Oh the things I’ve ‘zine.
So I’m a collector of fanzines, as I’m sure some of you have clocked over the years. The first ‘zine I was into was The Comic Reader, which began in the early ’60s and ran through issue #219 in 1984.
I started tracking down issues of this in the early ’90s, sometimes buying a lot or two from a seller in the classified ads of the Comic Buyers’ Guide, a dozen for ten bucks. Once eBay came along, I found more there, even as the prices slowly began to creep up. The most I ever spent was $30 on a copy of #11 from 1962 (follow that link to discover its original publisher Jerry Bails’ reaction to my purchase).
Now, prices had been creeping up a bit on these, as other collectors started to discover them, and I’ve sort of held off filling holes in my own run…especially as the ones I need tend to be the earlier issues. A check on eBay recently shows a lot more copies of The Comic Reader than I remember seeing on there before. While by and large not as expensive as I’d thought they’d be, there is the occasional extreme example that shows me I got quite the bargain on that #11 way back when:
So, you know, if any of you want to do some early shopping for Christmas presents for me….
But all that said, I did acquire some more issues for my collection, 7 in all from my former boss Ralph, making my run of The Comic Reader complete from issue #81 all the way to the end. I do have some scattered issues prior to that, but it’s nice to have an unbroken streak of about 60% of the series. (And did I just put in a bid on some other issues I’m missing, since I was looking at eBay? Maaaaaybe.)
I thought I’d show off a few here for your amusement, specifically the ones with the full art front covers. Like this one cover dated March 1972:
A great Thor drawing by our pal Rich Buckler, no? Maybe I should also note that for a time, The Comic Reader was combined with another fanzine, Etcetera, hence the hybrid name on some of these. Oh, and also, future DC Comics head honcho Paul Levitz was the editor on these.
Issue #87 here, also from ’72, contains the news that DC acquired the publishing rights to the original Captain Marvel, which was a HUGE deal at the time, leading, eventually, to copies of that first issue filling quarter and 50-cent boxes everywhere for decades. Until, you know, someone realized “oh wait so many of these were dumped in bargain bins that now there aren’t so many still in mint condition” and that’s how Shazam #1 is suddenly a pricey book.
Anyway, the story inside says “DC bought rights” which makes it sound like they owned the characters outright, but DC was actually licensing the characters from original publisher Fawcett until DC acquired them in full years later. And I’ll just note here that cover is by Alan Kupperberg, since I didn’t say so before and I’m not going back to reedit.
Now that’s a cover! Bernie Wrightson just Shadow-ing it up all over the place here on #88. Looks great, very striking.
As is that Don Rosa drawing of Jack Kirby’s Demon. This ‘zine was published in ’72, pretty close to the same time the first issue of The Demon was released. These guys work fast! Also, if you’re not familiar, Don Rosa did lots of ‘zine illustration (on top of all those Lance Pertwillaby/Captain Kentucky strips) prior to becoming famed as The Other Good Duck Artist on all those Uncle $crooge and Donald Duck comics he’d eventually start doing in the ’80s. That said…I’d read a Demon comic he wrote and drew. That’d be pretty buck wild.
Should note those two spots at the bottom center…that was from an old rusty staple that had held the mag together in the mails. Now that ‘zine looks like a really tiny, sloppy vampire bit it.
As an additional bonus, these Comic Reader had originally belonged to someone who eventually passed them along to my old boss Ralph, who apparently had them stashed away for years. That certain someone?
That’s pretty cool. Yes, I obscured the address…he doesn’t live there anymore, but I’m sure whoever does would prefer not to have a parade of strangers at the door, looking for that handsome mustachioed man what does the cartoons.
Great post and cool ‘zine scores!
Nice Rich Buckler Thor illo.! At first I was trying to figure out if Werewolf by Night was jumping on Thor’s back, or who else that character might be? The Paul Kupperberg art is good too, but it’s a shame that Mary Marvel and Supergirl weren’t also drawn on that cover. That Shadow cover by Bernie Wrightson–where was Mike Kaluta?–is amazing!
Don Newton also did quite a bit of cool fanzine art in the ’70s, it could be interesting to show an illo. or two of his.
It’s funny to see the Smokey the Bear stamp on Sergio Aragones’ old copy of the Comic Reader with the:”Remember– only you can prevent forest fires” message next to the Eisenhower stamp–it feels like the Ike stamp should likewise have a: “Remember– only you can prevent the Military Industrial Complex” message next to it!
About that Wrightson Shadow – I distinctly remember that it appeared in Marvel books as an ad claiming that they would be publishing The Shadow. And then DC did it instead.
