Giant Labors Of Love!

Fanzines of any era are "labors of love" produced by fans who want desperately to express themselves about a hobby they love or in some measure to participate in the production of the works that make up that hobby. In the case of comics, there were scores of low-print fanzines manufactured cheaply  which were distributed to only a few hundred fellow fans at most. Fanzines of this type were well served by the antique production process of ditto or spirit duplication. 

"Ditto" copying was a standard technique for cheap duplication of documents in many smaller outfits like churches and schools and such since its invention in the 1920's. It was once standard practice to see purple-tipped fingers on many folks who made use of the process. When I first started my teaching career Ditto was still a regular way to make sufficient copies of teaching materials for distribution to students in a classroom. I've administered more than a few tests committed to the spirit duplication format. And as it turns out I used the process  when I briefly took part in comic fanzine publication in the late 70's long after most publications had switched to offset printing. I had access to that too, but much of the work developed by members of my APA (Amateur Press Association) came to me via Ditto masters. Learning to use Ditto and even to draw on it took practice and there were even some slight advantages at the time because of certain shading effects common to the technique. The smells of Spirit Duplication were distinctive and not necessarily unpleasant.  

That's the method used by all of the stories collected in Bill Schelly's Giant Labors of Love. I'm taking a look at the "Revised and Expanded Edition" released in 2000. It's the smallest of the collections Schelly published under his Hamster Press brand both in page count (112 pages) and overall dimensions (7 inches by just under 10 inches). There are ten stories and many examples of small spot art work. 

The collection leads off with not one but two stories starring the most visually iconic of the fanzine heroes -- Bijo White's The Eye. White was adept at using the Ditto process to get effective art and it shows her with two stories that first introduce the enigmatic underworld  hitman and then a second which reveals his true heroic nature. This is followed by Richard "Grass" Green's Speed Marvel a light hearted funny strip that has a hero who gets the job done and has a laugh at the same time. The art here evoked those fantastic Terrytoons character styles. 

Next up is Dimension Man by Ronn Foss and of particular note in this story is the lovely dame rendered by Foss, a fetching chick from Venus where women rule and men serve. Foss seems to be okay with that idea, forward thinking for the 60's when "feminism" was just aborning. 

The Demon by Buddy Saunders (one of the "Texas Trio") a strip in which this magical powered hero is assisted by another superhero who doesn't survive the adventure. Death and dying are all too commonplace in comics today, but to kill any character in the 60's was a huge deal. Doc Darkness by Rick  Buckler is next and this is a complete story with this Doctor Mid-Nite knockoff battling some particularly nasty villains who want to use religion to shield themselves from justice. The O'Brian Gang is by Bill Schelly himself from 1972 and in his into he indicates there is some Fourth World influence on this story. That influence is mostly seen in the face and manners of the matriarch of the gang who looks more than bit like Granny Goodness. This is a wild fracas that actually draws you in quite effectively. 

Now we turn to the "Expanded" part of the book and we kick off with The Black Scorpion, a female hero by Larry Herndon. This is followed by The Defender by Herndon and Green with inks by Howard Keltner. Both Herndon and Keltner were the other two members of the "Texas Trio" alongside Saunders. 

The Viper by Ronn Foss is almost certainly the best drawn piece in the book featuring another heroine who this time uses a great costume and a whip made from snake skin to enforce her will on a devious criminal. The book wraps up with yet another Biljo White item starring The Lion, a hero who comes into being to help save a lowly pressman's job after he conjures up the hero out of nothing. The Lion's debut is novel for certain. 

These are not the most refined examples of comic art, even among the fanzine variety but they are filled with that furious enthusiasm which makes these kinds of collections so much fun to explore. 

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