Top 10 Issues of The Comics Journal: #71 part one

This is the third installment of our ongoing celebration of the magazine version of THE COMICS JOURNAL that ran from 37 to 300, and is due to return for it's now annual (or so) incarnation. This is one of my all-time favorite issues mostly for the classic Peter Poplaski cover, but also for the fact that this is during the run where they first turned the magazine over to someone other than the original triumvirate (Gary Groth, Mike Catron, and Kim Thompson). Dwight Decker was a writer for The Journal beginning way back in the tabloid-version days, a fanzine publisher and writer long before that even, and had been promoted to Co-Assistant Editor and C0-Newswatch Editor (with Kim Thompson) in issue 68. I don't have a copy of The Journal 69, but by the next issue (#70) Mr. Decker had been promoted to Managing Editor where he served for a few issues. The Journal 74 and 75 saw Mr. Decker's job re-invented as Assistant Editor and Co-Newswatch Editor (again, with Kim Thompson). While I don't have copies of issues 76 and 77, The Journal 78 finds a Robert J. Sodaro listed as Assistant Editor. Though brief, Mr. Decker's tenure saw some farsighted editorials and a good mix of mainstream, classic comic strips, and the emerging alternative comics scene (including the birth of Fantagraphics Books in a press release written by Mr. Decker in The Journal 70). Even all these years later Mr. Decker is still active in comics fandom, see his letter in Rob Imes's DITKOMANIA 69 (October 2008).

THE COMICS JOURNAL 71 (March 1982) buy here

Fantagraphics, Inc., Stamford, CT
GARY GROTH Executive Editor/Art Director

DWIGHT R. DECKER Managing Editor

PEPPY WHITE Assistant Art Director

KIM THOMPSON Newswatch Editor/Production Assistant

DALE LUCIANO Associate Editor

J. MICHAEL CATRON Circulation Director/Advertising

GRETCHEN MEYER Mascot

COVER:
Peter Poplaski created this fondly remembered (by me, at least) "battle of the century" between the Segar-era Popeye and the equally Segar-esque no-neck big belly Hulk of Marvel Comics fame! Mr. Poplaski is probably best remembered as the long-time art director for so many Kitchen Sink Press comix and books and a contributor to the majority of that company's publications from the 70s through the 90s. Check here for a good sales listing of many of the varied projects he's done for Kitchen Sink over the years, and detailed bibliographies at GCD under Pete and Peter, and a rare interview with the artist by Bob Andelman.

"The French Zorro starring Peter Poplaski" via Arktown Productions

NEWSWATCH:

*"DC Hires Two More Editors" (page 6) by Kim Thompson [Marv Wolfman and Ernie Colon were to co-edit GREEN LANTERN, THE NIGHT FORCE, WONDER WOMAN, and WORLD'S FINEST with four more titles to be named later. Those titles were ARION, BLACKHAWK, THE FLASH. NEW TALENT SHOWCASE, and the MEDUSA CHAIN graphic novel, with Mr. Colon working on and off with Mr. Wolfman from October 1982-April 1985. source]

*"Promotions and Hirings at DC Comics" (page 7) by Dwight Decker [Paul Levitz promoted to Vice President of Operations, Michael Flynn as Promotion Manager, and Declan Mulcahy as Manager/Administration.]

*"DC's Schedule: New Books and Cancellations" (page 7) by Dwight Decker and Kim Thompson [NIGHT FORCE, LEGION OF SUPERHEROES ANNUAL 1, AMETHYST, SGT. ROCK ANNUAL 6, DC COMICS PRESENTS ANNUAL 1, WORLD'S FINEST 283, SUPERMAN FAMILY 222, PANDORA PANN (unpublished), WARLORD ANNUAL 1, BATMAN ANNUAL 8 (the Von Eeden classic), BLACKHAWK, and UNKNOWN SOLDIER 268.]

*"Marvel's Titan Series Nearing Completion" (page 9) by Kim Thompson ["After several months in limbo, the Marvel Titan series announced last Summer is finally making some headway, and the first issue is expected to go on sale this Summer.

