Ken Meyer Jr.’s Ink Stains 35: Frazetta, Wrightson, Steranko and More!

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If you’re a fan of fanzines, then you’ve got to check out Ken Meyer, Jr.’s monthly column Ink Stains.  Each month Ken (who is an amazing artist) posts… well, let’s let Ken explain…

I have a collection of over 200 fanzines from the 60’s-80’s that I plan to scan and talk about, one at a time. I hope to have some of the participants answer a few questions. Many of those participants are established comics professionals now, while some have gone on to other things. I will show a few snippets from each zine and give you a link to download a pdf of the whole thing, which I hope all of you will do!

For Ink Stains 35, Ken took a look at Infinity 2 from 1970.   Edited and published by Adam Malin and Gary Berman.

Until Ken’s post, I had never seen or even heard of Infinity 2.  My loss because this fanzine is jam-packed with great stuff.  Infinity 2 starts with a Frank Brunner cover (with more interior Brunner art), has art and an interview by Berni Wrightson (interestingly enough the interview was conducted by Doug Murray who went on to write the Nam series for Marvel after serving in Nam himself), art and an interview with Frank Frazetta, a Steranko Black Panther sketch, a Virgil Finley portfolio, sketches by Dave Berg, Jeff Jones and more.  What a find!

Ah, the memories of the glory days of fanzines.  Thanks to Ken Meyer, Jr. for making these available!

13 Wild Facts About “Wild Things”

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Garin Pirnia and Mental_Floss present 13 Wild Facts About Wild Things.  Here are three of my favorites…

2. ROBERT DOWNEY JR. ALMOST PLAYED THE MATT DILLON ROLE.
Pre-Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr. had been chosen to play the school counselor, but his drug issues endangered the production. “It was during his rehab, and he’d just been on Diane Sawyer’s show,” John McNaughton told Entertainment Weekly. “And to the people in Hollywood, that was a great career move. That made him hot.” The film’s insurance didn’t want to cover the actor, though, as Downey Jr. was too much of a liability.

6. THE CAST HAD TROUBLE KEEPING THE LIES STRAIGHT.
“To determine their motivation in each scene, the cast had to gather with the director, writers, and producers to establish the sequence of events,” Bacon said. “We’d sit in rehearsals trying to piece together what was going on in the script, whom we were lying to about what, and it’d just get so complicated we’d have to stop and rest.”

9. A DEAD BODY FLOATED INTO THE PRODUCTION.
While Campbell and Daphne Rubin-Vega filmed a scene near a swamp, a dead body rose to the surface. “All of a sudden one of the crew says ‘cut’—it was one of the lighting guys—and they said there was a dead body in the water,” Campbell recalled. “And so the cops came by and were like ‘You makin’ a movie?’ And we were like ‘Yeah.’ So they actually—typical Hollywood—held the body next to the dock so it wouldn’t float through the shot so we could finish the scene.”

30 Facts You Never Knew About “Aliens”

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Hollywood.com presents 30 Facts You Never Knew About Aliens.  Here are three of my favorites…

2. Aliens was never shown to test audiences because it was not completed until the week before its theatrical release.

11. The Alien nest set was left intact after filming and was later used in Tim Burton’s Batman.

12. One of the Alien eggs from the movie is now on display in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.

14 Campy Facts About “Ed Wood”

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Mark Mancini and the Mental_Floss present 14 Campy Facts About Ed Wood.  Here are three of my favorites…

1. IT’S THE BRAINCHILD OF FORMER COLLEGE ROOMMATES.

In 1981, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski—both freshmen at the USC School of Cinema-Television—met each other in a cafeteria line, hit it off immediately, and arranged to become roommates. During their senior year, the duo began joining forces on an assortment of screenwriting projects, kicking off a partnership that continues to this day. Together, they have co-written Problem Child (1990), The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), Man on the Moon (1999), and Big Eyes (2014). On the small screen, they also developed the hit FX series American Crime Story, which recently completed its first season with The People v. O. J. Simpson.

Before graduating from USC in 1985, Alexander and Karaszewski briefly considered making a documentary on history’s most enigmatic director, Edward D. Wood, Jr. Although this project went unrealized, they eventually returned to the subject. In 1992, author Rudolph Grey published Ed Wood: Nightmare of Ecstasy (The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr.), a thoroughly researched oral biography of Wood and his work. The book inspired Alexander and Karaszewski to pen a 10-page story treatment for a new biopic about the eccentric, cross-dressing auteur.

3. COLUMBIA PICTURES DROPPED THE FILM AFTER BURTON INSISTED ON SHOOTING IT IN BLACK AND WHITE.

One month before production began, Ed Wood hit a snag. Burton was fortunate enough to hire his first choice for the role of Bela Lugosi, actor Martin Landau, and makeup artist Rick Baker made Landau look uncannily similar to the Hungarian movie star. Nevertheless, after watching the first color tests, something felt a bit off. That’s when everyone realized that they’d only ever seen black-and-white photographs of Lugosi. Immediately, Burton decided that Ed Wood couldn’t be filmed in color.

The movie was being developed by Columbia Pictures, whose higher-ups disagreed with Burton’s decision to shoot in black and white. “They were saying, ‘Look, we can’t get our cable money, we can’t get our foreign video money, we won’t be able to exploit the movie in a lot of markets if it’s in black-and-white,” Alexander recalled. Still, Burton held firm. Realizing he wouldn’t budge, Columbia abandoned the picture. Fortunately, Disney was there to pick it up—and allowed Burton to follow his creative instincts.

9. PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE’S LEADING MAN IS IN IT.

Although he appeared in more than 30 movies and worked with visionaries like Steven Spielberg and John Ford, Gregory Walcott is chiefly remembered for playing the main character in Plan 9 From Outer Space. “It’s enough to drive a puritan to drink!” Walcott vented in 1998. Regardless, when Tim Burton’s Ed Wood came around, he made a quick cameo as a prospective investor in one scene. The film marked Walcott’s final film appearance; the actor passed away in 2015.

Each Dawn I Die (1939)

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Each Dawn I Die (1939)

Director: William Keighley

Screenplay: Norman Reilly Raine and Warren Duff based on the novel by Jerome Odlum

Stars: James Cagney, George Raft, Jane Bryan

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s make a prison drama!”

Tagline: Slugging their way to adventure!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

When newspaper reporter Frank Ross exposed government corruption he is framed for a manslaughter charge and sent to prison.  Holding out hope for evidence to exonerate him, Ross is beaten down by the system (not to mention the prison guards).  Seeing no other way out, Ross teams with infamous gangster Stacey (Raft).

 

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Ken Meyer Jr.’s Ink Stains 32: Adams, Kaluta, Wrightson, DeZuniga, Buckler, and Much More!

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If you’re a fan of fanzines, then you’ve got to check out Ken Meyer, Jr.’s monthly column Ink Stains.  Each month Ken (who is an amazing artist) posts… well, let’s let Ken explain…

I have a collection of over 200 fanzines from the 60’s-80’s that I plan to scan and talk about, one at a time. I hope to have some of the participants answer a few questions. Many of those participants are established comics professionals now, while some have gone on to other things. I will show a few snippets from each zine and give you a link to download a pdf of the whole thing, which I hope all of you will do!

For Ink Stains 32, Ken took a look at Phase [Part 1 of 3 is linked] from 1971.   Published by Phase Publications/Sal Q.

Until Ken’s post, I had never seen or even heard of Phase.  It’s an interesting argument that Phase isn’t really a fanzine, it’s a prozine.  Look at the names of those who contributed to Phase – Neal Adams, Mike Kaluta, Berni Wrightson, Tony DeZuniga, Rich Buckler, Ken Barr, Frank Brunner, Jeff Jones, Gerry Conway, Ernie Colon, Tom Sutton and more!  Keep in mind that in most cases we’re not talking just spot illos but full stories!

I’d say that although the contributors are pros, they’re also fans.  Don’t we have better nits to pick?

Ah, the memories of the glory days of fanzines.  Thanks to Ken Meyer, Jr. for making these available!

Marnie (1964)

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Marnie (1964)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Screenplay:  Jay Presson Allen based on the novel by Winston Graham

Stars: Tippi Hedren, Sean Connery, Martin Gabel, Diane Baker, Alan Napier and Bruce Dern.

The Pitch: “Hey, Hitchcock wants to make ‘Marnie’!”

Tagline: On Marnie’s wedding night he discovered every secret about her . . . except one!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

 

Wealthy businessman, Mark Rutledge (Connery) falls in love with a beautiful pathological liar and thief (Hendren) when she tries to steal from his company.  Rather than turn her over to the police he decides to find the origin of her compulsions.

This film has all of Hitchcock’s flourishes but falls way short of his best for me.

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Savage Sword of Conan Art by Zeck, Broderick, Potts & Adams and More!

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I remember when I first saw this Mike Zeck frontpiece for Savage Sword of Conan.  It made me want my own Zeck Conan art and so Conan was the first sketch I ever got from Mr. Z.

One of the things I’ve al love about the ole Savage Sword of Conan magazines were the different artists who appeared there.  Diversions of the Groovy Kind posted the Mike Zeck piece above along with Conan riffs by Ron Wilson and Joe Rubinstein, Carl Potts and Neal Adams, Keith Pollard, Don Newton, Pat Broderick and Kerry Gammil.

Looking for Danger (1957)

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Looking for Danger (1957)

Director: Austen Jewell

Screenplay: Elwood Ullman

Stars: Huntz Hall, Stanley Clements and Lili Kardell

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s do another Bowery Boys movie!”

Tagline: It’s a royal delight when Sach crashes the Sultan’s harem and teaches the gals with the seven veils to rock ‘n roll!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

 

The boys remember the time during the war when they were sent to spy behind enemy lines in an Arabian land disguised as Nazis.

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Of Mice and Men (1939)

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Of Mice and Men (1939)

Director: Lewis Milestone

Screenplay: Eugene Solow based on the novel by John Steinbeck

Stars: Lon Chaney Jr., Burgess Meredith, Betty Field, Charles Bickford, Roman Bohnen, Bob Steele and Noah Beery Jr.

The Pitch: “Hey, let’s turn Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men into a movie!”

Tagline: A mighty novel! A sensational stage success! Now! The year’s most important picture!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

George (Chaney, Jr.) and Lennie (Meredith) are old buddies who travel from farm to ranch looking for work just barely getting by during the depression. George is a strong giant of a man with the brain of a child.  Lennie constantly looks after George whose strength and lack of mental aptitude is always getting him them in trouble.   Although they dream of one day owning their own little place, it will probably never happen.

George and Lennie get work on a ranch owned by a mean old man and his son, Curley (Steele).  Curley takes an instant dislike to George.  Curley distrusts all the men on the ranch because of his attractive wife (Field), but he especially hates large men.  Lennie warns George to stay away from both Curley and his wife.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that they will stay away from him.

 

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