Labors Of Love!

Giant Labors of Love is a cool collection of old-fashioned mimeographed fanzine features. As someone who briefly operated an APA-zine on mimeo, I get how hard it can be to create a handsome project on this tedious outdated medium.

The Eye created by Biljo White is one of my favorite heroes ever, a creation with a vigorous pulp vibe. Thanks to Bill Schelly's Hamster Press, I've been able to get hold of most if not all of The Eye's adventures. I recommend them to one and all fans of vintage comics.


The "Expanded" collection I own was developed from this 1990's edition.


The name "Labors of Love" has been used by Schelly a few times, once for a collection of writings about the beloved fan creations of Silver and Bronze Ages. Any of Schelly's Hamster books are solid reads, and solid entertainment.


And for good measure here's another vintage image, an ad for The Eye!

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F.O.O.M. -- Friends Of Ol' Marvel!

First there was the Merry Marvel Marching Society (of which I was a proud member), then came Marvelmania International which lasted only a few years (which I might've joined but I don't remember getting anything). But after all that the Bronze Age Marvel fan got F.O.O.M. which stood for "Friends Of Ol' Marvel" (which I didn't join because I was too cool for it at the time--I got over that).

This fan club managed to hang on through most of the rest of the 70's putting out its final issue as the rise of the direct sales market began to glimmer.

I've gathered several issues of F.O.O.M. over the years, though I never saw an issue during the time of its run. They're fun, like most fanzines of the time, at once breezy, friendly, and informative.

Above is a gallery of the F.O.O.M. covers, the best scans I could gather from various sources.


Oh and where did the name come from? It was a favorite sound effect at Marvel, but perhaps a certain inscrutable dragon knows for sure.


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Star-Studded Irony!

I've had most of the volumes in Bill Schelly's most excellent series of books about the comics fandom of the 60's and 70's for several years now. Wonderful books all and I highly recommend them to anyone who loves old comics. But one that I didn't get for whatever reason (it was not yet available when I ordered all of mine I think and I never got around to it again I guess -- I'm lazy) was The Best of Star Studded Comics.

Well I've been reading through these again and I got a hankering for more, so after several failed attempts to get it at the Hamster Press website (I could not make Paypal work there for some reason), I went to Lone Star Comics mycomicsshop.com, a site I've never used before and found a great copy.

It arrived yesterday and I tore it open to find a beautiful volume. Along with it came a letter with info about the sale and whatnot and it was signed by the President of Lone Star Comics. That's all well and good, but it turns out the President of Lone Star is one Buddy Saunders one of the original "Texas Trio", the guys who put out the fanzine Star Studded Comics to begin with all those years ago.

I didn't realize he was still in the comics business but there was the name. Pretty cool. I've already read some great Dr.Weird stories and there's lots more great stuff in this one. I'm sorry it took so long to get these, but now I've great new-old stuff to read.

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The Day Of The Eclipse!

I've been having a lot of fun this week reading fanzine heroes in collections from Hamster Press. A number of the heroes I've been revisiting have been featured here before (The Eye, Dr.Weird, Xal-Kor the Human Cat) but not The Eclipse.

The Eclipse was created by Drury Moroz and Ronn Foss. Foss is probably the greatest of the fan artists, by all accounts a fun-loving and agreeable fellow. The photos of him I've seen suggest nothing less. The Eclipse was supposed to have been a revival of the DC hero Dr.Mid-Nite, at the time in absentia like most all of DC's Golden Age heroes. But DC editor Julius Schwartz nixed the idea, and so was born the arguably more interesting character The Eclipse.



Like Dr.Mid-Nite, Dr.Craig Pierce is blind hero. But in an origin story that reminded me for all the world of Darkman, he survives an explosion in his lab and is not only blinded but affected by a disease that makes him sensitive to sunlight. Unexpectedly though the chemicals in the lab (The Flash) have given him powers to compensate, and he can now see in the dark and in shadow can even move through solid objects. Arming himself with a costume that changes into street clothes (The Creeper) and a raygun that shoots beams of blackness he charges out to capture the villains who killed his assistant and left him for dead. He succeeds of course. The origin story ends with the arrival of Teresa Aster, a nurse who is dedicated to helping the stricken doctor much to his chagrin.

It's a great rousing origin story, and it appeared in Alter Ego #5 under a fantastic cover that shows the lithe form of the Eclipse and the deft hand of Foss. I've read two more Eclipse adventures, one that ran in Alter Ego #8 and involves the hero and his "assistant" in a haunted castle and some old-fashioned thieves. A third story appeared many years later in Comics Crusader Storybook, and has The Eclipse battling high-tech villains who have injured Teresa during a robbery. This Eclipse as written by Marty Griem seems a bit more hard-bitten and the artwork on this story was by Ron Fortier with inking by Foss.

