User:Ntnon/Work3

COMICS FANDOM

"At this point in time [1965] it is possible to discern two distinct and largely unrelated movements in the history of Comics Fandom. The first of these movements began about 1953 as a response to the then-popular, trend-setting EC line of comics. The first true comics fanzines of this movement were short-lived. Bhob Stewart's EC FAN BULLETIN was a hectographed newsletter that ran two issues about six months apart;and Jimmy Taurasi's FANTASY COMICS, a newsletter devoted to all sceince-fiction comics of the period, was a monthly that ran for about six months. These were followed by other newsletters, such as mike May's EC FAN JOURNAL, &George Jennings' EC WORLD PRESS. EC fanzines of a wider and more critical scope appeared somewhat later. Two of the finest were POTRZEBIE, the product of a number of fans, and Ron Parker's HOOHAH. Gauging from the response that POTRZEBIE received from a plug in an EC letter column, Ted White estimated the average age of EC fans to lie in the range 9 to 13, while most EC faneds were in their mid-teens. This fact was taken as discouraging to many of the faneds, who had hoepd to reach an older audience. Consequently, many of them gave up their efforts in [sic] behalf of Comics Fandom, expecially with the demise of the EC group, and turned their attention to science-fiction fandom with its longer tradition and older membership. While the flourish of fan activity in response to the EC comics was certainly noteworthy, it is fair to say that it never developed into a full-fledged, independent, and self-sustaining fan movement.

The second comics fan movement begain in 1960. It was largely a response to (though it later became a stimulus for) The Second Heroic Age of Comics. Most fan historians date the Second Heroic Age from the appearance of the new FLASH comics magazine (numbered 105 and dated February, 1959). The letter departments of Julius Schwartz (editor at National Periodicals), and later those of Stan Lee (Marvel Group) and Bill Harris (Gold Key) were most influential in bringing comics readers into Fandom. Beyond question, it was the reappearance of the costumed hero that sparked the comics fan movement of the 1960s. Sparks were lit among some science-fiction fans first, where experienced fan writers, who were part of an established tradition, produced the first in a series of articles on the comics of the forties - ALL IN COLOR FOR A DIME. The series was introduced in XERO #1 (Sept., 1960), a general fanzine for science-fiction edited and published by Dick Lupoff.

Meanwhile, outside science-fiction fandom, Jerry Bails and Roy Thomas, two strictly comics fans of long-standing, conceived the first true comics fanzine in response to the Second Heroic Age. The fanzine, ALTER EGO, appeared in March, 1961. The first several issues were widely circulated among comics fans, and were to influence profoundly the comics fan movement to follow. Unlike the earlier EC fan movement, this new movement attracted many fans in their twenties and thirties. A number of these older fans had been active collectors for years but had been largely unkown to each other. Joined by scores of new, younger fans, this group shows every indication of being self-sustaining. Although it has borrowed a few of the more appropriate terms coined by science-fiction fans, Comics Fandom of the Sixties is an independent if fledgling movement, without, in most cases, the advantages and disadvantages of a longer tradition. What Comics Fandom does derive from science-fiction fandom it does so thanks largely to the fanzines produced by so-called double-fans. The most notable of this type is COMIC ART, edited and published by Don and Maggie Thompson.

MAJOR EVENTS


 * Sep 1960: Xero #1 with "All in Color for a Dime" on the 1st Heroic Age.
 * Feb 1961: "Letters of comment" in The Brave and the Bold #35 "initiate wide-scale fan contacts"
 * Mar 1961: Alter Ego #1 published by Bails and Thomas
 * Apr 1961: Comic Art #1 published by Don Thompson
 * Sep 1961: The Comicollector #1 published by Bails
 * Oct 1961: On the Drawing Board #1 published by Bails (became The Comics Reader)
 * Dec 1961: The Rocket's Blast #1 published by G. B. Love
 * Jan 1962: Index to All-Star Comics published by Bails
 * Jun 1962: First "Alley Awards" poll instigated by Bails and Thomas
 * Jul 1962: Komix Illustrated #1 published by Bill White
 * Sep 1962: The Komix #1 published by John Wright in South Africa
 * Sep 1962: Masquerader #1 published by Mike Vosburg
 * Sep 1962: Super Hero #1 published by Mike Tuohey
 * Dec 1962: The Comic World #1 published by Robert Jennings
 * Mar 1963: Comicircuits published by Ron Foss and Bails
 * Apr 1963: Fighting Hero Comics #1 published by Love
 * Jun 1963: Star-Studded Comics #1 published by "The Texas Trio" (Larry Herndon, Buddy Saunders and Howard Keltner)
 * Aug 1963: Dateline: Comicdom #1 published by Foss
 * Oct 1963: The official charter of the Academy of Comic Book Fans & Collectors is ratified.
 * Feb 1964: Fantasy Illustrated #1 published by Bill Spicer
 * Mar 1964: The so-called "Alley Tally" is held.
 * Apr 1964: Who's Who in Comics Fandom is published by L. Lattanzi and Bails
 * May 1964: First "Regional Convention" of Comics fans held in Detroit
 * May 1964: First Chicago fan-meet held
 * May 1964: "Fanclave" held at the home of Russ Manning
 * Jun 1964: Slam-Bang #1 published by Rick Weingroff
 * Jun 1964: Bails opens his "Microfilm Library of Comic Art"
 * Jul 1964: The first "New York ComiCon" is held
 * Jul 1964: Batmania #1 published by Bill "Biljo" White
 * Oct 1964: Voice of Comicdom #2 (first issue) published by Golden Gate Publishers
 * Oct 1964: CAPA-alpha #1, first issue of the first comics amateur press association is published/overseen by Bails
 * Oct 1964: Forum #1 published by Paul Gambaccini
 * Oct 1964: Edwin Aprill begins reprinting the Buck Rogers#Comic strip newspaper strip
 * Dec 1964: Down Under #1 published by John Ryan in Australia
 * Jan 1965: Paul Gambaccini holds the fourth annual "Alley Awards" poll.
 * Mar-Apr 1965: "Widespread publicity about Comicdom in magazines and newspapers throughout the world."
 * July 1965: The "Detroit Triple Fan Fair" is held
 * July 1965: New York ComiCon II is held, featuring guests Bill Finger and Gardner Fox