scburdet Posted June 3, 2023 Share Posted June 3, 2023 (edited) File this in my "going down a rabbit hole & then finding someone actually has one for sale" collection. Not a ton of information out there, but this fanzine appears to be the first published work, or earliest published work that still exists, by Walt Simonson. A little information here: https://gobacktothepast.com/fabulous-find-abraxas-1-fanzine/ & Walt tweeted about this before, but I think misidentified it as a copy of "The Outsiders", a URI fanzine for which I can find no copies, scans or sells (the ebay link from >4 years ago is dead). I presume the Outsiders thing exists somewhere b/c it's listed in the GCD. Walt is visiting a con close to me this summer.... Cover is a heavier cardstock. Paper is a bit thick. This inside of the back cover (Batman) has a "400" in red that might be an indicator of which copy of a smaller print run this is, IDK. Remarkably clean & white for a fanzine that's >50 years old. Cover is not described, but looks like Mephisto Edited October 18, 2023 by scburdet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grendelbo Posted June 3, 2023 Share Posted June 3, 2023 9.0/9.2 I think. Thanks for posting. scburdet 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scburdet Posted June 3, 2023 Author Share Posted June 3, 2023 On 6/3/2023 at 5:58 PM, grendelbo said: I think Right back atcha. I have no idea how to grade these things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mars76 Posted June 3, 2023 Share Posted June 3, 2023 Is that a crease or a tear on the BLBC? It's about 2 inches above the corner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scburdet Posted June 3, 2023 Author Share Posted June 3, 2023 On 6/3/2023 at 7:13 PM, Mars76 said: Is that a crease or a tear on the BLBC? It's about 2 inches above the corner. It's a ink smudge or similar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1950's war comics Posted June 4, 2023 Share Posted June 4, 2023 it looks mint and unread but who can tell with this item ? scburdet and FoggyNelson 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mars76 Posted June 4, 2023 Share Posted June 4, 2023 9.2-9.4. Cool book😎 scburdet 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scburdet Posted October 6, 2023 Author Share Posted October 6, 2023 Think I'll be getting this back in just over a week should anyone else want to weigh in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scburdet Posted October 18, 2023 Author Share Posted October 18, 2023 A 9.0 with no Grader Notes. Thanks CGC. Makes it hard to learn. This was one of the fanzines I wasn't convinced they would grade b/c it was obscure and not much data available about its provenance, so I'm glad regardless. Got this signed in person too. Walt started to sign it on the inside but I was able to get that fixed. I wouldn't have minded the signature being bigger and/or in something other than black. He was splitting his time doing sketch for people, and prioritizing the sketches. He was doing them for donations to the Heroes Initiative, so he was very busy b/c the ask was not much. I definitely put more in the jar than the suggestion of $2 or whatever they were asking for. Cerebus3000 and grendelbo 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stock_rotation Posted January 11 Share Posted January 11 (edited) On 6/3/2023 at 3:59 PM, scburdet said: File this in my "going down a rabbit hole & then finding someone actually has one for sale" collection. Not a ton of information out there, but this fanzine appears to be the first published work, or earliest published work that still exists, by Walt Simonson. A little information here: https://gobacktothepast.com/fabulous-find-abraxas-1-fanzine/ & Walt tweeted about this before, but I think misidentified it as a copy of "The Outsiders", a URI fanzine for which I can find no copies, scans or sells (the ebay link from >4 years ago is dead). Resurrecting this older thread with some background info for you. Abraxas #1 is actually a reprint of Walt's first comic, which was indeed called The Outsiders. The inside front cover of your magazine is a modified version of the original's back cover, which is where it's identified as The Outsiders. The first issue was published in 1971, the second in 1972. Abraxas #1 was published between the two issues. The original comics are much smaller than Abraxas, something like 6"x9". Source: I have both comics, and I was also friends with the writer, Gerry Boudreau, who also did work for DC, Gold Key, and Warren in the 70s. I also have a mimeographed promotional flyer Rickey Shanklin created for the magazine. Edited January 11 by stock_rotation scburdet 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehumantorch Posted January 11 Share Posted January 11 On 10/17/2023 at 8:41 PM, scburdet said: A 9.0 with no Grader Notes. Thanks CGC. Makes it hard to learn. This was one of the fanzines I wasn't convinced they would grade b/c it was obscure and not much data available about its provenance, so I'm glad regardless. Got this signed in person too. Walt started to sign it on the inside but I was able to get that fixed. I wouldn't have minded the signature being bigger and/or in something other than black. He was splitting his time doing sketch for people, and prioritizing the sketches. He was doing them for donations to the Heroes Initiative, so he was very busy b/c the ask was not much. I definitely put more in the jar than the suggestion of $2 or whatever they were asking for. Congrats, this is very cool scburdet 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scburdet Posted January 11 Author Share Posted January 11 On 1/10/2024 at 8:34 PM, stock_rotation said: I have both comics Cool. It would not surprise me if you owned one of the few existing copies. I never seen any sales & I believe only 1 scan of a cover (2nd issue?). It would be great for an electronic version to be archived somewhere like the Internet Archive. I did discover that at least one fanzine appears to pre-date all of these. Gore Creatures 18 from 1970 has a double cover, both by WS. It would not surprise me if there was something that pre-dated this, it's just that the records are spotty at best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
