Mike Kaluta's As Night Falls

There was a brief period in the very early '70's when the Studio guys, and their artistic brethren ( people like Bruce Jones, Ralph Reese, Richard Corben & Frank Brunner ) regularly contributed to fanzines while still doing pro work.
Tho' most of these zines actually were quite professional themselves, so maybe prozine or ground level comic is a better title. Kind of cousins to Star*Reach or Hot Stuf'. Regardless, they're the kind of thing well worth seeking out online or at cons, as they invariably contain wonderful, unseen work.
As Night Falls appeared in long lost books such as Reality, Infinity & Phase, and is an example of the kind of fantasy prevalent in the Bronze Age, and that I really miss these days.
The last time I recall seeing something like this was Pacific's Pathways To Fantasy, and that was only one issue.
As Night Falls, meanwhile, really should be read at dawn on the first day of Autumn. But it's still magical, whenever you read it.

Flash Gordon's Heritage

While we're all in a space-opera kind of mood, here's some fun. Heritage was a Flash Gordon pro-zine that produced two issues in 1972, with  features, pin-ups and comic strips about Flash from some famous fans. You won't need any introductions, as you'll know most everybody here and, as very little of this has ever been reprinted, it's all a bit of an unexpected treat. Interestingly, most of the artists chose to go down the parody route, although there are couple of strangely quite moving pieces.

Here's all I've managed to get decent scans of round the blogosphere from both issues.

Doorway To Nightmare With Madame Xanadu

Madame Xanadu was a mysterious Mistress Of The Mystic Arts who ran a spooky curio shop in Greenwich Village, just around the corner from Doc Strange's place.
She was apparantly a rejig of this character, a spooky hostess Mike Kaluta had created for Forbidden Tales Of Dark Mansion and mostly just referred to as the Dark Mansion Witch.

Originally crammed into lower tier DC mystery book The Unexpected alongside a bunch of other homeless horror hosts, she got her own short-lived series in 1978, welcoming travellers into her store of mystery, and reading their fate in the Tarot cards she invariably had to hand.
Each issue was deliberately by a different creative team, which is a fun idea, but which probably contributed to the books' short 5 issue run.

There was also a later Steve Englehart / Marshall Rogers one-off comeback issue a couple of years later, and the obligatory guest slot in DC Comics Presents, before the Madame was relegated to occasional cameo appearances whenever anybody needed a spooky mystic.
Meanwhile, back at the curio shop, each issue can best be described as New York mystery romance, with Madame Xanadu portrayed as sometimes host, sometimes participant. Plus you get a superb Mike Kaulta cover each time out. It's a limited premise, but is great fun in small doses. Here's the first issue, from David Michelenie and Val Mayerik: