Never Surrender

Love the cover of Pondus 5 2024 (Swedish edition). Frode Överli is a legend among contemporary artists.

(My shot of said comic)

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Scott King (SLICE 2004)

I presented American artist Scott King on the blog yesterday and I said then that I would be back today with some X-Files art. His A Message From The Bureau art was published in SLICE 2003 and SLICE 2004, so this is the second and last of them. The magazine is available through this blog if you visit the Fanzine Newsstand tag.

(My shot of said art in SLICE 2004, more information about this fanzine on the Fanzine History tag)

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Scott King (SLICE 2003)

When I created the Swedish Lucy Lawless/Xena fanzine Lucy In The Sky in 2000, American artist Scott King (born in Dayton, Ohio in 1967) became part of the team with his wonderful cartoons and art. His art then, was part of the five issues that were made between 2000 and 2003. In the final issue, I presented a four page interview with Scott. When I then created SLICE in 2003 Scott continued to deliver his Xena art for the first two issues, but also some X-Files (which I will showcase tomorrow on the blog). He would return for one last time with Montana Blue art in Retrofuture 6 (published in 2013). Wonderful talent. Great guy.

(My shot of his Xena art in SLICE 2003, the first issue of said fanzine – Deep Purple cover by Michael Johansson – available now through this blog at the Fanzine Newsstand tag)

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Celebrating Asterix

Bild & Bubbla is a Swedish publication about comics and it has been going strong since 1968. Added issue 238 (1 2024) to the old collection today. In this issue we have (among other things) a good feature about the current generation of Asterix, now created by Fabcaro (Fabricia Caro) and Didier Conrad. Asterix is doing well, it is still highly entertaining. Of all the old titles that has had a reboot or two, Asterix stands out. Good to see this being noticed in this wonderful publication.

(My shot of said magazine)

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Lovely Nostalgia

Always nice to read the latest issues of 87:an and 91:an. Some new material, but most of it is from the good old days. I wonder who it is that is reading this stuff these days (?), it would have been interesting to see some statistics about the readership.

(My shot of said comics, covers by Nils Egerbrandt and Jan Gissberg)

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Still Out There

Commando is still out there. Here is one of the four current issues, 5748. “The gold collection” means that it is a reprint from the old days (in this particular case). It was originally in print back in 1969 (issue 433).

(Cover is from official platforms, cover art by Sanfeliz)

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Got To Love The 1970s

I always liked the Archie comics back in the day. Here we have a nice special titled “Betty And Veronica Decades – The 1970s” (Archie Comics, 2024). 226 pages of nostalgia.

(My shot of said book, signed copy of Deep Purple´s “Stormbringer” in the back)

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Spring Is In The Air

Bought Knasen (Swedish edition of Beetle Bailey) 8 2024 on my way to work yesterday. I like the cover.

(My shot of said comic)

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That Was Retrofuture

I published the Retrofuture magazines between 2010 and 2015, eight of them, plus two Western novel Specials (Montana Blue & Tornado Blaze) and then the soon to be all gone Storsjöodjuret/Great Lake Monster Special. The Retrofuture issues was the thickest ever (60 pages) and they were jam packed with great stuff. Loads of rock stuff (the Purple Family thing was always present), tv & film, books, several pages with Storsie/The Great Leke Monster (local legend here in Jämtland County) history in each and every issue, etc etc. I just had a ball making them. As I put them up for sale now on the Fanzine Newsstand, it is the first time ever that I do so outside of Jämtland County. Looking back, I am very happy with what I did here. Legendary Swedish publisher Hans Hatwig (that I interviewed for the final issue) had this to say, “If more magazine creators like you had existed, things would have looked less dire for the Swedish magazine business”. Not bad feedback for a hobby enthusiast. This was also the years when I photographed nice wowen in Western outfits, and published novels. I dare say that there has never been a publication quite like this in Sweden. You can read up on the details on the Fanzine History tag on this blog. Then you can get your copies at the Fanzine Newsstand tag.

(My shot of said fanzines – For sale in Sweden only, might trade for Babymetal if you live elsewhere)

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Beetle Bailey In Our Hearts

Beetle Bailey has had a comic book called Knasen going here in Sweden since 1970. In 2014, Egmont published a book with the complete first year, eight issues from 1970, plus history. Apparently it did not sell enough to warrant a continuation, but it certainly was a good try.

(My shot of said book)

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