It was the early 70’s, so there are reasons I could remember wrong. Did that really happen?
Never heard of the Shadow ad appearing in a Marvel book. It was a trial page by Wrightson to get the DC assignment and though he didn’t get the job they put it in Kamandi #2 as an ad. Not sure if the ad appeared in any other DC books of the time.
I liked the ad so much I snipped it out of my Kamandi copy so it could be taped to my wall. It was the 70s, I was young. Now it’s the 2020s, I am old, I still have the book in at least very fine shape, and I’m afraid to look it up in a price guide.
I think Thor is fighting the Beast(?) or someone who looks a lot like him. This is right around the time he mutated into his furry form, if I’m not mistaken.
I think I mentioned once that I had a long run of TCR (and other zines) that I donated to the University of Michigan… but that was before I knew you, Mike, or I would have given you first choice.
Never read The Comic Reader, and I don’t remember ever coming across it as it was coming out. 1983 is about the year I was able to get to a comic shop regularly, and that seems to be about when it was winding down (or was it subscription only?) Amazing Heroes was the comic zine that I read.
About a decade or so ago, my LCS got in a big pile of Comic Reader back issues, and I browsed through them, and thought they were pretty cool. They were reasonably priced at a few dollars each, but enough that getting a lot of them would have added up. I considered buying a couple just to have, but I figured that it would only make me want to get more of them, and I really didn’t need another thing to collect, so I reluctantly let them go, and still don’t own any. (I do still grab any Amazing Heroes that I can find, though)
Comic Reader was the first comics magazine I ever read, and subscribed to. Hadn’t realized it ended in 1984. I’d always assumed I’d read it throughout my teenage comic reading years, then moved on to something else.
Now that my memory’s jogged, I do recall Captain Kentucky reaching some sort of conclusion, so I guess I stuck with it till the end.
I feel like I can ask this since I’m less than a year younger than you, but have you thought about what will become of your collection–especially the more obscure parts like the ‘zines–once you merge with the infinite?
It’s something I’ve been thinking about recently as I have no heirs and am not in much contact with my family. Closest I’ve come to a decision is maybe donating it to my local university. But hopefully I have at least 25 more years to think about.
Also, have you made any plans for your store’s 10th anniversary?
I have been picking up ERB zines — with comics inside!
And RBCC shows up cheap once in a while online.
The Thor cover reminded me of this one:
https://www.comics.org/issue/20606/cover/4/
@ Andrew Davidson
Good call! Buckler was known as a swipe artist –although also talented in his own right. Chances are he was looking at that Jack Kirby Thor Cover with the Super-Beast attacking Thor and then riffed on it, changing the poses and replacing the three-toed Super-Beast with good old Hank McCoy (as Thom H. suggested that the leaping adversary looks like the “new look Beast” of the early ’70s. Imagine being how much that cover would sell for if Wolverine was attacking Thor (although, actually, Wolverine had yet to be created at that time)!
As a librarian at a university library, please reach out to these places before you die to see if they’re actually interested in adding your donations to their collections. : )
“Bernie Wrightson just Shadow-ing”.
THAT. IS. AWESOME!!!
“these Comic Reader had originally belonged to someone”.
That’s worth more money now! And cool!
“the Ike stamp”.
“I LIKE IKE! WE LIKE IKE”
“Good call! Buckler was known as a swipe artist”.
Yes! And he was fired from Star Hunters for ALLEDGEDLY swiping a space ship from an animation cell/Saturday morning cartoon.
I LOVE Deathlok, though!
@ Snark Shark
I really liked Star Hunters …too bad it was so short-lived…as I recall it, Mike Nassar and Don Newton drew some Star Hunters stories as well.
That first Deathlok run in Amazing Adventures was definitely a fun read–also , Buckler deserves praise for hiring George Perez as an assistant in the mid-’70s and helping launch his stellar career.
*Astonishing Tales, not Amazing Adventures…
“Mike Nassar and Don Newton”
I know Newton did.
@Snark Shark
Mike Nasser drew Star Hunters no. 3. Don Newton drew S H no. 1–and their first appearance in a DC Giant Special-type series. Larry Hama drew S H no. 2, and Rick Buckler drew the rest of the run– issues 4 through 7–with Bob Layton as the main inker, and Tom Sutton also doing some inking.
*DC Super-Stars no. 16 was the first appearance of Star Hunters, before the seven issues of the team’s short-lived series.
I would like to read more of those, sometime. i think I only have #2 right now.