Fantagor #1 by Richard Corbin
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1st Printing / 1970 / 32 pages / Richard Corben
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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.
Fantagor #2
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Only Printing / 1972 / 52 pages / Rip Off Press
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As Fantagor moves from Last Gasp to Rip Off Press for its second issue, Richard Corben is joined by George Metzger, who provides the sparse, futuristic "Cycle" and Jack Jackson, who gives us the amusing portal fantasy, "Queen of Darkness." Oh, and Corben's contribution, "To Spear a Fair Maiden," scripted by Jan Strnad and printed in full color (part of a 16-page color section in the middle of the book), is a classic.
Fantagor #3
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Only Printing / 1972 / 36 pages / Last Gasp Eco-Funnies
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Fantagor bounces back to Last Gasp for the full-color #3, where the contributors take full advantage of the color red with a generous helping of gore. Corben provides two solid tales, one more amusing ("Temple") and the other more haunting ("Kittens for Christian" written by Jan Strnad). Vaughn Bode shares a rare and lovely collaboration with Corben on the back cover.
Fantagor #4
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Only Printing / 1972 / 36 pages / Last Gasp Eco-Funnies
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Fantagor #4 was published in 1972 in full color. Richard Corben continues to produce interesting stories in #4, with "Space Jacked" and "For the Love of a Daemon." Tim Boxell apparently missed his chance to contribute to the Insect Fear series and instead published his "I Was A Captive Of Insect Fiends" here, as well as a terrific insect scene on the back cover. This is a great sampling of Corben's early work in color.
Fantagor #5
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Only Printing / 1983 / 36 pages / Fantagor Press
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Fantagor #5 came out in 1983 under Corben's Fantagor Press insignia. It includes three stories, the first being a retelling of "Razar, The Unhero" from the first issue of Fantagor, though the artwork has been adjusted and sometimes redrawn. The second story is actually the second half of "Jeremy Brood," an alien world fantasy that began the year before in Jeremy Brood, where it was intended to be the first part of a trilogy but sold so poorly that the project was nearly abandoned. Instead, Jan Strnad scrambled up a new script and the story was (rather ineffectually) completed here.
The final story is Ogre II, another second half of a story that was originally told with a photo collage in Metal Hurlant and 1984. Corben intended the second part of the story to also be told with a photo collage, but ended up illustrating it here. The artwork is sumptuous as always, but the story is less than riveting.
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