Ken Meyer Jr.’s Ink Stains 44: Gulacy, Starlin, Simonson 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 44, Ken took a look at Whizzard 12, 13 and 14 from 1979 – 1981 from Marty Klug.

Whizzard 12 features –

  • Walt Simonson cover
  • Jim Starlin frontpiece (seen above)
  • Interviews with Simonson, Starlin, Michael Golden and Mike Nasser
  • Spot illos by Rick Burchett, Terry Austin
  • Indexes for Simonson, Starlin, Golden and Nasser
  • Fan art and articles

Whizzard 13 features –

  • Interviews with Marshall Rogers, Craig Russell, Tim Conrad, Steve Gerber and         Don McGregor
  • Indexes for Russell, Conrad and Rogers
  • Art by Conrad, Rick Burchett and art pulled from comics by Rogers, Russell
  • Fan art and articles

Whizzard 14 features –

  • Mike Nasser/Terry Austin cover
  • Interviews with Paul Gulacy, Dick Giordano and Mike Nasser
  • Indexes for Gulacy
  • Centerspread by Paul Gulacy
  • Art by Rick Burchett, Ken Meyer, Jr., Mike Nasser and others

Boy, did these bring back memories.  I owned all of these fanzines back in the day.  Ken points out in his Ink Stains article that Whizzard was more focused on interviews than art and that art is timeless.  As I looked back over these issues (which I loved at the time) I kept thinking I’d have loved to seen more art.  Still, it was great to revisit them.

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