Graphic Visions 1: Summer 1975
Editor/publisher: Chris Lomelino
Graphic Visions is right in my fanzine wheelhouse. First, it’s one of those cute, lil half size zines. Second, it houses a plethora of fandom regulars like Rich Morrissey, Rick Williams, Wes Smith, Jay Zilber, Mercy Van Vlack, Frank Cirocco, Bruce Patterson, Dan Adkins, John Onoda, Carl Taylor, and several more. It’s a zine with a fair amount of variety (though, no continuous strips), and it has that fannish feel that many of us love. You can see the cover above by Tom Artus, a well composed piece of barbarian subject matter. But hey, let’s get to the heat of the meat here, and find out what fills in the pages!
First up (after an editorial) is an installment of the column, Update, by Jay Zilber, who boldly proclaims his disdain for the whole barbarian/sword and sorcery genre, then goes on to review several comics featuring that subject matter in a very well written fashion…and he does not let them off lightly! The article is nicely illustrated not only by the Frank Cirocco piece you see above, but also a nice full page Conan illo done in the usual immaculate style of Dandy Dan Adkins! Check it out below. Jay was kind enough to answer a series of questions from me via email. First, he shared how he got involved in fandom with “Columbus, Ohio wasn’t exactly a fannish activity epicenter in 1970, but I managed to attach myself to a couple of comics-trading buddies – let’s see, I would have been about 13 back then – and from time to time we’d get together and paw through each others’ collections. Inspired by our local letterhack celebrity Gary Skinner, whose LOC’s graced many DC Comics lettercols in the 60s and 70s, I had my first of many unremarkable letters published in Action #393 (cover date Oct. 1970), From there, I caught the attention of one Mike Flynn, who had just founded the Legion Fan Club and invited me to contribute to the club newsletter/fanzine, The Legion Outpost. Which I did … and so the legend began.”
I also asked Jay which might be some of his favorite zines.
The Legion Outpost, of course. I also wrote for Rich Morrisey’s revived Batmania – and then I picked up a monthly review column for The Journal, a Canadian tabloid that was superficially similar to The Buyer’s Guide but much slimmer. In 1976 I published the first of three issues of Fandom Funnies, the “hook” for which was that I parodied other popular fanzines of the time – most of which I now find terribly embarrassing in hindsight. A few years later, almost on a whim, I co-produced one issue of Glx Sptzl Glaah!, the Sheldon Mayer appreciation fanzine – yes, Ken Gale, if you’re reading this, you helped – and then a novelty item. Fandom Calendar 1980, which got hijacked by the publisher. (Long unpleasant story there, better left forgotten.)
I have absolutely no memory of writing that article for the fanzine you shared with me, Graphic Visions #1! But I do at least remember corresponding with Chris Lomelino and I’m still in touch with Jim Main. I wonder if they fed me the idea for reviewing the latest haul of barbarian and barbarian-adjacent comics, which doesn’t sound like something I would have gravitated toward on my own.
Sometime among the mid-70s, I hooked up with the United Fanzine Organization, which was (and still is, to this day!) a central clearing house for small press publications. At the time, I felt very strongly that the UFO should broaden its scope to include some of the better-known semi-prozines of the era, those with slicker production values and larger circulations, which would in turn help the smaller zines – many of which were truly hidden gems – to get more visibility. Toward that end, I cajoled myself into the leadership position of the UFO, and aggressively courted Gary Groth and Kim Thompson at The Comics Journal, along with Mark Gruenwald’s Omniverse, and gosh, I forget who else. Gary and Kim humored me for a few months, and I turned that into a gig covering DC and Marvel news for them, also writing a few reviews and articles for TCJ and Amazing Heroes – until my interest frankly waned and I became preoccupied with various professional obligations.
