The Barsoomian #11 – July 1966
By issue #11 I longed to make
The Barsoomian look a little more like a real magazine with saddle-stitching.
Pages stapled along the left side just looked clumsy and amateurish.
With #11 I was able to do it but had to settle for a smaller page size
(6.5” by 10”). The new size allowed me to have it printed on a smaller
press at a cost I could afford. I also paid my printer big bucks
to have a cover logo typeset, which I continued to use in subsequent issues.
This issue saw the birth of “Bar-ry” by Ken Webber, who
became our humorous mascot for the balance of the fanzine’s run.
This was also the issue for which I discovered “Letraset” rub-off letting
which helped to spruce up its appearance. And, most importantly,
it was the first issue in which I was able to publish actual writings by
Edgar Rice Burroughs. Thanks to the generosity of Rev. Henry Hardy
Heins, I was able to reprint ERB’s “Laugh It Off” articles from the April
and May 1945 issues of “Hawaii” magazine (which I incorrectly noted as
1941 in this issue). This was the first of a five-issue run of “Laugh
It Off” reprints.
Additional contents included an article by Frank J. Bruecel
examining how “Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar” fits into the Tarzan chronology;
a biography of Elmo Lincoln by Ken Dixon with movie stills from the collection
of Stanleigh Vinson; an autobiographical article by artist Harry
Habblitz; some book and fanzine reviews; and a terrific back
cover illustrated by Reed Crandall generously provided by Dick Wald of
Portland, Oregon.
~ Paul Allen