"Science in Comics: As conceived by Michael Hollingshead, a freelance
scientific writer whose work has appeared in Omni, the Titan Science Series is
intended as a series of comic books explaining scientific fact in comic book
format.
[...]
"Origin Issue: The first issue of the series, which is planned to be
published in the regular 32-page format, is being prepared for this summer.
Written by Jim Shooter and Steve Bissette, it will be the ultimate origin story
in comics: the birth of life and man on Earth.
"Bissette will also be drawing the second issue. After that, Shooter said,
the list of creators would read 'like a Who's Who of Marvel.'" page 9 (c) 1982
Kim Thompson]

*"Marvel Miscellania: Merchandising and More" (page 9) by Dwight Decker and Kim Thompson ["Marvel Comics announced in early 1982 that it had been named licensing agent for merchandise associated with Hasbro's GI JOE doll, the ARCHIE COMICS characters [!], and the characters featured on the children's TV show THE GREAT SPACE COASTER." (page 9); Carol Kalish named Assistant Direct Sales Manager for Marvel; and, Mark Gruenwald promoted to Editor.]

*"Eclipse to Publish Three Swamp Thing Tie-Ins" (page 10) by Dwight Decker [Eclipse Enterprises publishing news: THE MAKING OF THE SWAMP THING MOVIE MAGAZINE, SWAMP THING PORTFOLIO, SWAMP THING SCREENPLAY BOOK, SABRE, SCORPIO ROSE, DESTROYER DUCK.] [1982 Swamp Thing movie trailer]

*"New Media Publications Relocates to Florida" (page 10-11) by Kim Thompson

*"Undergrounds: GEN stops, OMAHA goes" (page 11) by Kim Thompson [GEN OF HIROSHIMA and I SAW IT; BIZARRE SEX 9(Omaha the Cat Dancer) and DOPE COMIX banned in U.K. and Australia, respectively; BIZARRE SEX 10 upcoming; and, THE LOWBROW ART OF ROBERT WILLIAMS published by Rip Off Press.]

*"Archie Comics Cuts Back, Revamps Line" (page 13) by Dwight Decker [also information on Bob Bolling drawing SABRINA at that time]

*OBITUARY: Harry 'A' Chesler (c.1898-December 28, 1981) (page 13) by Dwight Decker and Kim Thompson

*"Pinis Prepare ELFQUEST Companion Magazine" (page 14) by Dwight Decker [YEARNINGS 1 co-edited by Richard Pini and Jane Fancher]

*"New Magazine to Feature Comics Section" (page 14-15) by Kim Thompson [THE AMERICAN BYSTANDER with contributions from David Boswell, Mary K. Brown, Charles Burns, Josh and Drew Friedman, Bill Griffith, Jeff Jones, Patrick MacDonald, Mimi Pond, and Bob Schwartz. Obscure mentions of this short-lived effort from NATIONAL LAMPOON founding editor Brian McConnachie here here and here.]

*"Cartoonists Sought for Payment of Royalties" (page 15) by Dwight Decker

*"Strip News: Two Veteran Cartoonists Dead" (page 15) by Dwight Decker and Kim Thompson

OBITUARY: Wally Bishop (1905-January 15, 1982) creator of "Muggs and Skeeter" comic strip

OBITUARY: Harry Hanan (1916-January 19, 1982) creator of "Louie" pantomine comic strip *"News From Hither and Yon" (page 16) by Dwight Decker and Kim Thompson (no credits on this one) [Pacific Comics: ROG 2000; Look Mom Comics: PSYCHO COMICS 2; Western Publishing (Whitman): ASTRAL FRONTIERS (unpublished until Robin Snyder's REVOLVER series) and BUCK ROGERS by Nicola Cuti/Al McWilliams; John C. Productions (JCP): JCP FEATURE 1, BASICALLY STRANGE 1, HALL OF FAME CLASSICS 1, THUNDER AGENTS 1, SPACE GIANTS 1; Russ Cochran: VAULT OF HORROR Complete EC Library set; Capital Comics: NEXUS; Sal Quartaccio: Portfolio news; Warren: ROOK cancelled; FantaCo: GATES OF EDEN 2; Dargaud: LUCKY LUKE, WALTER MELON, VALERIAN, VAGABOND IN LIMBO, ASTERIX IN BELGIUM. Phil Yeh's THE MAGIC GUMBALL MACHINE and superhero title JUSTICE MACHINE 3 are pictured but not mentioned in the article.]

BLOOD & THUNDER:

*Ingrid Neilson: illustration page 19 GCD

*Gilbert Hernandez: illustration page 20 Fantagraphics Who's Who

*Scott Pellegrini: illustration page 21 GCD

*Jaime Hernandez: illustration page 22 Fantagraphics Who's Who [dated 1981 this is a pre-Fantagraphics LOVE AND ROCKETS 1 appearance of Maggie. Curiously, this drawing brings to mind Jaime's later clear-line style, rather than the scratchy early L&R stories. Yes, only at this blog would we droolingly overanalyze a thirty year old spot illustration!]

