Bill G. Wilson’s The Collector returns, as we go
waaaay back into it’s history with issues 8-12!
The Collector 8-12: 1968
Editor and publisher: Bill G. Wilson
Those of you that have followed this column from the beginning know what a special place this fanzine holds in my memory of those days of long ago. In fact, the very first column featured an issue of Bill Wilson’s The Collector (see here). Due to the generosity of fan superhero, Greg Turner, I have five issues from the very early days of this beloved zine. The zine improved at a good pace, but of course, the earliest issues were the most crude. After all, Bill was still only a young teen then! Early issues had more ads in them and were, of course, shorter as well. However, all of these qualities were shared by many other zines, and especially the early issues of the long running zines, such as The Collector, so don’t be too hard on the young publisher!
Issue 8 is pretty short on actual content, other than ads. Below you see some comparatively polished (if swipe heavy) work by Paul Legrazie Jr in the two page story, The Collectors. There is also an article on the Fantastic Four, but sadly, that is about it.
Issue 9 is much better as far as the ratio of ads to editorial content goes, starting with Western Winners, a piece dealing with old west characters in the comics, with scattered spot illustrations of various characters included. A short tribute to Alex Raymond follows, and then an article on Sgt. Fury called, without shame, The World’s Greatest War Comic Magazine! Steven Carlberg follows with a somewhat regular column entitled Of Fanzines. Check out that typewriter font, fellow oldsters! Next is a book review column, a very short Superheroes on TV, a News and Reviews page, and a pretty rough Crime Fighter strip.
Issue 10 is pretty important because, as far as I know, it is the first issue to feature long time contributor and fandom standout, John G. Fantucchio…on a wrap around cover no less! You can see it at the top of the column. Another fandom mainstay, Duffy Vohland, also comes in with a column on the subject of Deadman. Carlberg contributes another installment of his On Fanzines column, and next we see artist Tom Christopher weigh in with an article on Flash Gordon (accompanied by his art, but I will show some better and later work a little further on). What we do have, though, is another piece of flashy and incredibly individualistic art by Fantucchio, seen above.
The letters column is next, followed by the News and Views installment. A few more ads, and issue ten is history.
Issue 11 begins (after the editorial) with what, to me, seems as a pretty forward thinking subject for young Bill, and that is Foreign Comics: U.S. Competition? Dwight Decker, another writer who appeared in many a fanzine back then, follows with a humor fiction called Swooperboy…
Another eye grabbing illustration by Fantucchio appears next, seen below.
A more lengthy letters column appears, and then what is the first appearance of Wilson’s own superhero character, Hyperman. You can see the first crude if enthusiastic page below by Wilson. News and Views comes next and then a few ads to end this issue.
Issue 12 follows the established formula more or less. After the front cover by a very young Bill Schelly (you must get his current book on Jim Warren and his empire here!), and the editorial, a short bit on Plastic Man follows by none other than Comic Crusader Martin Greim. After that is an article by Duffy Vohland on The Creeper and the Spectre.On Fanzines returns, and then an article by Bob Stump called Sgt. Rock vs Sgt. Fury. Fanzine superfan, Aaron Caplan, debuts with a short feature on Tower comics, followed by the letters column and News and Views.
I meant to include a few illustrations by Tom Christopher, who later did a lot of work I found really stylish. You can see him developing quickly and he already had a distinguishable look this early. See below.
Well, that about wraps up this journey into the way-back machine. Thanks again to Greg Turner for access to these early issues! I actually did this column (and the preceding installment) back in mid May, due to a very busy upcoming June…and was also in the thralls of a really crappy cold! Hopefully, by the time you read this, I will be back to normal…whatever that is!
Remember to go to my site at www.kenmeyerjr.com to access all of the older columns and the pdfs!
ken meyer jr
kenmeyerjr@yahoo.com
