Professional Documents
Culture Documents
lit
tle strange, to be sitting at a typer again after not having done so since graduation. My thesis was the last thing to leave this machine
and thatfs been well over four months now. Please bear with me while
I try.to get my fingers back in shape. The past summer has been quite eventful for me. I designed
and constructed a show by myself in two weeks, while finishing my thesis, studying for finals, and doing my share of the costume work for the mainstage show. The show I designed was for a friend, off cam pus, and induced me to learn to construct costumes in a real hurry. I*d get to the theatre after work at about nine thirty, work on the work assigned to me till about midnight, work on my show till four, and then got up for classes the next morning. By the time finals were
over and graduation was upon us, I couldn't have cared less about
school. Itfs for that very reason that Ifm glad I decided to take
off a year. I finally paid off my loans, and now have a car of my own. It is a 76 Fiat station wagon, which comes in handy for carting stuff around. The one shadow over my graduation was the death of my last
surviving grandparent. This was the grandmother that had raised me
for the first seven years of my life. The funeral was the day before the ceremonies. For months, all she had talked about was of being at my graduation, and it will be a long time before I forgive my
self for being too busy to go and see her for the previous year. Somehow things did improve in the next few weeks, starting with my being able to take time from work to go to San Diego Con. Both Tom and Mary were really wonderful during my stay. I was a little
nervous about the whole thing at first. I had never been to California
before, nor had I ever flown, and I was going to meet a whole new
group of people. Besides this, I really felt like I was imposing tremendously. However, I loved the flight, thought California was great, and found the "gang" to be much less than intimidating. New experiences abounded from the start. My first evening found me eating dinner in downtown Hollywood, and the next day I was
driven iiiii around town by Mary and John Moore. That evening we met
g.
Jon Liggett and Roy Veldboom at the airport and from there things moved at an incredible pace. Some things of course stick out in my
mind. There was the three hour wait to register for our rooms to begin with, T.V.'s that had on again off again powers, an elevator
that wouldn't stop at our floor, and even opened up between floors,
mesmerized fanatics who drooled all over Wendy Pini's Wii chalk
drawing, balloon weilding maniacs who got off on crushing people Hulkstyle, millions of cutesy-pie elves, peeping maids who made surprise "roomchecks",vand a Denny's where we once were waited on by the same waitress breakfast, dinner and even for a late night snack. We sat at
the same table, and she probably thought we never left. At least I
came to that conclusion when she brought the juice Mary didn't get that
morning when we came back at ten that night. #///</
SOTN #9:2
Of course there were other things that I should mention, with us one morning, picking up some original artwork, and finding
such as meeting Brent Anderson and Terry Austin, who ate breakfast a stack of comics that would have cost me a good three times more in oeattle. One of the pieces of art I brought back was a page of the'
Legion by Chaykin and Austin. .
some. We stopped at the Black Angus for dinner, and it was here that we discovered the mammath croutons that have since been immortalized
joined up with the troup on the first day in San Diego. Let me also note 555L5/5'!I5S v51l1ivg/J/%5 truth when he reported my falling over a tnttW tit it fttottoi dancing midget in the Men's room. Well, who could blame him, it was a disco tune, and he was moving right along. *,.,. * The next day was spent exploring Disney Land. This was another lirst for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the Haunted House and Pirates of the Carnbean. The tecnology involved is absolutely astounding. Also sitHnf ir\ tne front car of the Space Mountain ride was an experience that
iL^ySrJSL6?^0^^!:^^; Ishould back with us, since Mike Forrester had iUi ft to ftto UUHiii traveled also bring "P that he had
4.v.
j,00kin back on the trip, there isn't one detail that shines
the con itself. I think it was Tom who I was talking to about the fact
make them so worthwhile. I would like to thank again Tom, Mary, Jon,
Mike, John, Roy and UM Liz Schiller for best vacation I have ever
had.
The trip ended all too soon. Before I knew it, I was back
at the store, which has since been re-located to the mall. I did
the props for a new theatre group in town last August. Just last week a director form that company called and asked if I would design his
Christmas show, and I agreed. It's Winnie the Pooh, and should be a
lot of fun.
