Myron Fass

Myron Fass (March 29, 1926 – September 14, 2006) was an American publisher of pulp magazines and comic books, operating from the 1950s through the 1990s under a multitude of company names, including M. F. Enterprises and Eerie Publications. At his height in the 1970s, Fass was known as the biggest multi-title newsstand magazine publisher in the country. He put out up to fifty titles a month, many of them one-offs, covering any subject matter he thought would sell, from soft-core pornography to professional wrestling, UFOs to punk rock, horror films to firearm magazines.

Biography Early life Fass was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of an Orthodox Jewish laborer.

Comics artist Starting in 1948 and until the mid-1950s shrinkage of the industry initiated by the institution of the Comics Code, Fass illustrated horror, crime, romance, Western, and other comics for a multitude of publishers, including Ace Periodicals, Avon Comics, Charlton Comics, Fawcett Comics, Feature Comics, Fox Comics, Lev Gleason Publications, Magazine Enterprises, Marvel Comics, Story Comics, Street & Smith Comics, and Trojan Comics. Fass produced some of this material with the S. M. Iger Studio from 1949–1953. For Toby Press, Fass was a regular artist on Dr. Anthony King, Hollywood Love Doctor, Great Lover Romances, John Wayne Adventure Comics, Tales of Horror, and War.

Publisher In 1956, Fass packaged the Whitestone Publishing title Lunatickle, one of the first imitators of EC's Mad magazine. (Fass was a huge admirer of EC publisher William Gaines.) Eerie's output was a low-rent response to the popularity of the Warren Publishing horror comic magazines Creepy and Eerie. Fass's titles, all of which featured grisly, lurid color covers, included Weird, Horror Tales, Terror Tales, Tales from the Tomb, Tales of Voodoo, and Witches' Tales. Fass's brother Irving worked as an art director, and an old collaborator from the Iger studio days, Robert W. Farrell, had the title of publisher.

Eerie stayed in business until 1981, although co-owner Harris left in 1976 after a series of disputes with the mercurial Fass. He lived in New Jersey with his wife Phyllis and an assortment of luxury automobiles.

Titles published Comic books and magazines Captain Marvel (1966) Captain Marvel Presents the Terrible 5 (1966) Gasm (5 issues, 1977–1978) — Heavy Metal knockoff Horror Tales (1969–1979) Tales from the Tomb (1969–1975) Tales of Voodoo (1968–1974) Terror Tales (1969–1979) — revival of 1930s pulp magazine published by Popular Publications Weird (1966–1981) Witches' Tales (1969–1975)

Crime Homicide Detective Murder Squad Detective Son of Sam The World of Sherlock Holmes True Sex Crimes

Firearms .44 Mag / .44 and Magnum GunPro (launched mid-1980s) Shooting Bible Shotgun Journal USA Guns (launched mid-1980s)

Men's magazines Bold Brute Buccaneer Companion Flick Jaguar Pic Poorboy

Monster magazines Shock Tales (launched 1959) Thriller (3 issues, 1962)

Movies and TV Movie Lies Movie TV Secrets PhotoTV Land TV Photo Story

Music Acid Rock Fourteen Fifteen Fever 15 Fever Groupie Rock Hard Rock Led Zep Pop Rock Special Punk Rock Rock Rock 79 Rock Awards Rock Fever Awards Rock Gossip Rock Groupie Rock Mania Rockworld Rock'N Roll Special Rock Spectacular Rock Star Super Rock Super Rock Awards Super Rock Spectacular

Tabloids Hush-Hush News (launched 1968) — same title as 1950s-1960s gossip magazine National Mirror (1964–1973)

UFOs Ancient Astronauts Clones Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind ESP Official UFO Space Trek Space Wars Star Warp

Misc. Confidential Report / Confidential Sex Report GadgetWorld Hall of Fame Wrestling Official American Horseman People Today Predictions Private Confessions of Doctors and Nurses Quick (launched 1964) Show Dogs True War Uncensored — scandal magazine