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No Sex 12: Spring 1980
Publisher and editor: David Heath Jr.

Those that read this column regularly (all three of you!) know of my deep affection for David Heath Jr and his zine, No Sex. David was a real constant in fandom for me from the late 70’s through the early 80s, and to a degree, beyond that until his death from brain cancer in 2004. Ironic, considering the considerable brain power he possessed. From the Fancyclopedia page:

David Heath, Jr. was a long-time active member of the N3F and served as President (1993, but he resigned partway through his term), Art Director, and edited The National Fantasy Fan in 1984-87. He published the fanzine No Sex. He graduated from the University of San Francisco in 1974 with a degree in political science. While there, he was the art director of two USF student publications, the Foghorn and San Francisco Quarterly. After college, he worked as a teacher’s aide before joining the army as a commissioned officer from 1974 until his retirement in 1986 with the rank of captain. Before and during his military service, he was involved in active fandom, editing his own fanzine, he was a prolific contributor of letters and art to various other fanzines. He was editor of The National Fantasy Fan from 1984 to 1987. He received the N3F’s Kaymar Award in 1987.

You can see other issues covered in the column, including 8, 13, and 14. Frankly, I thought I had covered more issues than that so far…I will have to rectify that!

Issue 12, aside from the front cover you see at top left (and inside front cover by Lari Davidson) and table of contents, starts out with an SF story by C. Robert Oliver Jr. entitled Milk Run. Above left you can see one of David’s illustrations for the story. Below is another.

The editorial/letters column follows, and then Willie Peppers brings his action packed pencils (with David inking the Ben Thomas story) to The Weevil and Travarius Together Again for the First Time, pt 1. As much as I love David’s work though, his inks and letters over Willie’s more standard super hero style just does not fit. Check out a few pages below.

Another Oliver prose story follows, The 1st Solution, illustrated by Heath. Following is another prose piece (by Mark McLaughlin) called The Hives of Black Chandru. A somewhat regular feature follows, The No Sex Fan ‘Folio…face front, fanzine friends, for a frenzy of f’s! Check out some of the art below by Chad Draper/Kim Wheat, Larry Vitalio, Jerry Collins, Heath, Earl Geier, and Dan Day (Gene Day’s brother). You will see more in the pdf.

Loia 18 is next, by Victor Hess, then another No Sex Ships of the Galaxy (14) pin up, and a Heath Adventures of the No Sex Reader one pager. Up next is an abomination you only have to see once, after which you may want to have a brain wipe! Watch out, it’s Mr. Matter the Origin!, with art and lettering by yours truly, written by Josephine Brainovich. If you, like I, had the big softcover Alien photofilm book long ago, you might recognize a few poses here and there. See a few pages below and don’t say I didn’t warn you.

By the way, if you want to subject yourself to part two, check out the coverage of No Sex 13 mentioned and linked above. By the way, that is me in the waiting room reading a comic in panel 1 of page 3.

I Meet the Lob by Heath follows, illustrated by the author, several illustrations seen below.

Tony Casoria has a nicely illustrated strip next, Voyage to the End of the Universe, and then Victor Hess brings his anthropomorphic skills to bear (ha!) in Checque and Mate. Another No Sex Ships of the Galaxy (15) , this time by Hess, follows. The No Sex Mart (selling Heath’s original art) is next, and the last interior work is a pin up by Draper, seen at left.

That marks the end of this installment and No Sex 12. I hope you had fun looking back and please leave a comment to let me you know you have been here. Don’t forget to download the pdf of the whole zine from my site at kenmeyerjr.com! Also, you can hear a wide ranging interview with Dave by Jason Sacks here.

I miss you, David…and I know many others do as well.

After posting edit: Jason Sacks did a nice little interview with me on his column, Classic Comics Cavalcade, focusing mainly on fanzines in general and David/No Sex in particular. Check it out here!

Ken Meyer Jr.
kenmeyerjr@yahoo.com