Lost Ark, Superman (again), Little Darlings, Private Benjamin, Seems Like Old Times, Somewhere in Time (oh how I do love that Jane Seymour), and Fame, among others. For those of you who.might not know, Fame was
very true to life. That film really brought back memories of class ex orcises, first auditions, and friends lost in some form or another. I have been interested in such films much longer than I have known what
realistic, but you would not believe the incredible life-style of per formers even at the college and high school level. As a semi-experienced Junior in college, not prone to excess, I was quite startled and fright
ened to be confronted by a young Sophmore actress who threatened to
committ suicide because I had not cast her in my show. Though I was younger than the other directors, this was to count as my Senior directing project, and I had a hard time dealing with the fact that this girl Whted to die because of a decision I hadn't thought twice about
my senior year) were trying times for me, I don't think I ever let any
of it get to me the way some people did. In any case, this film was
particularly satisfying to me.
at the time. Though auditions and asignments for design positions (jn
most recently acquired were Long Distance Voyager by the Moody Blues, Fame soundtrack, Time by ELO, and Stevie Nicks' album, Belladonna. I've
enjoyed each of these.
Thats about all I have to say at the moment. Try to have MCs
SOTN #9:3
in the next mailing, as well as a few comments on the latest issues of the Legion, since I am finally getting caught up on my comics. Below is a reduction of a sketch I did at Mary and Tom's and a few photos from
the con.
See you later, or talk to you...ugh, well mayhe write read about you later. Take care.
or
WELCOME TO:
STARRING THOSE TWO WAPA CLOWNS...JON LIGGETT AND TOM DIERBAUM! nrirl .This ls.a sort of transcription of abit that Tom and I came up -ith and is xntended for WAPA #18 and possibly Interlac. The routine is cll
tl shltV
gT 1
^ ne
y) jell, I think it's a good number. (T) (As Paul) George, maybe we should do it after all IT) (As George) Ah. Maybe you're right, Paul
(J) Well, what do you think, Ringo?
J (As John) That Ringo*s a real animal.
let's go/
IT)(As George) Yeah, Yeah (as Paul) Yeah
(J) Well, let's do it. Ready guys? Let's'count to three, one, two, ,hree
"HERE WE COME, WALKIN' DOWN THE STREET.
(J) Hmm...Nah.
(J) Maybe we should give it to that young kid that's been hangin' around
U/ Oh yeah, right, I'll stick it here in Pavy Jones' Locker'
mm ROLL CHpAL CRASH ' ' '
(J) THANK YOU, THANK YOU AND... .THANK YOU. (T) THIS HAS BEEN BAS BfiPB.07 WB JJS, wi<J GtAtt trjvt.. gvsr. 'titrwv? &!
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*Low Budget funnies #1 - Oct 1977 - Sue and Bob Vojtko ********
Fantasy Crossroads - Robt E. Howard Zine-Hanley art, Steve Fabian Art, Mercy
#2 1975
Fantasy Unlimited #25-April 1975 - 3ri#iish Fanzine -sum nice art by Rafa
The LEGION OUTPOST #9-1 have a few copies of this one -$1,00 @ Curt Swan cover, etc.,
Fabtasy Unlimited #27-Brirftish Zine - Silver Surfer Feature....
#3 May 1975
*DFCFR #7-0ct 1975 - Silly Legion art by Mercy and Arrddvarrks jokes-weirdness
*The Tellurian Defense - Carl Bonadera fan fiction strip of super deeds....
True Fan Adventure Theatre-Vol2, # 1-Lea Wein Cover! Decker, Wasserraan, Thf Gaff, Tony Tollin, Rf Small,and Spanier, 1975#
^Alternative #2, Vol4 1976 - MerkeJ story, Van Vlack art (Have lotsa these.)
*Nimbus #21 a newspaper fanzine, Brunning, Pollard, Vohland, Charlton, S$i,Cuti,
Don Mali*, John Byrne*
Comics Unlimited#36, May 1976 - British Sine - Planet of the Apes theme.
