Remaining Fanzines and Magazines?

[Emerkeith Davyjack]

Oh , the irony . Let's continue something that was discussed at the MSA Old Home , namely , remaining print comic fanzines - And , for diversity , pro/semi-pro/" pro-zine " comics publications as well .

  CBG remains in business . The Comics Journal has now announced that they will come out annually , with " a 600-page plus " issue .

  I am Facebook friends with Jon B. Cooke but I haven't yet checked to see if his Comic Book Artist has managed to continue recently , post-its Old Home...

  Toomorrows , which indeed has itself a little nook/corner , with The Jack Kirby Collectore , Alter Ego , and Back Issue .

  Now , including the " fan " side too...........

[Emerkeith Davyjack]

Mr. Silver Age said:

said TTCF appears to have gone under .

I promoted that in one of my columns, and I thought it looked promising. But by the time the article came out, the Web site hadn't been updated since the last time I saw it, and later visits showed no more activity, so I stopped looking.

I'm sure fanzines have the same problem as magazines--it's costly to print and mail those issues, and it's harder to find a big enough audience that's interested to make it pay off when so much similar information is available on the Web. I like to support fanzines when I can, both because I like them and I like to see them continue, but I think they're virtually gone by now.

Even the prozines are faltering, from what I see. TwoMorrows keeps raising rates and dropping page counts, although it just added a color form to offset some of that.

I'm actually kind of surprised they don't really have a SA-themed magazine. A/E sometimes covers that, but it's strictly interviews even when it does have something, and Back Issue is considerably more Bronze Age. Maybe (sniff) nobody cares about the poor old SA enough any more to make it work in print.

-- MSA

 

 

...Could you link to the vintage piece plugging TTCF , please ?

  And , does the one you've already linked to list everything else you know to exist , nowadays in the early 'teens...hm..." the oughties " never quite caugt on , now..." the Zero-Teens ? " !

  Hey , that could've been a " punker "-era teen comic that TTCF covered !!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Emerkeith Davyjack]

ClarkKent_DC said:

And, of course, Wizard gave up on print distribution just last month ...

...Yeah , I was considering that established enough to not go into , I suppose...

  And , did many people here - at Mr. SILVER AGE - much care for it ?

  Wizard , as its print era bottomed out , at one point seemed to decide to politely emulate the " lad mags " , of the MAXIM/FHIM stripe ( which themselves have rather been hurt by the avalibility of hard PG/soft PG13 pinup pics and snarky jokes for free on the Web ) , by headlining themselves as " The magazine of Men's Entertainment " and putting an utterly tame picture or two of a comics-world female in it , for a few months...

  For that matter , the last time CRACKED magazine tried to revive themselves , they did a , marginally more picante than Wizard's , version of that as well...

[Mr. Silver Age]

Could you link to the vintage piece plugging TTCF , please ?

I can't. It was my Swing with Scooter column from CBG #1651 (March 2009), and those no longer are available at the Web site. It was done as a link to a PDF, and I think the PDF folder has been removed by now. Only the columns he posted directly to the site are still there.

The site address was www.teenhumorcomics.com, but it no longer seems to exist, which isn't a big surprise.

-- MSA

[Emerkeith Davyjack]

Mr. Silver Age said:

Could you link to the vintage piece plugging TTCF , please ?

I can't. It was my Swing with Scooter column from CBG #1651 (March 2009), and those no longer are available at the Web site. It was done as a link to a PDF, and I think the PDF folder has been removed by now. Only the columns he posted directly to the site are still there.

The site address was www.teenhumorcomics.com, but it no longer seems to exist, which isn't a big surprise.

-- MSA

 

 

...Well , thank you for trying ( I assume that you did . ) .

[Wandering Sensei: Moderator Man]

I'm a big fan of Back Issue, but then again, I've been really into the 70's comics for the last few years. It's like unknown territory for me.

[Philip Portelli]

I love Back Issue, too for the opposite reason, it's like my hometown!

[George]

"And, of course, Wizard gave up on print distribution just last month ..."

