Fanzines & Magazines about Comic Books

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Does anybody have any information on the below fanzine (LOC or Letter of Comment) and issue? It's in a lot of comics I'm considering purchasing and couldn't find much about it. Any insight is greatly appreciated.

 

 

LOC #1 is from 1980 and was a mass distributed comic magazine, sold commercially at comic shops as well as bookstores (e.g. Barnes & Noble). I would not classify it as a true fanzine as it was professionally published (though I believe the inside paper is newsprint), widely distributed, and featured art and articles from up and coming pro-artists/writers. It lasted only 10 issues before folding in the early 80's.

 

It's a nice magazine with interesting content but not worth anything. Dale's 2015 Comic Fanzine Price Guide lists it as worth $5 in good condition, $18 in fine and $25 in NM - note that Dale's Price Guide is notorious for inflating the actual value of fanzines/magazines and I would not purchase this issue for any more than $15 NM. It's certainly not rare or scarce ...

 

I've scanned ebay and found several issues (not #1) for $10 - $55 each, but they seem to have been sitting there for ages. Use the search term (LOC,"Letter of Comment") fanzine to see what I'm seeing, then click on the "Sold Listings" box on the left hand side. You'll see that no one has bought any issues in over 3 months, a signal to me that there is little interest in this magazine, and that the existing listings are grossly overpriced.

Does anybody have any information on the below fanzine (LOC or Letter of Comment) and issue? It's in a lot of comics I'm considering purchasing and couldn't find much about it. Any insight is greatly appreciated.

 

 

LOC #1 is from 1980 and was a mass distributed comic magazine, sold commercially at comic shops as well as bookstores (e.g. Barnes & Noble). I would not classify it as a true fanzine as it was professionally published (though I believe the inside paper is newsprint), widely distributed, and featured art and articles from up and coming pro-artists/writers. It lasted only 10 issues before folding in the early 80's.

 

It's a nice magazine with interesting content but not worth anything. Dale's 2015 Comic Fanzine Price Guide lists it as worth $5 in good condition, $18 in fine and $25 in NM - note that Dale's Price Guide is notorious for inflating the actual value of fanzines/magazines and I would not purchase this issue for any more than $15 NM. It's certainly not rare or scarce ...

 

I've scanned ebay and found several issues (not #1) for $10 - $55 each, but they seem to have been sitting there for ages. Use the search term (LOC,"Letter of Comment") fanzine to see what I'm seeing, then click on the "Sold Listings" box on the left hand side. You'll see that no one has bought any issues in over 3 months, a signal to me that there is little interest in this magazine, and that the existing listings are grossly overpriced.

Thanks for the info. I saw the listings on eBay but wasn't sure about its history of it. Very helpful. It's part of a lot, so I wouldn't pay much for it. I just hadn't seen it before.

Found this early (#5) issue of Alter Ego (1962-1963) at a local Vintage Stock store yesterday.

That early Alter Ego is cool. Congratulations!

Someone on the boards once posted an article from a fanzine (alter ego?) in the sixties (1965 rings a bell) where the collectors at the time are grousing in massive shock at the prices of books.   I wish I could remember more details.   I am trying to find that article.    Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Nice Alter Ego

On 1/17/2017 at 1:33 PM, Shark said:

Found this early (#5) issue of Alter Ego (1962-1963) at a local Vintage Stock store yesterday.

 

 

 

Nice one, that's the oldest issue of A.E. I've been able to track down so far.

Here's some more I've got:

And a couple more.  I've actually got the whole of the v2 (flipbook with Comic Book Artist) and v3 as well, but those aren't too hard to track down.

Dear all,

Above (a few pages back), Fugtussey says, "Gene Simmons was a major contributor to over 180 comic, sci-fi and horror fanzines from 1965-70. He contributed art, articles comments and was an amazing letter hack, mostly to obtain free fanzines. He also edited (or co-edited) and published his own fanzines including Mantis, Faun, Cosmos and Cosmostiletto. I have Faun #14".

I am compiling a checklist of publications containing the (fantasy and science fiction) artwork of the late James Cawthorn (1929-2008), and have been trying to locate copies of Faun, to some of which Jim C. contributed.

I know that his work did not appear in Faun #13, and wondered if it's possible to have it confirmed either way, please, about #14...?

Thanx & best,

John.

15 hours ago, John Davey said:

Dear all,

Above (a few pages back), Fugtussey says, "Gene Simmons was a major contributor to over 180 comic, sci-fi and horror fanzines from 1965-70. He contributed art, articles comments and was an amazing letter hack, mostly to obtain free fanzines. He also edited (or co-edited) and published his own fanzines including Mantis, Faun, Cosmos and Cosmostiletto. I have Faun #14".

I am compiling a checklist of publications containing the (fantasy and science fiction) artwork of the late James Cawthorn (1929-2008), and have been trying to locate copies of Faun, to some of which Jim C. contributed.

I know that his work did not appear in Faun #13, and wondered if it's possible to have it confirmed either way, please, about #14...?

Thanx & best,

 

John.

I've never heard of Faun.  I'm guessing it was an UK based fanzine?

Dear all,

Quote (OtherEric):  "I've never heard of Faun.  I'm guessing it was an UK based fanzine?"

No, it was definitely American, edited by Gene Klein who went on to become Gene Simmons of Kiss fame.

Faun #13's Contents page refers to having planned to use a Jim Cawthorn piece for its cover artwork, but (due to lack of funds, apparently) having to bump it to #14...

... hence my desperation to find somebody who might have (or have access to) the latter.

Thanx & best,

John.

Sorry, never heard of Faun fanzine and I have a cratefull of zines.

fyi, Marvel just issued a new FOOM #1 magazine available for free from one's LCS. Not sure if Marvel's goal is to publish this bi-monthly or what:

Has anybody else noticed how insane the price on the Alter Ego 7 has gotten?

On 1/25/2022 at 12:31 AM, OtherEric said:

Has anybody else noticed how insane the price on the Alter Ego 7 has gotten?

Yup.

Some extremely rare items in this thread overall!  Thanks for sharing. It may be the only place I ever see many of them. 

More recent additions.

On 11/5/2014 at 1:24 PM, fugtussey said:

A few more images of classic comic book fanzines from the 1960's:

 

Headline #1 from June 1962 – Steve Gerber's pioneering dittozine not only exudes charm, humor and excitement, it features silly Gerber illoes, a great "Little Giant" strip by Ronn Foss, and embarrassing hero creations of a young Roy Thomas! I know, it's a terrible scan ... sorry :-(

 

http://www.fantucchio.com/_images/Headline1.jpg

 

My copy.

These are great! I confess I don’t know enough about them to comment more but I enjoy seeing what’s been posted by all!