This is the first issue of the long-running (150 issues!) fanzine COMICS INTERVIEW, published in February 1983.
I have a whole bunch of these (snaffled-up from a particularly satisfying raid on a dealer's bargain boxes a few years ago… although I picked this one up separately later) and they make for a great retrospective of the comics (and comics-related entertainment industry) throughout the eighties and into the nineties.
The joy is not only the range of topics covered (usually a mix of creators working on current "hot" or newsworthy books and more obscure, but no less fascinating, players in the industry) but the depth of the interviews. The page count allocated to each can vary… but some occupy a considerable number of pages. CI also wasn't afraid to sit down and discuss the business behind the industry.
I don't know the details of why it closed in 1995 but, like the contemporary AMAZING HEROES (another essential read), I imagine it started to look old-fashioned and not sensationalist enough alongside the likes of full-colour and speculator-obsessed WIZARD and HEROES ILLUSTRATED.
CI also spun-off a number of squarebound compilations of previously-published interviews which are also well-worth seeking out.
I have just found out that collected volumes of interviews are now available (two already published, a third in production and a total of 11 planned) from Lulu. I've not ordered yet… but I certainly plan to…
Details are here.
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