Author Michael Vance writes to tell us that the satiric comic strip he was involved with in the 1980s, Holiday Out, is finally, for the first time, to be available in a collection from Main Enterprises.
Vance describes the strip as one he produced with “several well-known cartoonists”, and that it “was syndicated in more than one hundred newspapers, magazine, and fanzines during its peak. Three issues of Holiday Out were also published as a comic book by Renegade Press, but the complete run of the satiric comic strip has never been available—until today.”
The Complete Holiday Out will be a 16-issue, digest-sized comic book. The first issue, which is available here, features two comic book stories written by Vance and drawn by artist Richard “Grass” Green (a founder of comics fandom), and Chas Smith.
Jim Main, publisher of Main Enterprises, says “I’m excited to be publishing The Complete Holiday Out, and I thank Michael Vance for the opportunity to let people get a chance to see these rare treasures. The team who produced the comic strip worked so well together in these satiric fantasies. I’m sure many will enjoy these collections of some of the most offbeat comic material ever seen. I’m certain it will do as well as the very successful Forever Green, which was previously published, .featuring a collection of ‘Holiday Out’ strips and other material primarily drawn by Richard ‘Grass’ Green.”
Vance’s book Forbidden Adventures: The History of the American Comics Group has been called a “benchmark in comics history”. He has written the comic strip Alley Oop, and comic books including Straw Men, Angel of Death, The Adventures of Captain Nemo, and Bloodtide.