It’s a good thing I put issue numbers on these things, because the covers are all basically the same – Capt. Fantastic standing in heroic pose, or at least the best my hand could render.

One of the more interesting parts of the cover to me – and you’ll excuse me for becoming even more self-indulgent here – is the use of chapters. I know exactly where I got that from. When I was around 8 or 9, there was a UHF channel I would watch all the time when I lived in Fairfield, CA – just outside of Travis Air Force Base. I’ll only say that my childhood was quite troubled at that point due to family situations, but I was able to take refuge in the genre stories that I delighted in. It was on this UHF channel that I discovered old time movie serials, specifically things like Flash Gordon and Captain America and Commander Cody, all packaged together in a regular format under the heading of Solid Gold Heroes.

The channel itself would show serials, superhero cartoons, Universal monster movies in rotating chunks several times a day – so let’s say The Wolfman showed in the morning, it would also show at 4 p.m. and then 9 p.m. I loved that channel. I’d like to say it was Channel 61, but of course this was decades ago.

Anyhow, I was fascinated by the serials and that is where I got my episode device here – I was mimicking that and – seriously I though this way – and wanted to meld that with comics publishing conventions.

As to the rest of the issue, what to say? By inserting the word “dumest” I didn’t think much of the dream plot even back then. It is kinda weird, I have to admit, but then it provides one incredibly strange image – the opening with Capt. Fantastic on the operating table – that I think is pretty great years later, even if it’s not drawn particularly well at all. Actually, it’s drawn poorly … but the intention to get a little weird is appreciated.