Pittcon 78 - Con booklet for Pittsburgh's'comicen.Interesting stuff, but Ifve got too many copies - lotsa fan art*
DC Comics Special Ed. Of Amazing World for Superman's Birthday party, 1976
2 copies of Dc triviata and art!
* Creation 1976 con booklet handout-newsprint-Lotsa art, J. Kahn news, etc, etc.
The Buyer's guide Parody! FandomFunnies #3(1 have one extra, copy)
What ih - Spanier, Pozner, Isabella, Capa-Alpha zine (Pozner), Nyapaman!
Mutated Panther#1 - one shot by Flynn/Zilber
Pittsburgh Fan Forum Dec 1976 -Destiny photos (as Red Sonja) and Fannfsh art&such.
Comics Unlimited (British) #37, 7-76, Daredevil article, amdEllison info.
CU #41, Nov 1976 - Conan, Stan Lee interview, art & letters.
CU # 34, Mar 1976 - The Shadow, the Atom.
Fan-Thing - #1, June, 75 - ? Fannishnesso I guess.
#
ANOTHER Buyer's Guide Parody By Fandom Funnies Folks (Hullo, JayZ?!!)
Whizdash - The Detroit Con Debate Btwn. Lee, Infantino, Warren (BJ Spirit")
and Steranko.
Sene thing, but with the Ellis cover of Karate Kid and Shooter doodles of Tinya and Jo Nah. 2 of theses up for grabs.
Heavy Metal #9*, Dec 1977 - Wein/Chakin piece, usual French crap, cover has
no logo. "CUT OFF !! All of IT!!?!W Nah, just the tip.
Endeavor #9, 1975 - Erichsen, Cara S., Anderson cover, McDonnell, mimeo zine*
Apa-5 # 4-5 - 1975-P. Chadwick, Art Scott, Liilie, Small, Korbas, Puryear, Napier,
Montchalin, Verheiden, Terry Dale.
#50 - 1975 - Liilie, Art Scott, Harris, Srishsen, Brown (Gary), Morriseey,
APA-5
APA-5
APA-5
APA-5
APA-5
APA-5
APA-5
APA-5
2 vol.
If you want any of this stuff, just circle it and send $.25 cents per
Nbook11 to cover the postage. If you arder a lot of *em and think the
postage will be less, send MK me less. Whatever, the ones marked with an
asterisk are free (Ifigger I can fold em and mail like a letter) for the
asking. Cheers!
of them.
Name
State
Zip_
the same as the music ue had recorded a nd were unable to play because of technical aif ficulties, but it was humorous and gave everyone s omething
recall
INTERLAC 33
there. The genuine outpouring of love and good wishes which we received helped to make it literally, the happiest day of my life.
Well, I've already said more about
the wedto
will be doing as a souvenir of the day, with pictures. (Sort of like having you
for home movies, you know?
complete
over
we're newlywed3.)
mailing, you'll see it next time. Ana, of course, I am pressed for ti me as I write this page. The rest of the zine is already complete and the whole thing will be go ing out to be printed tomorrow. The bulk of th is zine will be ii.ailing comments, which I am co mmitted to not falling behind on again. There's a lso a
two-page installment of "Tunes", which several weeks before the wedding, when
was I
done
was
hoping to complete a substantial part o f this issue in advance. "Tunes" is the only result these good intentions. Actually, I sho uld be happy that I was able to get anything d one in
time for this mailing at all.
of
Chadwick and I hung around Philly for a after the wedding before I plunged back thick of the things at TVSM, the cable publishers I told you I was working for
NEWS that I couldn't decide whether
on a free-lance basis last time. Well, they did a little persuading since I reported in the pre
vious U.P.
or not to go fulltime.
money offer than I expected and made the fringe benefits sound good, so as of next week, I'll
JIM
BY:
2061
SOUTH STRai.T
daily basis. And with the schedule that company has been operating on, daily includes Saturdays
and Sundays.
