HOT STUF
Hot Stuf’
Sal Q (1974-78)
Publication Dates: Summer 1974 – [Summer] 1978
Number of Issues Published: 8 (#1 – #8)
Color: Color Cover; Black and White Interior
Dimensions: Magazine-size (#1, 2); Standard Modern Age US (#3-8)
Paper Stock: Glossy cover
Binding: Saddle-stitched
Publishing Format: Was ongoing
Publication Type: magazine
One of several comics serving as a kind of halfway house between the underground and the mainstream scenes, Hot Stuf’ was a black-and-white anthology that never quite established a distinctive personality. Typically, many of the strips were science-fiction or fantasy-oriented, by far the best being by Richard Corben (#1–3, 5) and Gray Morrow reviving his “Orion” strip in #2 and #4, and of particular note was a lovely 1930s detective strip from the great Alex Toth in #4. The comic’s most interesting artist, however, was Bill Maher, whose work ran the gamut from bigfoot cartoons and slick dystopian science fiction to rough-hewn autobiography and Manga pastiches. Most issues contained his work, with #7 and #8 being his best. Peculiarly, he doesn’t appear to have cropped up in any other publications and that’s very much our loss.