Graphic Showcase 3: 1970
Editor: Tom Long, Publisher: CCAS Publications
Graphic Showcase was one of those EC influenced fanzines that contained not only the requisite spot illustrations (sometimes) and columns (ditto), but full sequential stories, many times by some of the best new artists and writers around. You can see Issue 2 covered here.
Here in Issue 3, three stories are continued from previous issues and there are two new stories…not bad for a fan publication! There are a few pin ups and two beautiful covers by Gray Morrow, one seen at top.
Launching into the zine itself, following an opening editorial, the flagship character, Captain Infinity, appears in his strip. The art by Tom Long and Mike Cody (I have to assume it is both, since the names are not separated and/or named by tasks on the opening page) is a charming somewhat simple mix of C. C. Beck and (prefiguring) Chris Ware, as seen below. It is a 16 page story, pretty darn long for a fanzine!
Next up is a continuation of The Eyes of Mars from Mike Kaluta. His typically ornate work adorns every page.
Next up is The Space Race Through Time, from Phil Trumbo. Some inventive layouts and cool, stubby, monoplane stunt action. Check it out below.
To break up the strip format, editor Long treats us with a Kenneth Smith portfolio. Smith was pretty active in fandom back then, including his own lavishly produced zine, Phantasmagoria. His finely detailed work was pretty easy to identify, as you will see below.
The stories continue with another installment in Steve Hickman and Mike Kaluta’s Venificium Malicarium. Now, what that means, I have no freaking idea…but the art is beautiful, as you would expect! Where should you look? Below, of course.
The final story, Nightmare on Neptune, features more Stephen Hickman, along with story by Alan E. Simons and inking by Phil Trumbo. Guess where you can see it?
The zine ends with a couple of pin ups by Trumbo, Mike Cody (one seen below), Jim Traylor, G (Gary?) Bateman, and one unsigned piece. The back cover is another beauty by Gray Morrow. You can see that at bottom.
And that does it for this installment of Ink Stains! This one is a tad short, but considering the length of the last installment, that might not be a bad thing! Please download the pdf from my site here, because you will get all the full stories, plus pin ups and such that are not viewed here in the column…definitely worth your time! Thanks to Manny Maris, yet again, for the initial scans!
Hope to see you back next month, and please leave comments if you have time!
Ken Meyer Jr.
kenmeyerjr@yahoo.com
Can’t wait to open this up on the Ink Stains site. Most of the time you give me the chance to look at a fanzine I haven’t seen in fifty years but this time it’s one I haven’t seen before. As always thanks for putting them up.
thanks, Ron!
Legendary work. Thanks for this, Ken.
That Kenneth Smith art is so awesome and that is probably the buffest Buck Rogers I’ve ever seen!
Thanks for commenting, people….less of a vacuum for a change!
That was a new one to me. Thanks!
glad to please, DH!