*Dennis Fujitake: illustration page 24 Who's Who

*Mario Macari: illustration page 25 [The Spirit one two three]

*Mitch O'Connell: illustration page 26 [dated "79"] [Ginger Fox GCD]

*Brian Pearce: illustration page 27 Who's Who [this isn't art related, but here's an argument between Mr. Pearce and Todd Klein over lettering the letter "I." Please step away from the fonts.]

*ALAN BRENNERT (page 19-20) imdb GCD [this is one of my favorite "Blood & Thunder" letters, there is much information on writing for TV and comics both of which Mr. Brennert does/did quite well. A very gentlemanly exchange between Mr. Brennert and Mr. O'Neil all in all.]

*DENNY O'NEIL replies to Mr. Brennert (page 20)

*J.J. PIERCE (pages 21-22)

*CARTER SCHOLZ replies to Mr. Pierce (page 22)

*STEVE STILES (pages 22 24)

*MATT DENN (page 24) [Reading his biography at the link, it seems a real possiblity that the Lt. Governor of Delaware was a big AMAZING SPIDER-MAN fan at the age of 16 and wrote a rather stirring argument against the stereotypical portrayal of an overweight character in issue 226 of that comic. I don't make this stuff up, folks!]

*BHOB STEWART (pages 24-25) [Mr. Stewart letter replying to Jan Strnad, and on the Nostalgia Press EC Library Vol. II that was never published.]

*PAUL R. WILSON (page 25)

*THE EDITORS reply to Mr. Wilson (page 25)

*DR. PHILLIP S. KOTT (pages 25-26)

*KIM THOMPSON replies to Dr. Kott (page 26) [Mr. Thompson is put in the unenviable task of defending his not including Jack Kirby as a "comics great" alongside Harvey Kurtzman, Will Eisner, and Carl Barks, and does quite well in the end.]

*DWIGHT R. DECKER (pages 26-27 29)

*GEORGE EVANS (pages 29-30) [Jim Keefe has a lot of online material on this famous cartoonist here. This letter is a first hand account of George Evans's working relationship with Harvey Kurtzman at EC Comics, I guess it's hilarious reading if you are neither one as they certainly grated sensibilities as far as collaborating on those EC war stories, it seems.] GCD Who's Who

THE COMICS JOURNAL (c)2010 Fantagraphics Books, Inc. This list is unauthorized, but undertaken with respect to the past staff of this great magazine .

Top 10 Issues of The Comics Journal: #59 part two

image from IDW 2009 reissue of both DETECTIVES INC. stories including the original-graphic-novel, whose review is referenced below. amazon.com (with bonus Rob Clough customer reviews!) and mycomicshop.com product pages.

THE COMICS JOURNAL 59 part two: buy here

After a long delay here we are again analyzing some of my favorite issues of the print version of THE COMICS JOURNAL. Acknowledgement must go to Peter Coogan and his ground-breaking online index of The Journal which is an essential tool for anyone doing research on the seminal magazine, and a tool I rely on heavily as I don't have many of those early issues. The late Jerry Bails's online Who's Who of American Comic Books is another great help in researching who was doing what when. And, of course I didn't even know about The Grand Comics Database when I first started this research project! Check out these sites for help in your own comics research, and remember to check around various print and web sources to verify your facts (I'm not the greatest at this but am trying to improve).

THE COMICS LIBRARY/GRAPHIC STORY REVIEWS:
"McGregor's 'Detectives, Inc.': Artless, Prating Emotionalism" (pages 40 42 44 46) by Kim Thompson [Remember a lifetime ago, when going over The Journal 38, I suggested Mr. Thompson and Gary Groth would find more worthy subjects for their review efforts? No, didn't think so. Anyway, this is a murder in print of Don McGregor and Marshall Rogers's original Eclipse-graphic-novel-version of DETECTIVE INC. (even the letterer, Tom Orzechowski is kicked in the family jewels for his part in the debacle). This might be a harbinger of things to come. As The Journal continually refused to accept mediocre comics dressed up as "graphic novels," or published outside the big two publishers as pale shades propped up in genre trappings of melodrama or power-fantasy, as the maturing of the medium. Were in fact insulted or angrily disappointed by this betrayal of what they thought was the comics medium's potential.]
[this entire review was posted on tcj.com and is found in the archives here, a well-reasoned counter-point review of DETECTIVES, INC. by Robert Fiore was published as the opening piece of The Journal 65.]

