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The Creative Adventure 2: July 1972
Publishers/editors: David Kasakove and Klaus Janson

It is not often that a zine of this quality has remained unknown to me for so long, especially considering who is involved! Klaus Janson has been a huge favorite of mine, ever since I saw his first inking job on Frank Miller’s Daredevil work (though I do recall seeing a few fanzine illustrations here and there before that). And Klaus is all over this sucker! After all, he is the contributing editor! (By the way, Klaus and hopefully David, will be adding some content, but possibly not by the first, so tune in again later too!) Now, obviously, the mission for me is to find issue one of The Creative Adventure! But, for now…on to this issue!

Above you see the front and back covers, printed on an easy on the eye ruddy orange thick paper stock, illustrating not only the editors’ eyes for great art, but the choices they made from a design standpoint. The interiors are well designed with an appropriate amount of white space when needed. All in all, a great package. After a humorous contents page and a Bernie Bubnis column (What!-You Again?), there is a short fourth wall bursting humor strip from the editors, seen below.

The meat of the zine begins immediately after that, consisting of a long and very well done interview with editor and artist, Dick Giordano. An interesting fact I found while doing a basic search for Janson info is that he was an assistant to Giordano “in the early 70s” (via Wikipedia), and turned pro only a year after this fanzine came out. As for this interview, many subjects are covered expansively, such as the ACBA, the qualities that make for a good inker, what makes a comic book succeed (or fail), and topics specific to Giordano himself. It is a darn good read and is accompanied by many good illustrations by Klaus, Bob Smith, Giordano and others, a few of which you can see below.

Next up is a two page feature by writer Steve Englehart on his voyage From Reading to Writing, covering his ascent into the ranks of professional comics (with a nice illo by Klaus). Following that is a centerspread by the wonderful Dennis Fujitake, seen below, fully formed in his mid career fanzine period. This is the sort of thing that made me a huge Fujitake fan!

A multi page strip by Klaus follows, showing the joys of collecting comics as a kid perfectly, a page seen below. I think I see a bit of a Neal Adams influence here (who was not influenced by the icon?). Klaus went on to do a huge amount of work in the comic business, starting with his first job on Marvel’s Jungle Action 6 (1973), achieved his first bit of fame inking Miller on DD, and then later again on The Dark Knight Returns (1986). He has worked for the big two on many titles as inker and penciller, constantly showing his dependability and high level of skill. He has also been an instructor at the prestigious School of Visual Arts since the 1990s. See more here.

A portfolio from Fujitake’s Hawaiian compatriot, Gary Kato follows. Kato is another I really loved at that time. He went on to do his own comics, which have been featured in a few past columns. You can see a good listing here, including Kato’s own Mr. Jigsaw. Gawk at a few images from the portfolio below.

For Trade- The Old Superheroes by Tom Greeniones follows, examining why the popularity of the superhero seemed to wane a bit from the 1960s’ to the 70’s. A goofy Larry Lagoon strip follows by Richard Krauss, a page of which can be seen below.

The Communication Column follows, which is part letters column and part personal reasons for loving comics from various “big name fans” such as John Benson and Gordon Matthews. The nice thing is, a few people were given space to respond to various criticisms (Cornell, Fujitake). An editorial ends the book (well, before the Dan Adkins back cover, that is). Be sure to get the pdf to see the rest of the strips, and many other illustrations by the artists mentioned above, as well as Steve Riley, Dan Recchia, and Ed Romero.

I really wish this zine would have continued much longer, for all the reasons listed above. Just another reason why these fanzines are so important, and so enjoyable for those of us that value comic book history. And if you do too…comment below, for crying out loud! Regardless, thanks for reading and tune in again next month,

Ken Meyer Jr.
kenmeyerjr@yahoo.com