The Eye Day!

Captain Billy Joe "Biljo" White was born on this date in 1929. He is perhaps most famous for creating the term "Batmania" with the publication of his fanzine of that same name. White was a dedicated fan artist, one of the best of his time but he never broke into the pros. He created more than a few heroes but for me none match the sheer awesomeness of The Eye which he co-created with Grass Green. Wearing a spell-binding helmet the Eye was a classic crimefighter with a Golden Age gloss in a Silver Age fanzine environment. 

Biljo White co-created a hero who is one of the most fascinating superheroes I've run across. Working in a city filled with crime, this hero goes out and deals with the threats in a most direct manner. The visuals on this hero are outstanding, having instant recognizability and long-lasting memory. That impossible helmet, those jodhpurs - outstanding! The original design was dreamed up by Richard "Grass" Green who drew a single image of a strange bloke with a bizarre eye helmet. Later this was used by White to actually fashion a character from the single image. 

The Eye operated in Yorkton City. He's actually an undercover cop who uses the guise of the Eye to operate in the underworld as a seeming criminal enforcer. The character debuted in full bloom in Star-Studded Comics #3 and later in Fighting Hero #10 before graduating to his own self-titled comic. He soon became a favorite among the fanzine crowd and went on to appear ultimately in two issues of his own. The combines pulp mystery with superhero hijinks, possessed of a helmet that can hypnotize and blind his enemies. It also allows him to see behind him. 

Over that last several decades his adventures have been reprinted in various places by Hamster Press. Even new adventures written by Bill Schelly have been created with the blessing of White himself. 

(Jerry Ordway)

(Ron Frenz)

(Bill Schelly)

I got to know The Eye though the publications of the late Bill Schelly's Hamster Press. Here's a link with more on the father of the Eye -- Biljo White:

BILJO WHITE

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Fandom's Finest Comics Two!

In Fandom's Finest Comics Volume Two editor Bill Schelly takes advantage of this space to organize the stories in categories. This gives him the ability to focus on themes and to give added attention to individual artists of note from the fanzine days. Based on the outstanding Jerry Ordway cover featuring Biljo White's iconic The Eye, it's no question who one of those talents will be. 

The volume though is bracketed by a two-part Adam Link story. Created by Eando Binder for the science fiction pulps the story "Adam Link's Vengeance" was adapted for the debut issue of Fantasy Illustrated by Bill Spicer. The story is adapted by Spicer and drawn by D. Bruce Berry. It's a professional level job and it's a story with some depth of character. The second chapter is located at the very back of this collection. 

The first section is dedicated to Star-Studded Comics, arguably the most prodigious of the fanzines dedicated fan stories. Many stories from this long-running series appeared in the first volume as well. Here we get stories from a wide range of genres. In the superhero category we have "The Astral Man Vs. The Adder" by Howard Keltner (one of the Texas Trio who published the comic) and the amazing Sam Grainger. Landon Chesney steps in with a horror/superhero outing starring Dr. Weird called "The Thing out of  Time". "The House where Terror Lived" is drawn by  Rich Buckler and written by Larry Herndon (a second member of the Trio). Alan Weiss steps up with a rarity in the fanzines, a western and this is humdinger titled "Boy, You Sure Don't Look Like a Hero!'. Closing out this section is an adaptation of Robert E. Howard's "Gods of the North" by Herndon and artists Steve Kelez and Alan Hutchinson. 

The next section is dedicated to Biljo White and we get along with a profile of the great fanzine artist and publisher of Batmania, three stories. The first is an early offering starring a hero named The Fog and the other two star White's iconic hero The Eye. Included here are the stories "The Eye" (done as a newspaper strip) and "The Return of the Eye" a follow up to the story from the first volume. 

Schelly turns his attention to lighter offerings with some parody and humor strips. He get "Whatever Happened to Lance Lightning?" by James Toran, Bill Spicer, and the great fan artist Grass Green. Landon Chesney is back, this time with a light look at a team-up between the Flashes of two worlds, as they battle the Purple Slagheap. Robert Crumb's brother Charles gives us a spoof of Zorro with the story "Xorro!". The humor section is closed out by "The Wishing World", a story by writer Mark Evanier and artist John Pound taking a scornful eye at some classic cliches in vintage EC Comics stories. 

Yet more superheroes arrive in the next section which starts off with a bio of Bill Black and then showcases one of his best early tales about the Vietnam vet turned psychic hero The Shade. "Night of the Shade" is a darn good story and we get another Shade story titled "Dream Walker" as well. "Skyline Robbers" is a story starring Ron Foss's hero The Eclipse, but this time the story is by Martin Grein and Foss is assisted on the art by Gary Kato. "The Web" is a comic strip style spoof of the spy stories of the day and gives the reader a parody of both James Bond and The Man from UNCLE. "The Prize...America" is a full-length story (twenty pages) by Jim Starlin and Keltner and it teams up two heroes -- The Eagle and the previously seen Astral Man. Starlin is very close here to his form in his earliest Marvel work. 

"Graphic Story Gallery" offers up a bevy of one and two page glimpses of work by George Barr, Michael T. Gilbert, Mike Kaluta, Jeff Jones, Jim Shooter, among others. Rounding out this collection is a section dedicated to other genres such as "Thundersaber" by Dave Cockrum an adventure in the ERB tradition, "Call It Karma" by Frank Miller about a mysterious murder and crime, "A Study in Horror" by Bob Overstreet and Landon Chesney (for the third time), "The Demon of the Dark Glass" by Martin Greim and Dan Adkins (this is pro level art by the way), and "What Happened to Jory" by Gary Henry and artist Marc Hempel. The final one is the strongest alongside the Chesney piece. 

As previously mentioned Adam Link shows up to close it out and the second heaping volume comes to an end. 

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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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Comic Crusader Storybook!

This indy tome edited by Marty Griem might well be at the top of my wish list. I've gotten some of the stories in reprint here and there over the years, but to have this singular book with that outstanding Dick Giordano cover would be too scrumptious. Here's a link to the Grand Comic Book Database entry for the book with all the luscious details.

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The Eye Has It!

Above are some fantastic covers featuring Biljo White's fandom superhero The Eye! Despite not being a "pro", Biljo White created a hero who is one of the most fascinating superheroes I've run across. Working in a city filled with crime, this hero goes out and deals with the threats in a most direct manner. The visuals on this hero are outstanding, having instant recognizability and long-lasting memory. That impossible helmet, those jodphurs! Great creation!

I got to know The Eye though the publications of Bill Schelly's Hamster Press. Here's a link:

The EYE @ HAMSTER PRESS -- BILL SCHELLY.COM

And here's a link with more on Biljo White:

BILJO WHITE

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