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Comic Crusader 17: 1975
Editor/publisher: Martin L. Greim

Those of you that have read this column regularly or are familiar with fandom know this great and long running zine by fan fave, Martin L. Greim, Comic Crusader. This 17th issue marks the end of CC‘s run, unfortunately. But Martin went out with a bang, as you will see (evidenced by the gorgeous Steranko cover seen above).

I have a very busy week or so, with events coming up and deadlines looming, so I don’t know how much exposition you will see in this installment. Keep in mind, I have covered many issues already, which you can access from the Ink Stains section of my site here.

The first article (by Bob Cosgrove) to greet our eyes focuses on the Man in Black, a character in Harvey comics from the mid 40s to the mid 60s, and has several customarily clean illustrations by Greim and Bill Black (of Paragon fame). It also sheds some light on the career of artist Bob Powell. You can find more information here on in his wikipedia entry.

After this feature is a typically arresting full page illustration of Green Lantern by Gil Kane (fitting, since the following strip is a sort of homage/goof).

Below you can see a few pages from the collaboration between Keith Fukumitsu, Dennis Fujitake, and Gary Kato, a trio of Hawaiians who populated the fanzine scene so prolifically (especially the latter two). You can see these guys had a ball producing this.

Up next is the first of two interviews, this being with Australian comic creator, Stan/Stanley Pitt, and done by John Snowden. It’s a good, lengthy interview, featuring some gorgeous art. I don’t know what others have said, but he seems like Australia’s Al Williamson (with a little Russ Manning thrown in), really beautiful. See some samples below.

You see a sinuous pin up by Dennis Fujitake above, which preceeds the second interview, this being with Batman artist Dick Sprang. Adorning the article are spots by Dennis’s buddy, Gary Kato, as well as John Garcia, Dennis, and Dave Hunt. Below and at left you can see a sample of some of that work. By the way, the interview was conducted by Garcia and Cosgrove.

A Ron Foss vintage fan character piece appears next (The Viper), and then, another appearance in fandom by the singular Steve Ditko. Another moralistic tale, The Screamer shows how dynamic an artist Diko was, even without a lot of crazy layouts.

The last text feature is Greim recounting and reminiscing over the previous 16 issues of Comic Crusader, a great reference if you want to know exactly what content to look for. Lastly, the always amazing Dave Cockrum contributes the back cover, a typically beautiful female in a fantasy setting.

And that finishes this column…and Comic Crusader! However, I do have a few other issues not covered yet, so you will see those at a later date. Thanks again to Manny Maris for providing the fanzine to scan and all of you readers for stopping by…as always, I really appreciate anyone leaving comments! And of course, check out the pdf from my site, where you can see the zine in it’s entirety!

Ken Meyer Jr.
kenmeyerjr@yahoo.com