Comments on: Ink Stains 4: No Sex 14

By: Ink Stains 12: The Star Slayers

Ink Stains 12: The Star Slayers — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:41:50 +0000

[...] this time, having had work in many zines, including earlier column subject, David Heath Jr.’s No Sex, admittedly Peppers’s favorite zine to work on. You could see Peppers’s enthusiasm for [...]

By: Ink Stains 10: Bald Ego 2

Ink Stains 10: Bald Ego 2 — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 20:18:44 +0000

[...] volume of Bald Ego has a story (“Cold Steerage”) you might have seen in the previous No Sex column, but the other issues should be all new to you. In addition to a portfolio, Geier has five [...]

By: Ink Stains 7: Rick McCollum

Ink Stains 7: Rick McCollum — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:18:51 +0000

[...] appears in many other fanzines, including previous Ink Stains subject No Sex. He contributed to over a hundred fanzines in a 15 year period, and was poised to garner more [...]

By: kenmeyer jr

kenmeyer jr — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:30:12 +0000

oops, I wrote too fast…I meant ’such a long…’

looking forward to the scan, Jim!

By: Jim Gray

Jim Gray — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:55:23 +0000

I’m glad my comments weren’t taken as negative, as I was trying to be honest and balanced. David obviously meant an awful lot to me, for me to have remained friends despite our intense disagreements.
Funny thing, after he died, the National Fantasy Fan Fed published a tribute, and when I told the editor that I regretted some of our arguments, she said “I’m sure he enjoyed every one of them!” That made me feel better, as David was definitely from another world, and his curiosity about human nature took him outside of mundane social niceties. (One thing he said he liked about military life was the in-your-face blustering confrontations that were so common.)
That he really seemed to like my work, probably more than it deserved, was a source of pride for me.
I’m going out of town for at least a week but when i return i plan to submit a scan of the original art, so that the world can now see what was originally intended (minus that dreadful logo he stuck over it; he never would use any of logo submissions, and then would just slop something like that onto my art).
But, it’s especially nice to see No Sex return from the mists of time and forgetfulness!
Thanks for the nice words of support!

By: kenmeyer jr

kenmeyer jr — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:12:17 +0000

What a great bunch of comments! Jim, I thank you for writing some a long, well thought out and honest appraisal of David as a person and an ‘art director.’ I now remember his somewhat cavalier attitude towards what he would publish and I do think the overall quality suffered somewhat due to this…but I also like the ‘come one come all’ nature of the zine. Too bad he did what he did to your art…you know, if you still have it, still care, and want to send me a scan of it, I would be glad to put it up in whatever column is coming up.

I am just damn glad the column is generating a small buzz, that all of you care enough to write, and that these zines are seeing a little wider audience.

By: Matt Bucher

Matt Bucher — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:33:18 +0000

Wow Jim, thanks a million for sharing your memories with us. You knew David so well, better than any of the rest of us. And your honest writings here only serve to illustrate how complex the man really was.

By: Jim Gray

Jim Gray — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:53:47 +0000

Wow, what a strange feeling to see my old cover! I had gotten into airbrush art in 1980, and when I saw Heath’s “Treasure Hunt” story published in Earl Geier’s zine, it inspired me to copy his drawing style and do a cover illo based on that story. Heath was so excited by it that he decided to give me a cover and reprint his story in No Sex.
I had “discovered” David Heath in the 9th grade, and encouraged and badgered him over the years to develop his immense cartooning talent. When he started publishing No Sex, I kept submitting cover illos, but the airbrush panel finally won him over.
That was an exciting time for me, him, and No Sex; I felt that the quality was improving rapidly, even getting artists of Hernandez’s caliber. He was really getting some buzz, with a positive review by cat yronwode in the Buyer’s Guide (tho I never got to see that review, as everyone I knew threw their copy away before I could see it), and some good talent coming aboard.
My friend Steve Campos had written a story that I drew (tho not very well) but David credited it to “Cosmo Ellis” instead of us individually. I was using that name as a secret identity/nom de plume for solo works, but Heath, being the free range chicken that he was, blew my “cover” without even asking me.
David Heath was one of my 3 or 4 very closest friends thru most of my life, and his passing has left a major hole in my existence, but no matter how much he meant to me, I think he would agree that he could be really difficult, and he loved to play games with people. He would often ink one of my drawings and intentionally alter it just to piss me off, and to remind me that he was in charge. He was not a bad person, but he did have a mischievous, not to mention mean streak.
Our major disagreement was over his eagerness to publish “crap art” as I called it; while none of us were pros or ready for prime time, some of us actually cared about anatomy, perspective, proportion, etc., while others just slopped out anything they could manage, and Heath would praise them as “great art.” My stuff was crap compared to the industry standard, but at least I was trying to learn and improve. David, tho, just enjoyed giving print space to anyone who came along, and I see his point, but simply disagree with it.
Back to the cover, I asked him to have the printer half-tone my airbrush painting, so that it would reproduce properly, but, just to get the issue out a day earlier, he ignored me, and it was printed as a line-cut instead of a halftone, turning all of my delicate shading into a smudgy, horrible, ugly abomination, and I was so deeply hurt that we argued bitterly about it for years afterward. My best work had been cavalierly butchered, but he essentially never really cared about anything, by his own admission. I can hardly stand to look at it, but seeing it here brings back mostly the good memories. I prefer to remember the times he’d ride his huge Yamaha hog down from Ft. Knox to stay with us in Atlanta, with his Apple II strapped on his bike, or his newfangled VCR with classics like “Silent Running.”
I’ve even given some thought to publishing an issue of No Sex myself with some of the tons of unpublished David Heath art I own, with my cover properly reproduced for clarity, but that’s probably another one of the things I’ll never get around to doing.
Despite my disappointments, I’m still pleased and excited to see this posting, so thanks Ken! Those were the days!

By: Matt B

Matt B — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:34:34 +0000

Wow, Ken, I’m really digging this series.

Back in the 1970s, David Heath Jr. was a hero to me. He was Mr. Cool, the Fonz of fandom. He was complex — larger than life. A world-traveling military man who rode a tank. A science fiction and horror movie geek. A motorcycle enthusiast who looked damn cool in dark sunglasses and biker leathers. An artist in every sense of the word. A technology buff. A long-time fanzine publisher who was an ardent believer in everything fanzines stood for: the power of community and friendship, of artistic expression, of communication and debate. David was a man of steady friendship and great generosity of spirit, with an infectious enthusiasm. Dammit, I miss him.

By: kenmeyer jr

kenmeyer jr — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:03:36 +0000

Ah, good to hear that, Willie…it’s very hard to not just say ‘those were the days.’