Years in Print:
1965 - 1965
Detail
Publisher:
S.F.C.A.
Country:
United States
Language:
English
Issues:
#1 - #1 (1 Issue)
Continued From:
none
Continued In:
none
Tracking Notes:
Notes:
This issue was titled, "THE EYE SPECIAL No. 1, Spring 1965"
Co-Published by "the White House of Comics (B. J. White, P. O. Box 115, Colombia, MO. ) and S. F. C. A. (G. B. Love, 9875 S. W. 212 St., Miami, Florida)."
"Published irregularly as an amateur non-profit magazine. Subscriptions not accepted."
"Entire contents copyrighted 1965 by Billy J. White."
All of the preceding was written in typeset in the indicia on page 4.
*A Short History of “The Eye”*
The Eye was created by Richard “Grass” Green in 1955. The character was first drawn (and colored) on a “character card” by Green on “11-4-55”.
Ronn Foss was friends with Green in High School where they often collaborated on comic creations. Years later, Foss had become the editor of the premiere fan publication, Alter Ego. He would sometimes visit members of the new comic fandom on his travels. Sometime between early 1963 to summer 1964 (accounts differ), he was making one such visit to an active member of fandom, a fireman named Billy J. White (better known as Biljo or Capt. Biljo). Biljo had drawn an original one-off character called the Eye for Foss’ The Comicollector fanzine (C.C. #11). Foss recalled The Eye character created by Green in their high school days. Either he reproduced an image of The Eye during his visit, actually had the original “character card” with him at the time of the visit, or sent a copy of Green’s original concept to Biljo before the visit, (again, accounts differ). In any case, Biljo was impressed with the looks of the character and wanted develop him in comic story form. He wrote to “Grass” Green for permission to develop the character and received it.
The Eye’s first 7-page adventure was in the ditto fanzine, Star-Studded Comics (Texas Trio, 1963 series) #3 (March, 1964) in a story called “Introducing = The Eye”. In this issue also appeared a two-thirds page strip that explained “Some Powers of the Eye”; the bottom third of the page was a preview of The Eye story to follow. He next appeared in Fighting Hero Comics (S.F.C.A., 1962 series) #10 (June, 1964) in a story called, “The Eye Unmasked”; this story was also in ditto format. A few years later, Fighting Hero Comics Special Edition (S.F.C.A., 1967 series) reprinted the story. The character then moved to a fandom newspaper that ran comic strips, Voice of Comicdom (Franke & Dubay, 1964). Issues 2 & 3 ran “Daily format” strips, with the 4th issue they changed to double tier strips (or “Sunday format”), and soon after that the strips went to full-page. Many of these double tier & full-page creations were reprinted in the comic that contained his next appearance. This appearance came in the first fandom comic devoted to a single character, The Eye Special #1 (often incorrectly listed as “The Eye” #1) (S.F.C.A./White House of Comics, 1965 series). This issue included a basic recreation of the first story. There were, however, some changes in the art and an additional story page was added. This issue was “photo-off-set” and drawn in ink; the story was renamed, simply, “The Eye”, as well. This issue also had other material about The Eye in it. It contained a reworking of the 2/3-page strip in S.-S.C. #3 called, the shortened, “Powers of The Eye”; this time it was presented in full-page format. Another full-page called “’Inside’ The Eye” was also included, as well as, 6 pages of reprints from the Voice of Comicdom. It took a few years, but The Eye finally reappeared in The Eye #2 (Capt. Biljo Presents #2) (S.F.C.A./White House of Comics, 1969 series) in a story that presented the long awaited, “The Origin of The Eye”. Here, the story itself was 10 pages and had a one-page “Prologue:” and a one-page “Epilogue:”. The next appearance was several years later in the Comic Crusader Storybook (Martin L. Greim, 1977); this story was called, “The Secret Lair of the Eye” (12 pages).
After this time, The Eye went on an extended hiatus until Hamster Press brought the character back in reprints of the original stories. A few years later more reprints were released, as well as, a new story, after 21 years, by Capt. Biljo. This was followed by still more reprints and a revival of the character in stories NOT by Biljo White but produced with his blessing.
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