"God Isn't Dead! He's Just Blitzed Three Sheets to the Wind!" (pages 46-47) by David Stallman [Something that supposedly was a rarity in The Journal, a positive review! This time of "The Alchemist Supreme" serial by Godard/Ribera (translated by interview subject Ted White) from HEAVY METAL May-September 1980 (also a link to HM index of issues edited by Ted White). Reviewer Mr. Stallman gets so worked up he even quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson at the beginning of his article.]

"Super-Heroes Without Pictures" (pages 49-50 52) by Peter Sanderson; illustrations: Tony Caputo, Scott McCloud [Perhaps it might be strange to some to see sometime Marvel historian Mr. Sanderson writing for The Journal, but I believe the editors never discriminated against good writing. And this is a well-written critique of a precursor to so many superhero prose novels, short story collections, or shared-world anthologies that proliferated in the late eighties and beyond. THE MARVEL SUPERHEROES was one of those Pocket Books/Marvel Comics efforts, only this one (edited by Len Wein/Marv Wolfman) contained original prose short novels written by comics writers Jim Shooter, Mary Jo Duffy, the aforementioned editors, and the possibly pseudonymous Kyle Christopher.]

CAPSULE REVIEWS:
"Justice League of America 186" (page 52) by David Stallman
"The Hulk! 23" (pages 52-3) by Gary Groth [This review starts out with a hellish thrashing of a Jim Shooter Hulk story, a must read for admirers of Mr. Groth's writing: "Don't homosexuals have enough problems with heterosexual bigotry without being cast as thugs and rapists in the latest issue of the HULK! magazine? To be fair to the writer, Jim Shooter, homosexuals aren't the only literary victims here: heterosexuals get it too, and, believe it or not, even drug addicts are maligned in what may well be the most falsified characterization of a drug addict in the history of American media. I can't even begin to enumerate the bad dialogue, melodramatic fakery, and manipulative sentimentality with which this story abounds. Even the Hulk's tantrums, turning over cars, smashing buildings, and mouthing infantile dialogue looks sillier than usual when placed in the context of bad human melodrama. Suffice it to say that this is Marvel's version of an adult story, replete with an attempted homosexual rape of Bruce Banner, a portentious child-custody trial, a suicide, sex, and drugs. You can just imagine the horrors." (c) 1980 Gary Groth.]
"Machine Man 15-17" (pages 53-4) by Dale Luciano
"Bald Ego Cartoon Stories 1" (page 54) by Kim Thompson [Note to Frank Santoro: This comic sounds tailor-made for one of your comic boxes, an Earl Geier classic.]
"Abbott and Costello Meet the Bride of Hembeck" (page 54) by Kim Thompson
"The New Teen Titans 1" (page 54) by David Stallman

TED WHITE "Photo by Bill Burns, Corflu, Austin, Texas, 2007" (c)2007 Bill Burns, other 2004 photos of Mr. White by Bill Burns et al can be found here.

