Ken Meyer, Jr.’s Ink Stains 2: Al Williamson, Berni Wrightson, Frazetta 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 2, Ken took a look at Squa Tront #2 from September 1968 published by Jerry Weist.  The issue featured an Al Williamson cover and sketch portfolio, a profile of Berni Wrightson (in 1968!), an article about and art by Frank Frazetta, science fiction covers and more.

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

Our Hurricane Matthew Wrap-Up

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Hurricane Matthew hit the Volusia County coast of central Florida as a level three hurricane and thankfully not a level 4 as had been predicted.  Everyone I know received some house, yard or car damage.  I was lucky in that our damage was minor.  Some of our soffits came down and some limbs came off our backyard tree.  The soffits are up and the limbs removed.

My son, Mike lost a tree and shingles on his roof.  The tree is being removed and the shingles can be replaced.  My mom’s house lost some shingles.  My buddy, John Beatty had a hole punched in his roof, and more.

Thankfully no one I know was injured by the storm.

If you read my earlier post about Hurricane Matthew coming, you know my son Mike (and daughter-in-law, Erin) and son Chris  worked a Hurricane Shelter.  I ended up being called in to work a shelter as well.  Two days in a shelter isn’t fun for anyone, but it is nice knowing that we were able to provide refuge to people in need.

Power is back on (in most places) and clean-up and repair is underway (in most places).  School for students and teachers will resume on Wednesday (at least it looks that way at this point).

Thanks to everyone who asked about things and for sending out positive thoughts and prayers.

We now return to our usual nonsense.

11 Collectible Facts About Hot Wheels

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Marck Mancini and Mental_Floss present 11 Collectible Facts About Hot Wheels.  Here are three of my favorites…

5. 16 MILLION HOT WHEELS CARS WERE SOLD IN 1968 ALONE.
Demand for these toys hasn’t waned: Mattel estimates that over 4 billion cars have been produced and claims that eight of them are bought every single second.

6. IF YOU’VE GOT ONE WITH RED CIRCLES ON THE WHEELS, IT MIGHT BE WORTH SOME MONEY.
From 1968 to 1977, thin red lines were typically painted around the sidewalls of Hot Wheels tires. But in an effort to cut costs, Mattel went with all-black wheels partway through 1977. Collectors prize the old “redline” Hot Wheels—in fact, certain mint-condition models sell for thousands of dollars.

11. IN 2011, THE HOT WHEELS BRAND WAS INDUCTED INTO THE NATIONAL TOY HALL OF FAME.
Located in Rochester, New York, the National Toy Hall of Fame honors the world’s most influential playthings, from the cardboard box to Raggedy Ann. Mattel’s Hot Wheels line was formally inducted in 2011, along with the dollhouse and the blanket.

Matthew is Coming and He’s Packing a Punch!

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In 2004, I was a high school Assistant Principal at a school that served as an evacuation shelter during hurricanes.  In the span of a month we opened the shelter three times.  It’s hard to believe that our area was hit with that many hurricanes in that small time frame.  The damage done to our area was bad, but not as terrible as it could have been.

Today Hurricane Matthew is on track to slowly move up the coast of Florida as a level 4 (4!) hurricane.  Those in the know say that Matthew will easily be in the top 5 worst U.S. hurricanes of all time.  In our county the beach side is under a mandatory evacuation.  We’ve opened 12 schools as shelters and have more on standby.  My son, Mike, is helping to run one of those shelters.  My school is on alert should we be called.

Our hope is that the storm will take a turn to the east and keep going.  If you look at the photo above you can see that the prediction is Matthew will ravage the coast of Florida then along the coast of Georgia and the Carolinas and then loop back.  Let’s hope not.  Once is more than enough.

To all readers in the path of Matthew, stay safe.