The Collector Fanzine Ends by John Fantucchio

The Collector #29 was the last issue, and kinda wraps up fanzines in my mind.  It's 1974, and I'm off to college (ala Curt in American Graffiti, the precursor of Star Wars, and probly also like a lotta fanzine editors).  John has these two beauties in that issue, and he's once again the best thing in it.  His great signature was particularly rock'n it

 

Back Cover of Fantastic Fanzine #12 by Bob Kline

Although I love this picture dearly, I obviously have no idea what it's titled.  First is how it appeared on the back cover (and how it appeared in the magnifico Robert Kline Portfolio).  Last image is the incredible front cover of Fantastic Fanzine #12, which Al Williamson (and myself) was so enamored with.  This led to promos of that issue sport'n a wrap-around cover by Kline.  Course, the fanzines would promote more than one picture by an artist as being "a portfolio," bless their fannish little hearts

 

Five Million Views!

If you wanna see stacks and stacks of great comic art, just search the word million on here, but the last two times, I just put up one image each, Fantastic Four for four million, and this great paint'n by Roy Krenkel for five million.  Kinda apropro, in that there's two gigantic beasts approach'n almost side by side, and five million views came on here just under two months after four million views.  Dunno how, dunno why

 

Lost In The Stars by Gil Kane

Actually, I guess it would be better to call this Lost Stars, as the large port on Blackmark's spaceship only appears in Kull & The Barbarians #2, not in the Marvel Preview Blackmark or the wonderful Blackmark 30th Ann. Trade (and the original paperback doesn't even cover this part of the story, so maybe Kane was think'n two or more paperbacks)

 

Werewolf! by Frank Frazetta

Even though I enjoy being the fundundant blog, believe it or not, the first one has not been up on here.  In the wayback, I did a full-blown Werewolf!, but that image is the original art.  This scene always makes me think of onea my fav lines, "noth'n can go wrong now!"  Two against one, and we both have knives (okay, not real BIG knives, and we don't have them out), and one a us even has a rifle (if fired, it might even hit a bat)

 

Uninkable Jack Kirby

First image, somea the original, is the only new one on here.  Soooo...I always heard this great Thor cover went unpublished because it would be too hard to ink.  Then, Mike Royer inked it.  There's gotta be some great motivational blurb from all this

 

New Mysterious Hero Drawing by John Fantucchio!

Yeah, yeah, just new to me.  That first one appeared in a 1969 fanzine called Fandom's Agent (I envision fandom's agent being a nerdy version of 007.  He didn't make out with all the women, but he gave a lotta girls noogies, and he drank Tang instead a martinis, and he didn't stop bad guys, but he knew about all the bad guys).  One mysterious aspect of this character is exactly when he was born, but whenever it was, kudos to big John.  This dude was all that and a cupa coffee

 

Mike Ploog Stickers

Okay, better names might be Dragon Slayer or Viking Slays The Dragon, but I first knew it as Mike Ploog Stickers

 

Flash Gordon by Angelo Torres

• Oh. My. Heck.  How I missed this literally my whole life, I'll never know.  Torres submitted this to some kid named Stan Lee, and it got him hired at Atlas, this just a year or two before I was born (the best Chevy and myself both appeared in 1956).  Of course, before that, Torres had been Fleagally producing great stuff at E.C.  I like to think he and Al Williamson and Frank Frazetta and Roy Krenkel were rock'n "the Studio" concept way before Smith and Jones and Wrightson and Kaluta.  The E.C. story An Eye For An Eye looks like Torres coulda done Thun'da if Fritz hadn't gotten around to it, and then a decade later, Warren magazines got some amaz'n work from Angelo.  He even pops up in a lot of fanzines, and he and Mort Drucker were lights out on the parodies at Mad.  So....how could I miss all that?  Feels too massive to just say so broke I can't even pay attention-he's like woven throughout the fabric of this artform I so love.  Anyhoo, I'm tak'n this amazeballs image as a wake-up call, and hopefully, Angelo Torres will become as "fun but redundant" on here as all the usual suspects

 

The Hallway by Jack Kirby

Once again, I gotta say it sucks get'n old.  A while back, I read an account by some visitors to the California Kirby home, and I was delighted by one hallway (or stairway?) wall they described.  This might be close, but who knows?  I can't recall where I read it!  frickfrack'nrickrack'n and whatever else Yosemite Sam might grumble