INTERVIEW:
"A Life on the Fringe of Comics: An Interview With Ted White" conducted by Gary Groth (with Kim Thompson, Gary Kwapisz, and Dan Steffan) on 8/15/80. Transcribed by Mr. Thompson and edited by Mr. Groth; illustrations: Ricky Livingston (2), Harry Bell, Ingrid Neilson, Grant Canfield, Gilbert Hernandez [Dennis the Menace's Father as Elvis Costello?], and Gary Kwapisz
[The safe pick for this period of the The Journal would have been issue 53 with the Harlan Ellison interview, but (no offense to the talented Mr. Ellison, of course) that interview is unreadable and a bit dated in my opinion. This interview with Ted White may have escaped notice over the years, as it to is dated in some subjects, however Mr. White's opinions are entertaining and well-stated throughout. Personally, I've always thought this was a high point of early Journal's, with Mr. White talking at length about a number of non-comics subjects, or at least non-Marvel and DC subjects: his dismissal as Editor of HEAVY METAL, background information on working at HEAVY METAL in 1980, on working with Julie Simmons and John Workman at HM, three amazing pages talking about drugs/perceptions of drugs/drug culture (a short excerpt: "I believe that these are drugs we need to counteract the dehumanizing influences of a mechanistic, highly populated society, and for that reason I am in favor of both marijuana and the psychedelics. I am not in favor of alchohol, downers, speed -- cocaine I'll leave somewhere in limbo. Certain people can take it past the point where it does them any good, but for some people it seems to be good. Again, it also depends on your metabolism. Some people get a different thing from the same drug than I would." page 65 (c)1980 Ted White.), debating the potential of the comics medium, Art Spiegelman, Jack Kirby, Archie Goodwin, editing in general, critiques his October 1980 issue of HEAVY METAL in regards to storytelling content, Neal Adams, "conventional comics," Don Heck, Gene Colan, Dick Ayers, Stan Lee, EC Comics, visit to EC offices in 1955 with Lary Stark and Fred Von Bernewitz, writing in comics, the stages of Mr. White's comics fandom, a great couple paragraphs on die-hard older comics fans, comics continuity, fandom days (with Larry Stark, Fred Von Bernewitz, Bhob Stewart, John Benson, Bill Spicer), Phil Seuling, "nurds" and "pear-shaped people" (yes he's talking about you, twinkie breath!), Don McGregor and DETECTIVES, INC., the function of art, Michael Fleisher and CHASING HAIRY, and finally gives his opinion on THE COMICS JOURNAL itself.]
[Mr. White has had a long, varied career as fanzine contributor/editor, science-fiction author, editor of AMAZING and FANTASTIC sci-fi magazines, disc jockey "Dr. Progresso," editor of HEAVY METAL, and musician among many other outlets. An index of his comics work can be found here courtesy of GCD.]
[Also, Mr. White was a writer for The Journal during two different periods, writing reviews in 76-78 81 83 (source) and his series "The History of Comics Fandom" in 231 234 235 (from my spotty collection). BONUS: here are some online science-fiction fanzine reviews by Mr. White that were contemporary with his second run on The Journal.]

PANEL PROGRESSIONS:
"The Gods and Heroes of Jack Kirby" (pages 84-89 91-93) by Greg Potter [The third in Mr. Potter's series of comics analysis this time examining Jack Kirby's "The Pact" from NEW GODS 7.]

SUSPENDED ANIMATION:
"Double Your Pleasure! Double Your Fun! Two New Animation Books Reviewed" (pages 94-5) by Jim Korkis [One of the finest writers on animation reviews two classic books on animation: OF MICE AND MAGIC by Leonard Maltin (w/Jerry Beck) and THE AMERICAN ANIMATED CARTOON: A CRITICAL ANTHOLOGY by Danny and Gerald Peary. links to amazon.com and abebooks.com sales pages, respectively]
"In Memoriam: Tex Avery [February 28, 1908-August 26, 1980]" (page 95) by Jim Korkis [Mr. Korkis delivers a four-paragraph obituary covering the legendary animator's entire career.]
[Jim Korkis was the animation writer at The Journal for many years, his work can be found in The Journal 39, 41-45 48 56 59 60 62-64 66-69 71. source. Here is a wonderful recent podcast featuring Mr. Korkis speaking on Disney history, and recently he has been mentioned on Didier Ghez's Disney website.]
[above recent photo of Jim Korkis via.]

CINEMA JOURNAL:

"Kubrick's 'The Shining': An Ambitious, Failed Masterpiece" (pages 97-100) by Dale Luciano [View clips on youtube.com here and here. Before Dale Luciano moved on to reviewing alternative comics and mini-comics in the eighties (he was the force behind "The Newave Comix Survey" in The Journal 96-99 101 102), he wrote many detailed insightful movie reviews. source]

UNDERGROUND COMIX:
"A Melonhead's View of History" (pages 101-103) by Bill Sherman [Mr. Sherman reviews Larry Gonick's THE CARTOON HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE Volumes 1-4, the comic book version published by Rip Off Press.]
"Capsule Reviews: FIFTIES FUNNIES and FREAK BROTHERS 6" (page 103) by Bill Sherman

