SIGNED Fantagor #1 First Printing LOT of 2 Richard CORBEN 1970 Last Gasp VG/F
FIRST PRINTING (only 1,500). ONE IS SIGNED BY RICHARD CORBEN! Some light Wear to the signed one. See Pictures of actual items you will receive! Richard Corben has enjoyed a long and successful career as a comic illustrator, but his success did not come quickly or easily. He was nearly thirty years old before he was published in small-circulation publications and eventually by underground comic publishers. Before that, Corben worked in construction with his father and for many years at Calvin Studios, a Kansas City commercial animation company. His first published work appeared in the fanzine Voice of Comicdom in 1968. Corben didn't appear to be particularly interested in the underground comic revolution and never got the bug to move out to the West Coast and join the fray.
But Gary Arlington, founder of the legendary San Francisco Comic Book Company, contacted Corben after seeing his work and encouraged him to get together with some underground publishers. From 1970 through 1972, Corben produced a lot of content for several other underground comic books and also contributed single stories to anthologies like Slow Death and Skull. After Fantagor #4 and Grim Wit #2 (1973), Corben moved away from the underground comic book genre, though he later contributed a pair of great covers for Bizarre Sex.
The bulk of his subsequent work appeared in Warren Publishing's horror magazines; Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella, and later in the landmark anthologies Metal Hurlant and Heavy Metal. In the early'80s, Corben revitalized his old Fantagor Press insignia and published the last issue of Fantagor, which delivers the second half of a space fantasy story, Brood.
Brood was not one of Corben's better sellers, but Fantagor Press went on to publish several of his greatest works in the'80s and early'90s, including Children of Fire, Den and Densaga, From the Pit, Horror in the Dark, Mutant World and Tales of the Black Diamond. 1970 / 32 pages / Richard Corben. Richard Corben self-published Fantagor #1 in 1970, two years after his first published work appeared in the fanzine Voice of Comicdom. The 1st printing of Fantagor was 8.5x11 inches and the cover and interior paper is heavier and higher grade than subsequent printings. Corben contributes two of the three feature stories, though one was written by Starr Armitage.Herb Arnold and Armitage collaborated on the third story. There are four printings of this comic book. The 2nd (20,000 copies), 3rd and 4th (10,000 copies each) printings were all printed by Last Gasp Eco-Funnies, all had 50-cent cover prices and are believed to be indistinguishable from each other.
Richard Corben - 1, 2, 3-12, 13-21 (art), 31. Starr Armitage - 13-30 (script). Herb Arnold - 22-30 (art), 32. Fanzine selfpublished by Richard Corben: 8-1/2?Cover: glossy color heavy stock. Help a Starving Fanzine Editor!!!
1 pict: Inside Back Cover Art-Richard Corben. B&W illustrations of two posters for sale ("On Guard" and "Space Runabout"). Inside Front Cover: Forewords by Richard V. Corben with an abstract frame by Ed Faust.
Back Cover Art by Herb Arnold. "Twilight of the Dogs" [SYNOPSIS]. Reprinted in Richard Corben's Funny Book (1976), Gasm #4 (1978), Richard Corben Complete Works #1 (1985) and Son of Mutant World #3 (1990). B&W reprint in The Odd Comic World of Richard Corben (1978) and Richard Corben Complete Works #2 (1986). Reformed B&W reprint in Fantagor Presents Brood (1983) and same in color in Children of Fire #1 (1987). Others: Starr Armitage (11-28/s), Herb Arnold (20-28/a, 30).