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FOOM 7: Fall 1974
Editor: Tony Isabella

I was searching through both my actual paper issues of zines, as well as scans I have or that I have been sent and came upon my FOOM file and thought, what the heck, I have not covered this in awhile! As I skimmed through this particular issue I realized it had two things that I cannot get enough of in the fanzine world….Dave Cockrum and candid shots of comics professionals! Let’s get to it, true believers!

Above you see a typically over the top cover, this time by John Buscema (I never know if these were done specifically for the zine or cobbled together from existing work). The inner content starts with an editorial from Tony Isabella, along with a popularity poll. There are several banner illustrations throughout the zine, but none are signed, so your guess is as good as mine. The masthead does list several darn good artists. Following that is part two of a Jarvis interview by Roger Stern (of CPL fame, for one), which is cool and all, but what makes it awesome are the wonderful Dave Cockrum illustrations (unfortunately, one is broken up as a spread/bad scan). Below you can see a few of these gems.

One of two photo features follows, this being some convention shots from the 1974 Comic Art Convention, seen below.

Next up is a feature by Stan Lee and the always incredible Marie Severin (who contributes more work elsewhere throughout the zine). I have a feeling she was one of the main reasons the Marvel bullpen must have been a fun place to work.

The Department of Infoomation is next, covering various iterations of Marvel news, mainly coverage of new/upcoming issues. Following that is a fun feature covering one of many inter-industry sports gatherings…check out the all star athletes from Marvel at the Bat below!

Next up is a house ad, then a Draw This Page contest, then a Fan Art Gallery, a crossword puzzle featuring some early art by John Byrne and Duffy Vohland (seen below), a letters page (somehow printed twice, but with different art), and a poorly printed Ghost Rider back cover by Mike Ploog.

And that about does it! Don’t forget to check out the pdf from my site to see the whole shebang! Wow, that just made me think of William Hung. Not a good thing.

Thanks this time goes out to Emmanuel Maris for scanning a few pages that were missing (I cannot remember who sent me the scans in the first place, sorry). Hope you enjoyed this Merry Marvel magic carpet ride! Tune in again next month for more fanzine madness!

Ken Meyer Jr.
kenmeyerjr@yahoo.com