PHILADELPHIA, PA 191^6
Greet ings. Three year s
As an associate of mine at the company puts it, we are essentially art directors in training. My work will include less actual paste-up duty
and more assigning work to other people and
official versary,
membe r I
I would t Ty a couple of new Watcha a 11 First , there's the logo. things. I got tired of the old one a long think of it? time ago, but kept it around merely for the sake But I found i t too of continuity and tradition, archaic, a hoi d over from my fascination wi th the kind of le ttering used o n posters in th e The title of this zine is unwieid iy sixties. as it is, and this streamlin ing, to my mind
tho ught
And it's consisten makes it more readable. with the style of lettering I've been using the various ae ction titles i n the interior,
this is a young company linked to a booming field and holding a potentially lucrative future. On paper, this could be a once-in-alifetime break for yours truly. But the hours are incredibly demanding and I can kiss any free time good-bye until my first vacation six months from now. There is.the promise of shorter hours once the company gets over its
growing pains.
this will look
for
The o ther change? No Le gionnaires on t he front pag e. T his too is sol. ething I've bee n wanting t o exp eriment with f or a while beca use
to do
too.
an illustration once
coming
up
with
gets tiresome issue after shouldn't nave pointed this out and just wa ited
to see 11
anyo ne
I probabl y
So, as you can tell, I've entered a very important period of my life, one which is taking
the experience of the whirlwind transitions I
made
note
this.
have gone through over the last few years and building a new stability. INTERLAC has been
war hero.
'jA^te^ay^^^ i
INTERLAC32
annish.
well. And when was the last time we had a five section mailing? Lotsa interesting stuff here
and amazingly I was able to MC it all within a twenty-four hour period. It probably shows. Oh well, let's get on with it.
HI .' T7A ULTRA POY I
THINK. I-f*\ NOT DEAD, BUT reflecto iseven t h o u g h i w reflecto.
ous that Gary lov es to flaun t his intellect and you get the feeli ng that he likes to write things that he th inks a good percentage of his readers won't und erstand jus t to intimidate them and "prove" his own men tal superiority,
number
of
debates
that arise
Harry ^
you
While I
inr
in the magazine a nd involve Groth often turn into nit-picking over semant ics. As far as the "rules" he applies to certain comics reviews, I can only w oncer where he gets them. He often q uotes them as if they were established, gene rally recog nized facts. But the area of serio us comic bo ok theory and analysis devoted to th e language of the medium is still too limited still jus t barely scratched, for anyone perfor m the convo luted investigation that Groth does a nd present it as a generally
recognized determ ination of quality. I oust add that I do agree t hat Rogers has some limitations in his storytelli ng ability and that he is far from being a grea t comics ar tist. But there's certainly a more direct way of doing this than using the dogmati c mishmash of intellectual theories employed by Dr. Gar y And His Wondrous
Thesaurus.
tne
number
of
letter s
re ceived
to TLO <10 vas disa ppointin g to you, I was impr essed by th e nature of some of the misIt was interesting sive s th at did come your way to s ee t hat some pe o p1e who had virt ually cut off all contact, wit h fandom in gener al took the time to reflect on the past and, in some cases, con sider explo ring even thei r old ho bby again.
As
the gap and
duce
f or
the
over all
small
are
volume
I am not surprise d.
those w ho ac tive who merel y
In
thos e
n
a ay 3
into
par ticipants ot hers prohas greatly wi dened sin ce the " good old When people like you and I f irst got com ics fandom, contribut ing to a nd/or proconsume
what
a
duci ng
fanzine
The
wa s
natur al
inte rest
cour se
reas ons
for
t his do
fill up an
of wh o
entire
ar tide
lo t
economics.
can't aff ord to pr oduce a slick pubIlea tion but want t o publish will us ually find them selv es in apas. And sli ck fanzi nes are not Thos e
lly regarded as amateur publicat ions anymore, rath er professi onal maga zines. Personal iden tifi cation with the publ ication along the line s of what the o riginal 0 UTPOST p roduces is not poss ible when s uch an at titude p revails, rdle ss of the p ublishers ' "fanni sh" intenuaaa
but
s.
