Lollapaloosa 5: November 1980
Editor/publisher: Mitch O’Connell
Mitch O’Connell was always sooooo smooooooth! I envied his cool style, his line control and his visibility! Mitch was always a go getter with a great work ethic, and remains so to this day. Even way back in 1980, you could see he was gonna go places…and he did, with several interesting stops along the way! Lollapaloosa was his zine and he was all over that sucker, deservedly so. You can see the cover above illustrating his imaginative decision on a point of view, his smooth brush and line work, and his better than average grasp on typography. A great start to a zine STUFFED with content..so, let’s get going.
There are several full page illustrations by O’Connell, as well as others you will see as we go along…but first, below is an Elfquest piece by creator Wendy Pini and Mitch.
The first actual feature is The Bob Kane Batman Exhibit, Two Views. From the outset, we can feel the (undeserved?) pride of Kane, as he shows the authors through the exhibit. The actual credit for the creation of Batman has been disputed for a long time, with many refuting Kane’s claims of being the Dark Knight’s sole creator. In fact, I watched a documentary entitled Batman and Bill recently that was very illuminating. The quest by the filmmaker to get Bill Finger the credit he deserved was a long process of ups and downs…but he eventually succeeded. Justice prevails! You can see it on Hulu and read a bit about it here. The article is illustrated by editor McConnell, who shows his deep love of the character here and elsewhere in the zine.
Next up is the first of several sequential stories, entitled The Voyagers, a sf story written by Ron Clark and illustrated by O’Connell in tones probably not showcased very well in a zine like this. But it still looks good. Check out a bit below.
A text feature on The Fiction House Artists by Susan Latanzio follows. As stated in the article much of the work was done by the Iger studio, which included such greats as Will Eisner, Lou Fine, Reed Crandall, and others. Several more illustrations follow, some of which you see below.
I was lucky enough to get some feedback from the man himself, on fandom and his later work, Mitch said:
Lollapaloosa #5 was the last issue, it came out in ‘80, just after I graduated High School in Boulder, and was soon off to Chicago to attend Art School (The School of the Art Institute and the American Academy of Art). Much of the art printed was in my “portfolio” that I showed to any Art Director that would pay attention. In fact, I remember showing Joe Orlando, the legendary EC artist, then Art Director at DC, the Overlord story in his office. No surprise, but it didn’t lead to any work at DC. I loved the comic ‘zine scene, and before this, had my illustrations printed in every ‘zine that would have me, TBG, RBCC, The Comics Journal, The Comic Reader and on and on and on. I’ve always enjoyed every aspect of art, but especially be to be “published”! To cut out the middle man, I just put out my own ‘zine. That spirit continued when I self published my first two books of art, “Good Taste Gone Bad” and “Pwease Wuv Me”. After that, I wised up and was very happy to have the professionals (mostly the legendary Last Gasp) publish my books. As for ‘Lollapaloosa’ it seems I was following the model of all ‘zines I read, with articles and contributions from many other artists, especially going for the draw of getting professional artists on the masthead. I had a lot of fun being a publisher, and I think it shows how half the enjoyment of being an artist is doing the work, and the other 50% is showing it off. And if you have to go the extra mile to get folks to pay attention, that’s the name of the game!
Another sequential story follows, The Haunting Beast, by Rex Lindsay, who does not skimp on the detail and probably went through a lot of ink on this one!
There is a Neal Adams Charlton Doomsday Plus One pin up next (that I have seen published elsewhere), followed by a Joe Staton/Bill Anderson Hawkman seen below.
Below you will see a detailed and well rendered piece by an artist I have not seen before, Eric Gehlin, who went on to do some work for Dungeons and Dragons.
George G. Snowden III follows with an article on his love of EC comics, illustrated by McConnell and others, and that is followed by pin ups from O’Connell, Bill Wray, and Earl Geier. The third story follows, titled The Super Hero by McConnell (the credits also say a few pages were laid out by Neal Adams).
J. M. Dematteis follows with a text feature called The Great Comic Book War, that ties into the previous story somewhat, as it chronicles artist Neal Adams’ battles to get artists better rates, credits, art returned, etc. The Guild that Neal started changed the industry for the better, and he deserves a ton of credit for that.
The last story, Overload by O’Connell, follows…see below.
A house ad follows, then a film monsters pin up by Wray and the back cover by Mike Saenz, seen below.
And that is the end of this issue. But O’Connell would go on to contribute to so many publications, including Heavy Metal and several comic book companies, but even more impressive, mainstream mags like The New York Times, Village Voice, Chicago Tribune and many others…the guy gets around! Early in his career, he also did a ton of clip art for various services…you could see his art in the craziest places…your local hairdresser, for example. You can read a lot about it on his blog here, but below is just one example of his incredibly clean and marketable style.
Mitch has always had a great sense of humor about the world, and never takes himself too seriously. He is alllll over social media, and is very savvy in the ways of self promotion. You can see his blogspot here, for example. He had no trouble blanketing the world with his mashup of Trump and They Live seen below.
And that brings this installment to a close. Get the pdf, because there is a LOT more! Also, here are a few links to bone up on all your Mitch needs!
Mitch calls himself “The World’s Best Artist,” and who am I to deny him? How can you, when, after a block of congratulatory praise on one of his sites, at the bottom it reads: “* Yes, of course Mitch is writing this all himself! But isn’t it much more impressive when it seems like someone else is praising him? :-)” His Facebook posts are always pushing the buttons of people with no sense of humor…keep pushing, Mitch!
Ken Meyer Jr.
kenmeyerjr@yahoo.com
