-BLUB #8

reign on the series as writer/artist has bee forgettable. Not bad, just "so what?" For o n e thing, where is the power in his illustratio
that we know he is capable ofV He did an iss u e of MARVEL TWO-IN-0HE once which just knocked me

LEGION work was better than Mike Grell's. I'll bet Forte himself had no pretensions of being a

for a loop in evoking the feel of the F.F.s

had known and loved. (That issue being MTIO #50, in which The Thing went back in time and fou ght an earlier version of himself.) All that J. B. ' s
"Back To Basics" movement is accomplishing i 3 tO show readers that the F.F. done the old way c a n

in zines before', was well suited to the "young and innocent" Legion tales of days gone by, with their often silly plots and hopelessly limited view of what the future would be like. They had a crude, simplistic charm to them.

Grell, on the other hand, could often make a decent story look like a joke. He tried to be
something he was/is not, namely a good Tenderer of human anatomy, linear and spatial perspective, and solid backgrounds. Three strikes, you're out. Forte was limited, bat he had character.
GBell was just plain bad.
leisure suits too.

be just as boring as tney've been in recent

years. Of course I think it should be that Byrne's F.F. is based on his conception
what they actually tere like. But the anniversary story was a classic.

emphasized
of

what the group was like, and not necessarily

And he wears green

The fact that you didn't know what was going in the beginning was an effective device. I
that say things like, "confused, dear reader ?

Here's the correction on the song "Gloria

on
m

which you anticipated, Mike.

glad he avoided the insulting device of capt ions

Night was a band which recorded the song and I

he was the one who wrote the song.) It's one of those cases where somebodyelse 's version of

Shadows Of The

Fear not, the answers will be revealed soon"

It made everything seem more natural which m ade
the revelation of the truth later on almost
as

think they had a hit with it. But the band which originally recorded was called Them, and that's the group that Van Morrison was in. (And

disturbing to the reader as it was supposed t o be to the F.F. Byrne invented a perfect way of showing us what the F.F. might have been lik e if they had not gotten super powers and deliv e r ed it much more dramatically than could have

a song was bigger than that of the group which

first did it.

one people are more aware of now because, well, bigger and better things. (Where's TUNliS when

But the version by Them is the

been done with an imaginary or alternate rea lity tale. And for once I didn't groan at the urn Pteenth return of Dr. Doom.

who ever heard from Shadows Of The Night again7 Van Morrison, on the other hand, went on to
we need it?)