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 Rob Imes has been in touch with news for Ditko fans:

“Hi folks, 

With Bill Hall’s blessing, I have decided to revive the fanzine he edited from 1983 to 1999, DITKOMANIA.  

The new issue (#64) releases March 1st, and will be in the same zine format as DM used for most of its run.  

(One quality difference: there will now be a cardstock cover instead or a regular paper cover. It only costs 10 cents more to print a cardstock cover than a regular paper one, and I think it looks better.)  

DM #64 is being put together right now, but the covers are drawn (both by me, the front cover of Speedball, the back cover of Static), and the lead article about Speedball is done, and being typed up now.  

DM #65 (scheduled for June) will have an item or two about Star Guider in it. 

Contributions of reviews, articles, fan art, etc. are welcome and encouraged! Contributors receive a free copy of the DM issue in which their work appears. 

Here’s the bad part: Postage rates being what they are, it costs a dollar in postage alone just to mail out an issue of DM now. Combined with photocopy costs, I’m going to have to make DM cover-priced at $2.50 per issue postpaid. Since I plan to make DM a quarterly zine, that means a one-year subscription would be 4 issues for $10.00. I had wanted to make it cost less than that, much less actually, but it’s just not possible. (But remember, if you want to get DM free, then mail me something I can print in it!) 

Given that DITKOMANIA has now become a bit of a collectable in some quarters (particularly eBay), I’ve decided that all new issues of DM will now be hand-numbered. My intention is to print 200 copies of DM #64, leaving a space in the indicia for the individual copy’s number, which I will then write by hand in pen. Those 200 copies would be DM #64′s “First Printing” and noted as such. When/if those 200 copies are gone, I’ll go back and do a “Second Printing,” and so on, the same way. 

My ultimate goal is to have EVERY back issue of Ditkomania in print, available at the same price as a current issue. Bill Hall has also given me permission to reprint past issues of Ditkomania in this fashion. The first one that I’m going to reprint as a “Second Printing” is DM #11, the oldest one in my collection. And again, each will be marked clearly as a “Second Printing” and hand-numbered by me. More on this “Second Printings Project” after DM #64 gets done!  

Well, that’s all for now. I just wanted to let all Ditkofans know that DITKOMANIA is on the way back in a few short weeks! 

You can email me at robimes@yahoo. com for more info.

Rob Imes”