CM^OIIC<-
by his review of the Englehart/Rogers story j ECLIPSE #1 and his confusing analysis of the artwork therein; you know, if you reverse the
and hold it next to the origaal in a mil
it nrnvftn t.lint +ho r. > *. *> 1 n ^ b- *. -;*.-+ +w~
BobToToTX
Good luck
lou
o like TCJ.
thus far been shit on newsprint. The graphic sensibility which they reflect in their layouts, selection of type, and choice of illustrations is beneath what I've seen in most high school
newspapers. What is so appalling about this is
1.0 the fact that it is the most professionally packaged of all the comics-related publications,
a and it's the only one I am not embarrassed to be seen reading in ^uwj.xv*. e The quaj.1 uy oi tne - "^-"6 j.* public. He quality of the ritinc and the crsnhi rs mairoa rv>^ TniTauAr +u~ writing and the graphics makes the JOUittfAL the
I am not
the man, the quality of his publications couldn't be associated with a more suitable guy. Let's
just credit my displeasure to envy. Oh how I would love to have someone finance a magazine
for me whose budget take3 into account typeset ting and color covers. As far as editorial content of these "maga
Why
Who is it hurting
zines",
lines as
to keep so-called "deadweight" heroes around? Here's a better games Which members of
INTEHLAG would you keep and why, if we had to reduce our roster to 25. (&oy, that should
cause some trouble.) Your satirical Legion tale ("One Hero Must GoDoubled And Rehashed") was hilarious. I laughed out loud at "2d Via Boy". It is an in teresting coincidence that two Funny Legion stories appeared in the same mailing and that the second one should be by Ed himself. Now thi3 3ort of fiction I can really get into.
pects of THE UOMIOS JOURNAL that what they do present is readily dismissed fluff. To say no thing of the fact that the magazines, particu larly LOC, are dominated Dy articles that are in
philosophical agreement with the editors' own ideas about comics. (Being critical.of the X-
you, Bob, here's one more word of critical com ment, this one more personally directed, though
it can certainly be applied to others. What is this idealistic ambition that we always hear at least every six months about someone doing a
"Sixties zine"? That motivation itself is not
the convention you were at was lots of fun. Didn't get a chance to read your massive
inherently wrong, but it is doomed to failure in the type of market and with the type of pack age you're working with. Sixties zines could not have color covers, typeset interiors, and a pretty much guaranteed circulation of several thousand copies. Form defines content. The
to failure anyway) is to finance and distribute it oneself, using the traditional printing
The sixties
\G.'.j.A'f NIMVJruITH #9
lations on
tne strong finish in the ,goboo Poll, I think th at effectively puts to rest the theory adv anced by Tom Bierbaum last year that
you weren
you
cause
tial cliqu
I agre e with you t hat the number of members It is in the Leg ion should n ot be reduced. amazing ho w people oft en stressethe potential inherent i n the concep ts behind the Legion, but are then q uick to lop _off x-nuraber o f Legionnaires bee ause they ar e supposedly " deadweight" . I don't th ink anyone w ill argue that the qualify of the wri ting on that series has be en less than
earth-shak ing in recen t years, yet n o one is proposing that the boo k itself be do ne away with. Why then a re some folk 3 in the apa 3 o quick to
call for t he eliminati on of particul ar characters simpl y because so me writers (wh o haven't done much good in ofcher departments anyway) either mi3 handled or i gnored certain Legion-
say that all m embers mu3t 3ome generall y stay in the backgr ound as supp orting members ? The reasoning 30&ati.jos 3003 tha t'.if 'a partieu lar member . inn'6 3pot lighted a mi nimum number o f times, he or she sho uld be gotte n rid of. Thi nk of a basenaires? A nd
who'3
to
get
equal time?
Gan't
ball team,
major leag ue
almost
exactly th e same numbe r of people on the ro3ter.) Every team has its sha re of .200 hit ters who mostly sit on the bene h and some who get to bat
only a fra ction of the amount of tim es as the star piaye rs. Yet no one cries for reducing the
roster bee ause emerge ncy will
needed. bility.
