FA+
Shop
1989 Retro comics
10 years ago
(x-posted from my LJ because I thought some FA people might find it interesting.)
I was recently given a ton of old magazines by a friend who was doing some house cleaning. Among them was a copy of Amazing Heroes Swimsuit special 1989. An interesting time capsul of who was around and doing what then, including a number of furry artists. As Megan said when we looked at it earlier this week, back when people still inked everything by hand.
At the begining of the issue there's a list of upcoming comics from publishers. Out of 37 publishers listed, only Dark Horse, DC, Fantagraphics, Kitchen Sink (do they still exisit?) and Marvel are still around.
People who contributed pin-ups to the issue:
Colleen Doran with A Distant Soil. That comic appeared right after I got out of high school, and it's still not done!
Donna Barr with the Desert Peach, which is still around in some mutated online form called Afterdead.
The late Deal Whitley with two illustrations from his early furry comic Opporknockitytoons, which sadly never saw a single issue appear.
Jim Groat with Red Shetland and Equine the Uncivilized, and a cross-over drawing of Red Shetland with Donna Barr's Bosom Enemies characters. Back in the stone age when everyone all got along and would do crossovers like this regularly.
Phil Foglio pre-Girl Genius and XXXenophile.
Joshua (Richard Lester) Quagmire never missed an opportunity to put his Cutey Bunny character out there. He only stopped contributing to the SDCC souvenier book when they banned including your own characters in your submission. His illo in this issue includes Brian Buniak drawing his Thunder Bunny character, which I doubt more than a few people remember any more.
Chuck (Phantom Bunny) Fiala has a picture, but it is non-furry.
Charles Vess did a picture with the characters from Rupert the Bear.
Dave Garcia does Panda Khan. I still see him in artist's alley at ComiCon, but I don't think he does Panda Kahn any more.
Scott Shaw does The Completely Mental Adventures of Ed Grimley. Who remembers that? I sure didn't...
A couple of pictures of the Adventures of Captain Jack characters by Mike Kazaleh.
The [b]Weasel Patrol[/b] by Lela Dowling.
Gary Fields draws Superswine.
The late J.P. Morgan draws Fission Chicken.
That guy who did that awful Duck "Bill" Platypus has a picture in the book, of course.
Stan Saki, with a drawing of not only Usagi Yojimbo but Nilson Groundthumper proves he was just as good then as now.
Steve Purcell does Sam and Max, and Betty and Veronica!
That guy who did the comic Lizards (appeared in Critters and I think Furrlough) contributes one of his trademark lovingly rendered but really ugly characters.
Fan-favorite artist Fred Hembeck has a couple illos, but I can't think of anything I've seen his art in recently. Or even not-so-recently. Did he die?
Reed Waller with Omaha the Cat Dancer. With some clothes on! Or at least a swimsuit.
The Fish Police. Blast from the past indeed.
Another Cutey Bunny picture.
And lastly, the perennial Ben Dunn, with the perennial Ninja High School.
I was recently given a ton of old magazines by a friend who was doing some house cleaning. Among them was a copy of Amazing Heroes Swimsuit special 1989. An interesting time capsul of who was around and doing what then, including a number of furry artists. As Megan said when we looked at it earlier this week, back when people still inked everything by hand.
At the begining of the issue there's a list of upcoming comics from publishers. Out of 37 publishers listed, only Dark Horse, DC, Fantagraphics, Kitchen Sink (do they still exisit?) and Marvel are still around.
People who contributed pin-ups to the issue:
Colleen Doran with A Distant Soil. That comic appeared right after I got out of high school, and it's still not done!
Donna Barr with the Desert Peach, which is still around in some mutated online form called Afterdead.
The late Deal Whitley with two illustrations from his early furry comic Opporknockitytoons, which sadly never saw a single issue appear.
Jim Groat with Red Shetland and Equine the Uncivilized, and a cross-over drawing of Red Shetland with Donna Barr's Bosom Enemies characters. Back in the stone age when everyone all got along and would do crossovers like this regularly.
Phil Foglio pre-Girl Genius and XXXenophile.
Joshua (Richard Lester) Quagmire never missed an opportunity to put his Cutey Bunny character out there. He only stopped contributing to the SDCC souvenier book when they banned including your own characters in your submission. His illo in this issue includes Brian Buniak drawing his Thunder Bunny character, which I doubt more than a few people remember any more.
Chuck (Phantom Bunny) Fiala has a picture, but it is non-furry.
Charles Vess did a picture with the characters from Rupert the Bear.
Dave Garcia does Panda Khan. I still see him in artist's alley at ComiCon, but I don't think he does Panda Kahn any more.
Scott Shaw does The Completely Mental Adventures of Ed Grimley. Who remembers that? I sure didn't...
A couple of pictures of the Adventures of Captain Jack characters by Mike Kazaleh.
The [b]Weasel Patrol[/b] by Lela Dowling.
Gary Fields draws Superswine.
The late J.P. Morgan draws Fission Chicken.
That guy who did that awful Duck "Bill" Platypus has a picture in the book, of course.
Stan Saki, with a drawing of not only Usagi Yojimbo but Nilson Groundthumper proves he was just as good then as now.
Steve Purcell does Sam and Max, and Betty and Veronica!
That guy who did the comic Lizards (appeared in Critters and I think Furrlough) contributes one of his trademark lovingly rendered but really ugly characters.
Fan-favorite artist Fred Hembeck has a couple illos, but I can't think of anything I've seen his art in recently. Or even not-so-recently. Did he die?
Reed Waller with Omaha the Cat Dancer. With some clothes on! Or at least a swimsuit.
The Fish Police. Blast from the past indeed.
Another Cutey Bunny picture.
And lastly, the perennial Ben Dunn, with the perennial Ninja High School.
Hanna-Barbera's one season attempt to reach an older Saturday Morning audience. Joe Flaherty as a live-action Count Floyd was a highlight. CSI's Elizabeth Harnois was one of the audience kids in the Count Floyd show audience.
http://www.amazon.com/Completely-Me.....rds=ed+grimley
Many familiar names in that issue.
There were two kids credited in the Count Floyd segment who performed voices for Hanna-Barbera's cartoons around that era when "Ed Grimley" was broadcast (Christina Lange who played Rocky, the niece of "Foofur" and Ben Ryan Granger who played the voice of "Fantastic Max").
I own a Ed Grimley dvd set...my local NBC station never carried the show.
Thanks for the stroll down memory lane dear.
Bunners
As for Thunder Bunny, I remember him well... I just wish he'd had more issues.
I have a handful of Captain Jack issues; numerous appearance of Fission Chicken in various gazettes including Critters and Furrlough; I HAD the entirely run of Omaha The Cat Dancer but I needed the money more than I needed the comics, so...; and I have a majority of the issues of Fish Police.
And of course, several examples of the old stuff by Our Esteemed Host...
Do I remember Charles Vess doing an arc on TMNT? "The River" perhaps?
Also didn't you have something in one of those mags at one time Roz? I seem to recall seeing Jack Salem and one of your other characters in AH.
Then again I might be having problems with my meds. :D
I have an unreasonable prejudice against people who change their names to weird things, so I deliberately left the "!" off.
Charles Vess has mostly left comics to do illustration, and he's won multiple awards doing such.