''Fantasy Advertiser'', later abbreviated to ''FA'', was a British

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by fan (person), enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) ...

focused on

comic books A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

, founded in 1965 by Frank Dobson, the "Godfather of British Fandom."Skinn, Dez
"Early days of UK comics conventions and marts,"
DezSkinn.com. Accessed 3 Mar. 2013. Starting out as an adzine focused on the sale of primarily second-hand comics, it eventually transitioned into a true comics fanzine. ''FA'' now operates as a comics

webzine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a print magazine format to being online only was the computer magaz ...

Publication history

1965–1979: Dodson/Skinn/McCartney era

Frank Dobson established ''Fantasy Advertiser'' as an adzine — essentially an advertising service for comic collectors. Dobson published 31 issues of ''Fantasy Advertiser'', but when he emigrated to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 1970 he handed the zine on to two contributors,

Dez Skinn Derek "Dez" Skinn (born 4 February 1951) Miller, John Jackson"Comics Industry Birthdays" ''Comics Buyer's Guide'', 10 June 2005. Accessed 14 August 2010WebCitation archive is a British comic and magazine editor, and author of a number of books o ...

and Paul McCartney, to continue. (Dodson, meanwhile, returned from Australia and opened a comics retailing location, Weird Fantasy Bookshop, on Lewisham Way in

New Cross New Cross is an area in south east London, England, south-east of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham and the SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwich, ...

.)Sallis, Ed. "Fan-Things," ''Bemusing Magazine'' #10 (Aug. 1976), p. 7. Skinn and McCartney expanded the magazine to include more articles and artwork. Regular contributors included

Dave Gibbons David Chester Gibbons (born 14 April 1949) is an English comics artist, writer and sometimes letterer. He is best known for his collaborations with writer Alan Moore, which include the miniseries ''Watchmen'' and the Superman story "For the Man ...

Steve Parkhouse Steve Parkhouse is a writer, artist and letterer who has worked for many British comics, especially '' 2000 AD'' and ''Doctor Who Magazine''. Biography Parkhouse has worked in comics since 1967, when he drew the occasional "Power House Pin-Up" ...

Paul Neary Paul Neary (born 1949) is a British comic book artist, writer and editor. His first work was for Warren Publishing in the 1970s before working with Dez Skinn at Marvel UK as well as work for '' 2000 AD''. He later became editor-in-chief of Mar ...

Jim Baikie James George Baikie (28 February 1940 – 29 December 2017) was a Scottish comics artist best known for his work with Alan Moore on ''Skizz''. He was also a musician. Biography Baikie served as a Corporal with the Royal Air Force in 1956–1963 ...

, and Kevin O'Neill. Skinn left in 1976,Dez Skinn
"Fantasy Advertiser: the Big One!"
/ref> at which point it was taken over by retailer/distributor Colin Campbell, who edited ''FA'' until 1978. Dobson returned to publish five more issues in 1978–1979, when the fanzine went dormant.

1981–1988: Lock/Skidmore era

Martin Lock Martin Lock (born 1950Willis, Russell"AN INTERVIEW WITH MARTIN LOCK (PART THREE , THE HARRIER COMICS YEARS),"''Under the Stairs'' (2013). Accessed Feb. 8, 2020. in the United Kingdom) is a British comic book critic, writer, and publisher. As pu ...

, fresh off publishing his long-running fanzine '' BEM'', revived ''Fantasy Advertiser'' in 1981. In 1985,Gavin Burrows
"Bookmark this, comic fans! The return of sweet 'FA'"
Lucid Frenzy Junior, 8 November 2010 after four years overseeing ''FA'', Lock handed over the editorial reins to Martin SkidmoreGavin Burrows

, ''Vicious'' #5, July 1996, hosted at BugPowder so Lock could focus on his next venture, the publishing company

Harrier Comics Harrier Comics (officially known as Harrier Publishing) was a British comic book publisher active in the mid-to-late 1980s. Harrier was notable for putting out black-and-white comics in a mold more similar to American comics than to typical Brit ...

. Skidmore shortened the name to ''FA'' — he didn't want it to "sound like a sexual contacts mag," and wanted to move away from the equation of comics with fantasy, expanding coverage of different genres.About Comiczine FA
/ref> Skidmore made the magazine more provocative and political.

1988–1991: Neptune era

With issue #100 (March 1988), ''FA'' was taken over by

Neptune Distribution Neptune Distribution was a UK based comic distribution company founded and headquartered in Leicester, which existed from 1985 to 1991. Neptune Comics (as it was named at the outset), began as a small B2C mail order company selling American comi ...

; with issue #108 (Nov. 1998), ''FA'' began to be published by Neptune's comics division,

Trident Comics Trident Comics was a comic book publishing company based in Leicester, UK, specialising in black and white comics created by new British talent. It was formed in 1989 as an offshoot of the comics distributor/wholesaler Neptune Distribution, ...

. The final monthly issue of ''FA'' was #114, dated October 1989; its final published issue was #115, released in 1991. Trident went under in 1992 when its parent company, Neptune Distribution, was acquired by

Diamond Comics Distributors Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. (often called Diamond Comics, DCD, or casually Diamond) is an American comic book distributor serving retailers in North America and worldwide. They transport comic books and graphic novels, as well as other pop ...

2010: Online relaunch

In October 2010 Skidmore relaunched ''FA'' as an online zine, including reviews, articles, interviews and original comics. ''FA'' is now published by Tony Keen, Andrew Moreton, and Will Morgan.

Editors

* Frank Dobson — issues #1–31 (1965–1970), #65–69 (1978–1979) *

(with Paul McCartney) — issues #32–58 (1970–1976) * Colin Campbell — issues #59–64 (1976–1977) *

— issues #70–89 (1981–1984) * Martin Skidmore — issues #90-115 (1985–1991)

Awards

* 1977 Eagle Award nomination for Favourite British Fan Publication * 1978 Eagle Award nomination for Favourite Fan Publication * 1985 Eagle Award for Favourite Speciality Comics Publication * 1986 Eagle Award nomination for Favourite Specialist Comics PublicationPrevious Winners: 1986
at the official Eagle Awards website, archived at The Wayback Machine. (Retrieved 22 September 2018.)

References

Fantasy Advertiser
at CLASSIC UK COMICS ZINES
Fantasy Advertiser section
of Dez Skinn's website {{Comics information sources 1965 establishments in the United Kingdom British comics zines Magazines about comics Magazines established in 1965 Trident Comics titles Websites about comics