I really like this character. He's a sleek and intersting hero with a neat blend of abilities and limits. He's got a most handsome outfit, and the best part is the great Kubert-inspired artwork by Foss, who shows a completely confident hand rendering these adventures. Great stuff.

I read these adventures on in their original, but in reprint form in Fandom's Finest Comics Vols. 1 & 2 and Alter Ego The Best of Legendary Comics Fanzine from Hamster Press.

Xal-Kor Is A Very Human Cat, Man!

Richard "Grass" Green is no longer with us. He passed away in 2002 after a long career in and around comics. He is probably considered the best fan artist of all time, working for a very long time in fanzines and such productions. He did some professional work, but never really became part of the fabric of either Marvel or DC. He instead worked on the fringes with Charlton, Fantagraphics, and Underground comics.

His most enduring creation is Xal-Kor the Human Cat. The story is lifted from the pages of a vintage Jack Kirby comic which pitted mankind against a race of super-rats. In Green's version of this backstory the war is between humanesque rats and more human cats. Xal-Kor is the best of the latter and is called upon to follow Queen Roda and her rat followers to Earth, a place they escape to, to plot and return to their home dimension and eventual conquest of the Felinians, the cat people. Xal-Kor comes to Earth, takes on an Earth identity and fights the fight. He battle other menaces from time to time, but the rats are his primary focus.

The adventures continued off and on through several decades. Then in 2001, Twomorrows and Hamster Press got together and published a 100-page new adventure of Xal-Kor by Grass Green. It would prove to be his last published adventure featuring his exciting creation. Xal-Kor wakes in 2013 after 23 years in suspended animation. He finds that the Earth and Felis have been protected by other Cat agents and specifically his son and daughter. Eventually Queen Roda and her minions are stopped before launching their big attack and the action is furious. The story is rich with characterization and large with action. Green blends the dynamics of Kirby with the hectic motion of Kurtzman. Green produced artwork that blended to great effect some of the techniques of comics masters, and created his own distinct blend.

Grass Green is gone. It's a shame, as it would've been great to read more Xal-Kor adventures.

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Monsters And Heroes!

I don't own a single copy of Larry Ivie's Monsters and Heroes but I've seen several, priced just above what my interest allows me to spend, but I have read a few stories featuring Altron Boy, the hero from this very handsome run of fan-created magazines.

He's the son of a scientist and is enlisted by a young female peer to investigate the disappearance of her dad. It seems a villain named Voltar is making off with scientists. The boy finds a flying belt and a costume that goes with it and armed he prowls the mystery finding his way onto the island lair of Voltar, place brimming with dinsaurs.

It's good old-fashioned fun. And the covers for this series are simply magnificent.

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The Doctor Is Weird!

Created by Howard Keltner, a fan-talent and part of the "Texas Trio", Dr.Weird has gotten a life in comics outside his fannish beginnings. Keltner is not timid about saying that Mr.Justice, the old MLJ hero was Weird's inspriation.



I first chanced on the good Doctor in a Caliber Comics reprint of vintage Dr.Weird stories by now-famous writer George R.R. Martin and now-famous comics artist Jim Starlin. They kindle with the robust energy of youth and have a vigor and life missing from most modern comics, overcome by ironic commentary. Starlin's artwork is very like the stuff he first showed up at Marvel with on Iron Man and Captain Marvel, a fusion of Kirby and Kane and others, a synthesis of what was good in comics art at the time. The special reprints the contents of the two Dr.Weird issues published by Keltner along with a few other short tales.




The stories are a blend of science and sorcery. The Doctor is a lost time traveler who dies before he was born creating a paradox that gives him a weird unlife in which he's given the mission to use vast powers to help mankind in the 20th century. The threats are cults and demons and whatnot, vaguely Lovecraftian with a comics twist.

Dr.Weird got a few issues from Caliber of new adventures but these don't have the same magic somehow. Then he was folded into the Big Bang universe and had some fun things happen there. I've seen a few other issues advertised but I don't have those.




He's also shown up at Hamster Press in some classic reprints from the 60's with artwork Landon Chesney and others, really fine stuff. Howard Keltner his creator apparently sold the rights to the Big Bang guys, but I don't know where they reside now since Keltner passed away.

Dr.Weird is good reading for fans of vintage comic book heroes!