Alan Austin’s Comics Unlimited/Fantasy Unlimited fanzine returns for final tribute issue

Alan Austin (1955-2017) was one of the most respected figures in UK comic book fandom. He published a major fanzine about American comic books throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s, at first named Fantasy Unlimited (later Comics Unlimited), and also the Golden Age Fanzine, Whiz Kids (devoted to the original Captain Marvel and other Fawcett heroes) and the DC and Marvel Comics Indexes.

He demanded the highest standards possible when it came to both the text and art for his publications, and so he gave a showcase to a number of future professionals in the comic book business, including, amongst others, Stephen Baskerville and Kevin O’Neill.

Alan also published the first Comic Book Price Guide for Great Britain. When it came to the prices commanded for back issues of comic books, Alan was always on the side of the comic collector. He published his UK Price Guide in an attempt to stabilise the market and give ammunition to the unwary fan against the odd rogue profiteering comic dealer.

Alan also wrote two books. One was about his life in comics, Comics Unlimited: My life as a Comic Collector and Dealer, the other about his experiences as a book dealer (in fiction form, as a series of short stories), The Adventures of Bernie Burrows, Bookseller. Both of these books are still available on Amazon as paperbacks and ebooks.

Now his Comics Unlimited fanzine is to be revived for a final issue, to include a celebration of his immense contribution to UK fandom in the 1970s and early 1980s.

‘It was Will Morgan’s excellent idea to have this one-off issue, and try to involve as many of the original contributors as possible,’ says Nigel Brown, who published Alan’s posthumous books. ‘I was doubtful it was a practical project after fifty years gone by, but I’ve been delighted at the response from names that will be familiar to regular readers of the fanzine, including Will himself – who contributed to FU/CU under his birth name of Howard Stangroom – Martin Lock, Allan J. Palmer “the Phantom Rambler”, Stephen Baskerville, Patrick Marcel, Jean-Daniel Brèque and many others.

‘This has been an opportunity for previous contributors to Comics Unlimited to be back in the fanzine one last time, with personal memories and anecdotes about Alan,’ Nigel adds. ‘But Comics Unlimited #54 will also offer its usual articles, and regular favourites like “We Want Information”, a new “Worlds of Emlock”, and even a special sequel to a comic strip first published in the fanzine forty-nine years ago!’

Comics Unlimited #54 will be independently published, and is a non-profit project, published with the permission of Alan’s literary estate. Publication will be later this year, with no firm release date as yet.

It will only be available in softcover hard copy, not digital, so as to comfortably sit on the shelf next to previous issues of the fanzine.

UPDATE: Nigel has now confirmed that – since there were equal quantities of the magazine published as Comics Unlimited and Fantasy Unlimited – he will be reverting to the original Fantasy Unlimited title for this final issue.