Croutch Magazine Mart News
CMMN was published by Leslie A. Croutch, it was Canadian Fandom's earliest adzine, begun circa 1937/1938. It eventually evolved into Canada's third fanzine (after Frome's Supramundane Stories and the earlier The Canadian Science Fiction Fan by an unknown faned), but which, in its final incarnation as Light, had a far wider distribution, greater impact and much longer lifespan than Frome's zine.
Not even Croutch preserved the first 85 issues of CMMN. As quoted in the 1952 Evans/Pavlat Zine Index, Croutch stated his own records began with #86A (Sept 1940) "...when I started using regular typewriter paper. Before that I have no copies left." Most sources indicate these early issues were carbonzines, i.e. multiple carbon copies banged out on a typewriter, but surely the top copy would have been on "regular typewriter paper"? Yet Croutch didn't use such till #86A. This may have implied that the first 85 issues were hectographed. However, this is unlikely as Harry Warner, Jr. describes Croutch's 1930's output as: "a carbon-copied listing of his stock for trading", and further, J. R. Columbo says that Croutch would type 6 or 7 copies, and not only mail them off to friends, but the original top copy as well! So carbonzine it is. Alas, no copies of any issue of Croutch Magazine Mart News are currently known to exist (except possibly in [[Harry Warner, Jr.]'s collection).
Though originally strictly listings of books and magazines for sale or trade, Croutch gradually began adding filler in the form of cartoons, editorials, and even fiction, gradually evolving CMMN into a perzine.
| Issue | Date | Pages | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 86A | September 24, 1940 | now a carbonzine | |
| 87 | October 1, 1940 | story: "The Black Castle" (cribbed from Bela Lugosi's version of Dracula) | |
| 88 | October 15, 1040 | ||
| 89 | October 31, 1940 | ||
| 90 | November 15, 1940 | ||
| 91 | December 1, 1940 | ||
| 92 | December 25, 1940 | story: "The Summons" | |
| 93 | January 1, 1941 | now titled Croutch News | |
| 94 | January 15, 1941 | story: "Aboard A Comet: A Story Of 4000 A.D." | |
| 95 | February 1, 1941 | story: "The Radio Mystery" | |
| 96 | February 15, 1941 | ||
| 97 | March 1, 1941 | story: "The Haunted Classroom" | |
| 98 | March 15, 1941 | ||
| 99 | April 1, 1941 | last carbonzine | |
| 100 | Now titled Electron | ||
| 101 | |||
| 102 | |||
| 103 | |||
| 104 | June 14, 1941 | back to Crouch News, now hecktograped | |
| 105 | July 1, 1941 | ||
| 106 | July 15, 1941 | 6 | |
| 107 | August 1941 | 8 | |
| 108 | September 1941 | Now permanently titled Light |
Contributors: CanFancyclopedia
| Publication | ???? |
| This is a publication page. Please extend it by adding information about when and by whom it was published, how many issues it has had, (including adding a partial or complete checklist), its contents (including perhaps a ToC listing), its size and repro method, regular columnists, its impact on fandom, or by adding scans or links to scans. See Standards for Publications. |
