Friday, December 09, 2005

Death of a Small-Press Legend

Zinester Mike Appelstein points us to this tribute to Bill-Dale Marcinko, the gonzo college newspaper editor who inspired him to open his brain and write. Marcinko, who had been supporting himself selling CDs on eBay, apparently died in a house fire when firemen were held back by cardboard boxes full of his collections. Still, he did fake his death several times before. His friends, most of whom haven't spoken to him in years, are hoping this is just a more elaborate prank.

Here's
the beginning of a tribute page to Bill-Dale Marcinko and his work, including AFTA zine, described as perhaps "the first comics 'zine distributed to book and comic shops that combined comedy, politics and reviews on books, films, and comics. It was very much an underground version of Crawdaddy, though with vastly personal content."

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