COMICS CHECKLIST: OCTOBER 1980:
Comics that were scheduled to be released during October 1980, note that Marvel and DC had different release dates back then! We didn't really notice at the time as most of us still bought off the spinner rack! Just for the heck of it, here's the list of The Journal's direct market distributors back then: Sea Gate Distributors (NY); New Media/Irjax (FL); Bud Plant (CA); and, Glenwood Distributors (IL). Here is a link swarm to various GCD cover posts for your nostalgiac meandering:
MARVEL: AMAZING ADVENTURES 14 10/28; AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 212 10/14; AVENGERS 203 10/21; BATTLESTAR GALACTICA 23 10/28; CAPTAIN AMERICA 253 10/14; CONAN 118 10/21; DAREDEVIL 168 10/7; THE DEFENDERS 81 10/28; FANTASTIC FOUR 226 10/28; FANTASY MASTERPIECES 14 10/21; GHOST RIDER 52 10/14; INCREDIBLE HULK 255 10/21; IRON MAN 142 10/28; MAN-THING 7 10/21; MARVEL SPOTLIGHT 9[CAPTAIN UNIVERSE] 10/28; MARVEL SUPER-ACTION 27 10/28; MARVEL SUPER-HEROES 95 10/7; MARVEL TALES 123 10/21; MARVEL TEAM-UP 101 10/28; MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE 71 10/7; MARVEL'S GREATEST COMICS 94 10/21; MASTER OF KUNG FU 96 10/28; MICRONAUTS 25 10/14; MOON KNIGHT 3 10/14; ROM 14 10/21; SAVAGE SHE-HULK 12 10/14; SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN 50 10/28; SPIDER-WOMAN 34 10/7; STAR TREK 10 10/7; STAR WARS 43 10/28; TALES TO ASTONISH 14 10/21; THOR 303 10/14; X-MEN 141 10/21. MARVEL MAGAZINES: CRAZY 69 10/14; HULK 24 10/21; SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN 59 10/7.
DC: ACTION COMICS 515 10/23; BATMAN 331 10/9; BRAVE AND THE BOLD 170 10/23; DC COMICS PRESENTS 29 10/9; DETECTIVE COMICS 497 10/23; FLASH 293 10/9; GHOSTS 96 10/9; G.I. COMBAT 226 10/9; GREEN LANTERN 136 10/23; HOUSE OF MYSTERY 288 10/23; JONAH HEX 44 10/9; JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA 186 10/9; LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES 271 10/23; MYSTERY IN SPACE 115 10/23; SUPERBOY 13 10/23; NEW TEEN TITANS 3 10/9; SECRETS OF SINISTER HOUSE 32 10/9; SGT. ROCK 348 10/23; SUPER FRIENDS 40 10/23; SUPERMAN 355 10/9; SUPERMAN FAMILY 206 10/9; UNEXPECTED 206 10/23; UNKNOWN SOLDIER 248 10/9; WARLORD 41 10/23; WEIRD WAR TALES 85 10/9; WONDER WOMAN 275 10/9.
Whitman: BATTLE OF THE PLANETS 9 10/28; BUCK ROGERS 9 10/28; CHIP N DALE 69 10/21; DAFFY DUCK 131 (there's something so wrong about this cover) 10/28; DAISY AND DONALD 47 10/21; DONALD DUCK 224 10/21; FLASH GORDON 31 10/28; LOONEY TUNES 35 10/28; MICKEY MOUSE 209 10/21; PINK PANTHER 77 10/21; TOM AND JERRY 382 (there is no such issue, but reversing the last two numbers brings us the first Whitman issue of this series) 10/21; TWEETY & SYLVESTER 107 (cn/a) 10/28; UNCLE SCROOGE 181 10/21; WALT DISNEY'S COMICS AND STORIES 483 10/21; YOSEMITE SAM 70 10/28.
HEAVY METAL: HEAVY METAL MAGAZINE November 1980 (October).
WARREN: EERIE 117 10/7; 1994 16 10/14; ROOK 5 10/21.
COMELY COMICS: CAPTAIN CANUCK 12 (October).
AARDVARK-VANAHEIM: CEREBUS THE AARDVARK 21 (October).
FANTACO: MUGSHOTS (October); SMILIN' ED COMICS 2 (October).

EDITORIAL CARTOON:
"Untitled" (inside back cover) by "Red Meat" [cartoon of Jim Shooter, Stan Lee, and Jim Galton stabbing Roy Thomas in the back. I think the pseudonymous artist was Gary Kwapisz, but I'm not certain.]

BACK COVER:
"Machine Man vs. Doctor Octopus" painted by Dennis Fujitake

THE COMICS JOURNAL (c) 2010 Fantagraphics Books, Inc. Unauthorized, but fairly used throughout. Anyone owning copyright to illustrations, and wishing them removed please send a complaint through the comments -- they will be immediately taken down.