One
me about
It
of
t
never know w hen an arise w hen such peopl e will be also cuts down on strate gieal flexi-
you jus t
the things that has always fascinated he Legion is the possibility for nuraerous, uni que line-ups within sub-aivisions of the group, with each smaller band being able to
have its o
wn Individual
chemistry
based on tha
Round-Robin \ Excellent
America, some of those brilliant Marvel letterhacks were protesting that his style wasn't
suitable to Cap. It's to laugh.
to do this all at once, presented in one package, rather tnan run it through in installments and
assign chapters as it runs along. In those cases, progress is inevitably stalled by a few
fflON FUNNYSTUFFARTSUPP
.LIES PERSPECTIVE DRAWING I
Kudos to cover artists Caldwell and oierbaum. I was able to identify everyone without looking
J>00RUSEOFTBMlSFERLETi
ER1NGPR
LHEAVYH
BETA
laughed.
!wor
'iLISHM
\THE EDIBLE OOi-.PL^X #10 Tom Bierbaum\ Personalr ly, I've always been pa tial to"noisy, -owdy" fans, jus t as long a s su ch boisterous be havior I believe I've isn't com ing from an ass hole. done a lo t of person al g rowing over the last few years ana one of
the
SERES
CHIU
more
noticeable
changes
that
IRFAG/S
'WHYA 'PMOR
CARP.
COS
to people
I am much
who
knew
m e
in
years gone
by i s
AR O L
EAT
Much of th at I owe my feelin gs than I o nee was. to people I've met t hrou gh fandom whose own . 0 f course forthrigh t approach rubb ed off on me. there wer e other fac tors that enabled me to bury
fannish the withd rawn youth I wa s, but since the friends s eem to be. t he o nes who have hun g around longest d uring that time , I focus on them.
LVIS
PAS OVEFOOL ATCHBOR ADSTUFFA LEEPCHE KINMA1
Mike xtaub\ Don't look at me
\VihIZY'a WrtZOO ffl Mike Gold .\ The 20th An n i versary issue of FANTASTIC FOUR was easily Byrne's finest hour on the book. Which is say-
Vmip-HT.IIR-BLUB #8
reign on the series as writer/artist has bee forgettable. Not bad, just "so what?" For o n e thing, where is the power in his illustratio
that we know he is capable ofV He did an iss u e of MARVEL TWO-IN-0HE once which just knocked me
LEGION work was better than Mike Grell's. I'll bet Forte himself had no pretensions of being a
had known and loved. (That issue being MTIO #50, in which The Thing went back in time and fou ght an earlier version of himself.) All that J. B. ' s
"Back To Basics" movement is accomplishing i 3 tO show readers that the F.F. done the old way c a n
in zines before', was well suited to the "young and innocent" Legion tales of days gone by, with their often silly plots and hopelessly limited view of what the future would be like. They had a crude, simplistic charm to them.
Grell, on the other hand, could often make a decent story look like a joke. He tried to be
something he was/is not, namely a good Tenderer of human anatomy, linear and spatial perspective, and solid backgrounds. Three strikes, you're out. Forte was limited, bat he had character.
GBell was just plain bad.
leisure suits too.
years. Of course I think it should be that Byrne's F.F. is based on his conception
what they actually tere like. But the anniversary story was a classic.
emphasized
of
The fact that you didn't know what was going in the beginning was an effective device. I
that say things like, "confused, dear reader ?
Shadows Of The
think they had a hit with it. But the band which originally recorded was called Them, and that's the group that Van Morrison was in. (And
disturbing to the reader as it was supposed t o be to the F.F. Byrne invented a perfect way of showing us what the F.F. might have been lik e if they had not gotten super powers and deliv e r ed it much more dramatically than could have
one people are more aware of now because, well, bigger and better things. (Where's TUNliS when
been done with an imaginary or alternate rea lity tale. And for once I didn't groan at the urn Pteenth return of Dr. Doom.
who ever heard from Shadows Of The Night again7 Van Morrison, on the other hand, went on to
we need it?)