Cara Sherman

Fan
Name:	Cara Sherman, Cara Sherman-Tereno, Cara Sherman Tereno
Alias(es):
Type:	zine editor, fanartist, fanwriter, zine publisher
Fandoms:	Star Trek TOS, comics
Communities:
Other:
URL:
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Cara Sherman was a zine editor, artist, and writer.

She passed away February 13, 1996.

Meta

• Kraith Review (Whap! Crunch! Ow!) (1974)
• Anybody care to describe a typical lay-Spock story to me? Better yet, explain why anybody would go through the mental torture prerequisite to formulating a feasible plot to lay the bugger? (1975)
• Why do people become fans? More specifically, why am I a fan? (1975)

Work in Media Zines

• Despatch
• Eel-Bird Banders' Bulletin
• Independent Entity
• Klingon Empire Appointment Calendar
• Kraith Collected
• Masiform D
• Menagerie
• Rigel
• Romulan Wine
• Seldon's Plan
• Sol III
• Star Trek Today
• Vulcanalia

Sample Art

1972

• 

  from Vulcanalia

• 

  from Vulcanalia -- "I enjoyed the caricature page 4, firstly because of the light, cartoony style and secondly because of the funny lines. Who SAYS women don't have a sense of humor. And howcum you don't letter this well on your other things?"

• 

  from Vulcanalia -- "All I can say about page 11 is that if all cult high priestesses looked like that, I'd go and find me a cult and join it. What was most striking outside of the bare chest, again, was the clothing of the figure. Having worked in costume design I can appreciate the problems in clothing a seated figure. Page 11 impressed me more for the clothing of the figure than the baring of it. Quite good...."

• 

  from Vulcanalia -- "Page 8! You've broken another unwritten rule; demure young fannes are not supposed to think like that, Male fans, yes, but not the females.... I enjoyed it, though,- as I do most studies of raunchy nudes...."

• 

  from Romulan Wine #2

• 

  from Romulan Wine #2

• 

  from Romulan Wine #2, from The Fiendish Offendie Affair

• 

  from Romulan Wine #2, "It ain't easy growing up Jewish in essentially stoic neighborhood."

• 

  from Romulan Wine #2, "Has anyone ever told you you're revolting in the nude?"

• 

  from Romulan Wine #2, -- Sherman wrote in the zine: "Anyway, that's SAKENN. I asked a friend of mine what he thought and he replied simply, "It's Just Conan with pointed ears." SIGH. Since I created Sakenn as an attempt to get away from my late tendencies to over-complicate my characters, and created him before I'd read Conan (though after the comic came out), he'll probably diverge from, the stereotypical barbarian swordsman in some ways. I hope so. I hate the stereotype."

1974

• 

  from Sol III #1

• 

  from Kraith Collected #3

• 

  from Kraith Collected #3

• 

  from Romulan Wine #3

• 

  from Romulan Wine #3

• 

  from Romulan Wine #4

• 

  from Independent Entity #1, the caption: "... and finally, if you lay any more of the 'General Order Number One' bullshit on us, we'll rip your faces off!"

1975

• 

  from Star Trek Today #5, artists are Burt Libe and Cara Sherman - a bit of RPF

• 

  from Romulan Wine #5

• 

  from Despatch #25

• 

  from Independent Entity #2

1976

• 

  from Masiform D #5

• 

  from Masiform D #5

Fan Comments

Cara Sherman Tereno was one of the few women to work in mainstream American comics during the 1980s. She has mostly worked for DC Comics on titles like 'Arion, Lord of Atlantis', but was also active in alternative and fandom circles.

[...]

Sherman published five issues of Romulan Wine, a fanzine dedicated to the sci-fi TV series 'Star Trek'. It featured stories and articles by Sherman and others, including the artist Dave Puckett (D. Puck). Sherman and Puck cooperated on a story about Ancient Vulcan, the origin planet of the franchise's extraterrestrial humanoid species, the Vulcans. To be sure, Sherman wrote 'Star Trek' creator Gene Roddenberry for his approval, and received it! The fifth issue was called 'The Porno Issue' and contained explicit erotic fanfiction.

In the 1980s she was active in the mainstream comic book scene. She made an appearance in the May 1984 issue of DC's 'New Talent Showcase' with her 6-page story 'Moon River'. In 1984 and 1985 she worked on several issues of the sword and sorcery title 'Arion, Lord of Atlantis', created by Paul Kupperberg and Jan Duursema. In 1984 Sherman provided additional artwork for the first issue of Marvel's fantasy-supernatural series 'Timespirits' by Tom Yeates and Steve Perry. She had a story published in 'Tales of Terror' #4 by Eclipse in 1986 and drew a story with Chris Warner for the third issue of the superhero comic 'The American' (Dark Horse, 1987), created by Mark Verheiden.

Sherman furthermore drew the fifth issue of 'Evangeline' (First Comics, 1988), the "sexy killer vigilante nun" created by husband and wife team Chuck Dixon and Judith Hunt. In 1989 she also drew a story for DC's 'Wonder Woman Annual'. For herself and the non-mainstream press she produced gay vampire erotica, such as the story 'Life With The Vampire', which was drawn in 1978, but published in Taboo #2 in 1989. Cara Sherman Tereno died of leukemia in February 1996, aged 44.

Cara was a very independent person, somewhat of a feminist and pretty much a devoted Zionist. Her interests surpassed merely artwork and writing and she was well-educated. Her letters were always uplifting, caring and humorous. Her paintings were excellant. We "swapped" paintings one time (the above pictured of the Vulcan woman). That painting she sent me has always had an honored place somewhere in every house or apartment that I've ever lived in since I obtained it 30 years ago.

Cara published a fanzine called Romulan Wine which was basically dedicated to Star Trek, of which she (and I as well) were big fans. [...] We even collaborated on a comic strip that was published in two issues. She had asked me if I was interested in writing and penciling a strip, and she'd revise and ink it, and we wanted something in the Star Trek fashion. I wrote a story about Ancient Vulcan, the main character of which was a chieftain named Mort III. Cara loved it, but was afraid that Gene Roddenberry might not approve, so she wrote him several times, and eventually, he did indeed approve of the script and even gave his blessing, making it an authorized part of Vulcan History. She published it in two-parts in her fanzine, and, to my knowledge, it was the first time anything in comic strip format referring to Ancient Vulcan was ever published. The one precedent we set in the storyline? The sun on Vulcan rose from the West.

But... even close friends drift apart...