Altron-Boy, Pt. 1

Larry Ivie's MONSTERS & HEROES  1
"TEMPLE OF EVIL"
"INTRODUCING ALTRON-BOY"

This is a project that's near and dear to my heart, and is many years overdue.

Larry Ivie (1936-2014) was an early force of nature in comics fandom.  As a writer & artist, he had material published in CASTLE OF FRANKENSTEIN, GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION, IF, CREEPY, EERIE, the odd Marvel Comic, and reportedly helped co-create T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS.  He may have even been the one who suggested the name "Creepy" to Warren.  He also made his own fan films, usually involving super-heroes.  A real rennaisance man!  By various accounts, he was someone who should have gotten a lot further than he did. 
I can relate.

But to me, his biggest accomplishment was his own MONSTERS & HEROES magazine.  It featured articles about monster movies, old cliffhanger serials, and anything connected with Edgar Rice Burroughs.  His articles put the emphasis more on visuals than text years before Jim Steranko did the same in MEDIASCENE PREVUE, and the writing, more mature in tone than Forry Ackerman's FAMOUS MONSTERS, noticably improved halfway through the short 7-issue run.  Although M&H had the look of an amateur fanzine, Ivie somehow managed to get it national distribution, a feat that frankly amazes me.

The 1st issue contained a 5-page horror story of the like Warren featured in CREEPY and EERIE.  I decided to include that here, along with any other art Ivie did in the issue.  Why not?

One of the highlights of the magazine, and the main focus of this blog project, is his super-hero series... Altron-Boy.  At age 10, I was already doing my own home-made comics about a young super-hero, but looking back, it's very possible Ivie's work may have inspired some of the elements that found their way into the stories I did decades later.

I've found some or all of Altron-Boy posted online, but I decided not to let that stop me from doing my own tribute.  And I can assure you, EVERY page I'm posting here was scanned & cleaned up from my own copies of the magazine.  And I'm hoping to make these blog pages a bit more "personal" than others I've seen.

ENJOY!

Larry Ivie's MONSTERS & HEROES  1
cover by LARRY IVIE   (M & H Publications  /  1967)

Page 8  /  The Controversy of Frankenstein

"TEMPLE OF EVIL"
Story & Art by LARRY IVIE
Page 12

Page 13

Page 14

Page 15

Page 16

Page 18  /  Heroes of Radio

THE SAGA OF THE ALTRON-BOY:
   THE CRUSADE AGAINST VOLTAR:  Chapter One
      "INTRODUCING ALTRON-BOY"
Story & Art by LARRY IVIE  /  Page 33

Page 34

Page 35

Page 36

Page 37

Page 38

Back Cover  /  The Son Of Tarzan

"INTRODUCING ALTRON-BOY" was reprinted along with a ton of other "fanzine" hero strips in Bill Schelly's fabulous anthology...

FANDOM'S FINEST COMICS  [1]
cover by Richard Green, Landon Chesney, Howard Keltner, Ronn Foss,
   Dave Herring, Roy Thomas, Jeff Jones & Biljo White   (Hamster Press  /  1997)

MONSTERS & HEROES  Copyright (C) LARRY IVIE.
FANDOM'S FINEST COMICS  Copyright (C) Bill Schelly
     & the various artists.

Scans from MY collection!
     with special thanks to Fred Marcus.

Restorations by Henry R. Kujawa.

For more:
See more Larry Ivie art at the ERBzine site.
See the Gods Of Mars gallery at the ERBzine site.
Read the obituary/tribute to Larry Ivie at Buzz Dixon's site.
Read Sandy Plunkett's article about Larry Ivie in ALTER EGO 152.

See the Larry Ivie Gallery of Illustrations!
Read CAPTIVE BRIDE OF THE APE MEN!
Read THE LAST WAR!
Read SKY BOY!   (Coming soon!)
Read the entire ALTRON-BOY series!

(Continued in Altron-Boy, Pt. 2)