Oh yeah, somewhere in there I sold 3 mystery stories to DC Comics! My timing, alas, couldn’t have been worse, coming at the exact moment when the DC Implosion killed the market for barely-known, barely-skilled freelancers. Just as well, though. One thing I figured out pretty quickly was that I wasn’t really interested in coming up with new ways for giant-sized omnipotent super-beings to rend one another limb from limb.
The article also features art by John Onoda, Larry Lankford (I think his is a Frazetta swipe), Wes Smith, Rick Williams, Carl Taylor, and Russ Rainbolt. I’ve always been curious how (or if) working in the fanzines helped anyone later in life. Jay shared by saying “All of that fan writing absolutely helped me to improve my business writing skills. You can’t be successful at anything unless you have learned to (A) communicate clearly and (B) strip all personal pronouns from your text, so that it never sounds like you’re specifically blaming the other person for everything they screwed up.”
Lastly, I wondered if Jay stayed in touch and what he has been doing since ending ties with the fanzines of long ago.
I had the opportunity to get to know Paul Levitz and Marty Pasko pretty well. I remember one time I tried to reach Marty at the DC Offices; I was put on hold for a bit, and then found myself stammering directly at Julie Schwartz! It was a very different time; I really didn’t appreciate how small their staff was or how intimate their offices were back then. So sure, I leave a message with Julie Schwartz to have Marty call me back. Then my brain freezes, and I can’t remember my own phone number!
My 40-year-old unpublished Ear-Fall-Off Floyd story, illustrated by Jim MacPherson, was finally, recently published in Kurt Erichsen’s Endeavor #16. I just wish the story idea had been cleverer, but Jim’s pictures are still pretty to look at, and the rest of the issue is a fun read. (See below)
Mike Dobbs follow with an article reviewing some of the output of the Atlas Comics of the 70s. I have a nice nostalgic memory of that line, which featured some interesting titles and good art, but I do remember it being pretty spotty. The general thesis seems to be that Atlas was a purely commercial venture (some might say crassly so), trying to hit as many super popular themes and characters as possible. To put a bright and energy filled face on that article, below I spotlight several spot illustrations by the (then) incredibly prolific Carl Taylor, with his wonderfully energetic frankenstein creation style mashup of Gil Kane and Jack Kirby. These are inked by Taylor, Wes Smith and a young Mike Gustovich!
On the Market is next up, a fanzine review column. These were pretty invaluable back then…remember, folks, no internet…just word of mouth, The Buyer’s Guide, RBCC and a few other places where you could get an idea of who was in an upcoming zine and if it seemed worth ordering. One of the reviewers is Bill Blyberg, who went on later to produce his own very nice zine, Woweekazowee.
Space Fillers follows, by Rod Snyder, and takes comic fandom in general to task for leaning a bit too much towards slicker, more professional fanzines (me, I think there is room for them all, crud to pro-). To the left, you can see one of the illustrations adorning the article (or, probably more likely, just stuck next to it), a Neal Adams piece inked by Tim Conrad! The editorial says it is a Blackmark (Gil Kane’s creation), but I think I recognize it from a portfolio shown more fully in another zine (can’t remember which…possibly Heritage or similar).
Up next is an article by Morrissey on The Phantom Stranger…the thing I found funny was the illustration next to it (by a young Dave Sim, about 2 years before Cerebus) is of The Spectre! Check it out.
That about wraps up the content, other than more spot illustrations, which I will show below. You will see Stan Sakai (inked by Williams), and another beautiful Frank Cirocco piece. Always remember, you can access a pdf of the entire zine from my website! By the way, you can see the second issue of this zine reviewed in the column; either go to my website, kenmeyerjr.com, or just here!
Thanks for stopping by to see this blast from the distant past! Also thanks to Manny Maris, for again allowing me to use one of his zines to scan for my column, as well as Jay Zilber for his time and input. If any of you have good collections out there and want to do the same, I will be very grateful!
Ken Meyer Jr.
kenmeyerjr@yahoo.com