 

I wonder if the rise of Wizard (which began in 1991) hastened the demise of Amazing Heroes. Both magazines covered the same ground -- the superhero mainstream -- but Wizard had slick paper, full color and newsstand distribution. Fantagraphics (publisher of AH) apparently couldn't or wouldn't compete in those areas. A year after Wizard's debut, AH was gone.

[Mr. Silver Age]

Speak of the devil, in today's mail I got It's A Fanzine #51! What a shock! It's been two years since the last issue, which was the LAST time we discussed fanzines in the MSA Forum. We shoulda done it earlier!

It's a 44-page issue (after a mega 72-page issue to celebrate the 50th last time) chock full of fanzine goodness. Articles include:

* My First Comic reminiscences by contributors, including historian John Wells, who also contributes two pages of tidbits on comics ranging from JLA #1 to All-Star Squadron.

* Grumpy Old Fans Appreciation Room discusses current comics that can appeal to older readers.

* A reprint of the SF story "I Couldn't Stop The Runaway Comet!" from Strange Worlds #5 (Aug 59) that was drawn and possibly written by Ditko, with a two-page review by a minister discussing the aspects of God and faith that are brought up.

* A two-page compilation of silly dialogue.

* A page of Marvel trivia.

* A four-page addition to its ongoing listing of all fanzines.

* A page on the MMMS.

* A Comic Crusader cover gallery, one of my favorite fanzines of all time.

* An article on Howard Rogofsky and Robert Bell, the first back-issue sellers.

* Letters Stan Lee and Otto Binder wrote to fans back in the Silver Age.

* A four-page indepth review of the first two-part Fatal Five adventure with the Legion (Adventure #352-3).

* A reprinted page from Feature Comics #59 featuring Doll Man.

* And a 10-page letters column!

All in black & white (with a gold cover) for 3 bucks! All back issues (ie, those I posted in the link to the former thread) are back in print, too.

You can contact the editor, Gene Kehoe, for ordering info at [e-mail] or [e-mail]. 

If anyone tells you they don't make fanzines like they used to, you can tell them they're wrong!

-- MSA 

 

 

 

[ClarkKent_DC]

George said:

"And, of course, Wizard gave up on print distribution just last month ..."

 

I wonder if the rise of Wizard (which began in 1991) hastened the demise of Amazing Heroes. Both magazines covered the same ground -- the superhero mainstream -- but Wizard had slick paper, full color and newsstand distribution. Fantagraphics (publisher of AH) apparently couldn't or wouldn't compete in those areas. A year after Wizard's debut, AH was gone.

Now that you bring that up, I wonder about that, too, but I seem to recall that Amazing Heroes had troubles of its own in its waning years.

[Rob Imes]

Thanks for the plug for IT'S A FANZINE #51.  I wrote one of the columns in that issue, the Grumpy Old Fans Appreciation Room (GOFAR), about new comics that might appeal to old-time fans.

 

I also edit/publish the fanzine DITKOMANIA, which comes out 6 times per year.  Bill Hall published the first 63 issues of DM (for short) from 1980 till 1999.  I had contributed to the zine beginning with #33 (Oct. 1992).  In Feb. 2008, I got Bill's permission to revive Ditkomania and have since published 20 issues (#64-83).  DM #84 is scheduled to come out in April.  Most of the content is by fans, although a few pros have also contributed (including covers by Dave Sim, Michael T. Gilbert, Fred Hembeck, Neil Vokes, and Mort Todd).  I also moderate a DM Yahoo Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ditkomania which has links to finding out how to order a copy of DM, etc. 

 

What I've found is that a lot of the people who are interested in zines or small-press or micro-press tend to be people who are putting out their own zines (or attempting to).  Unless they are involved in the scene somehow, they tend not to know what is out there, probably due to lack of interest.  (In other words, if they are interested, they seek out and know about it already and often get involved somehow.) 

 

Another fanzine which was recently revived is Cerebus The Newsletter, published by The Friends of Cerebus.  They have published around 5 issues (I've lost count) in the past 2 years.  (I had a drawing in one of them, and plan to contribute more to future issues.)  Ordering info can be found at www.friendsofcerebus.com

 

Ditkomania is a member of the UFO (United Fanzine Organization) which has been around for over 40 years.  It originally was founded by Carl Gafford circa 1969 as the BPP, but it disbanded around 1972-73.  Its newest member Steve Keeter revived the BPP with new members in late 1973, and the group's name was changed to the UFO in 1974.  Some of the people who were members back then are still members today (including Keeter, Jim Main, Larry Johnson and current Chairman Steve Shipley).  DM was a UFO memberzine from 1985 to 1989, and I had the zine rejoin the co-op in 2009.

 

UFO member Jim Main publishes many, many zines.  One of the most recent ones was COMIC FAN!, a thick magazine-size comics fanzine which covered old & new comics.  However, after around a half-dozen issues, Jim has ceased publication of the zine.  He still has firm plans for other zines, though, including ones devoted to Doc Savage and The Phantom.

 

Another UFO member, Jim Kingman, publishes the fanzine COMIC EFFECT.  Unfortunately, the most recent issue (#47) came out 2 years ago and another hasn't appeared since.  However, I'm fairly sure that Jim plans to keep it going.  (How could he not?  He's so close to the big 5-0 now!)

 

Michael Ambrose publishes Charlton Spotlight and he tells me that he will be releasing the new issue soon.  (I assume it will be out within the next few months.)

 

Robin Snyder publishes a newsletter called The Comics, which he has published monthly since 1990.  Ditko is a regular contributor with philosophical essays.

 

There are also APAs for which members produce their own zines, which are then sent to a central mailer who combines them into a thick book which is then mailed out to the APA members.  However, you can sometimes get an individual zine from the person who makes it.  I receive Dwight Decker's Torch zine in trade for DM.  These tend to be more personal type zines but also talk about comics.

 

The tools are available today for anyone to create their own fanzine.  I've long wanted to make a fanzine devoted to Captain America (which would cover both old & new Cap comics) but my plate is full enough putting out DM and contributing to other zines and being Emergency Chairman of the UFO.  However, if someone else put out a fanzine devoted to Cap, I'd be eager to contribute to it.  It's fun putting out a fanzine, although a lot of hard work as well, but it's a very satisfying feeling to be able to mail out those completed issues.

[Emerkeith Davyjack]

...For a :-) note here , there is now one more shelves-sold ( Well , at comics shops - which are Babylon , you know . Babylon . ) new - or , retconned !!!!!!!!!!! - comics magazine avalable , and in an exciting NEW!!!!! format , too !!!!

Geppi has relaunched their OVERSTREET'S COMIC BOOK MARKETPLACE in a comic book-sized format , all-color !!!!!!!!!

  I saw - and bought - the first issue t'other day , at the ol' LCS - ( unfortunately , a few days later , walking somewhere , I dropped it in a San Francisco windstorm - and it blew away ! Alas . :-( We're not Chi-Town , I suppose , but we try . )

  The first issue focuses on Atlas Comics , or comics , the Martin Goodman Atlas-Seaboard of the 70s , the new revival , and an introduction to the " manifestation of 50s Marvel " concept .

  No " characters named Atlas " , however !!!!!!!!!!!

  I like A/S a lot , so I recommend it , of course . 'Tis $3.99 , same as a " the other guys " funnybook , and you can actually bag it in the same type...

[Bee Clayton]

My local shops never carried Comic Journal so I've never got into it. Over the last few years though, that's changed as I've hunted down back issues featuring interviews with some of my favorite creators.

 

Amazing Heroes, on the other hand, was a terrific read. The shops did carry those occasionally so I picked them up whenever I could. Still have all of those issues too. The '85 Preview issue is especially wear-worn.

 

Between reading Wizard and CBG, I'd have a pretty good grasp of what was occurring in the comics world at the time. Wizard with it's coverage of the current comics and trends and CBG with it's reviews and coverage of more independent comics and graphic novels (not to mention the insights into the Golden and Silver Age of pop culture). But near the end, I was tiring of Wizard. It had a good sense of humor beforehand, but it degraded into a lot of flash and little substance.

 

The wife jokingly refers to CBG as the '3-day magazine' because it usually takes me 3 days to read it. Because I read it from cover to cover. :)