Syndicated Images

Zine
Title:	Syndicated Images
Publisher:	The Entropy Express
Editor(s):	JJ Adamson
Date(s):	1985-1986
Series?:
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	multimedia
Language:	English
External Links:	flyer for issues #1 and # 2
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Syndicated Images is a gen multimedia fanzine. It was printed in Australia and was edited by J.J. Adamson.

There are eight issues, and it was bi-monthly.

The Psueds

It was edited by Jane of Australia using the pseud "JJ Adamson." All but four of the stories in the zine series was by Jane using different pseuds (Jack Heston, Peta Brock, Jane Sterling, G.W. Conrad, Adam Jenson), which Jane sometimes talked about in the third person.

flyer

1985 flyer

Challenges and Its Demise

The zine series had a bumpy road, and the editor often complained about the challenges it faced. The zine folded after eight issues in fifteen months, which the editor ultimately blamed on zine piracy.

Other issues that contributed to the zine's demise: finding an audience for its media fiction, the high cost of shipping print zines from Australia to other countries, fans may have not enjoyed the fiction and/or the art style which relied heavily on headcanon , the possibility that if fans did like the fiction of one writer they were out-of-luck due to the fact that all but four of the stories were by the same person, perhaps because each issue was published a very quick two months after the previous one which presented a financial and postal service challenge, and yes, there was the aforementioned zine piracy.

It Was Entropy Press' First Publication

This zine series is Entropy Press' first publication. While the first issue of "Syndicated Images" has a publication date, one of the press' creators cites "Entropy Press'" beginning as late 1984.

About

From the editorial in "Syndicated Images" #1:

The concept of this zine came out of writers' and artists' frustration: OK, you've written a terrific story, what are you going to do with it? Few zines could handle an entire 'Enter the Dragon' spin-off or a 'Raise the Titanic' opus: but 'Syndicated Images' can! Of course we're here to feed favourite subjects to fans, hence the content of this pilot issue where you'll find most of the big favourites at one time. But the beauty of SI is that it's not tied to just a few film/TV sujects. Each issue will feature the big favourites: BSG in most issues, SW, ST, B7 and The Professionals likewise, and there will be stories set in the universes of Gerry Anderson each time, too. But we can stray further afield: In SI#2, there's an Alien prequel adventure, in #3, a hard-hitting Knight Rider tale, in #4, a crash-and-burn Mad Max 2 story and from there we go on to Conan, James Bond, Dr. Who, Mad Max 1, HHG and even the Persuaders, Beastmaster and the aforementioned 'Dragon' and 'Titanic.' There's so much more, even we are amazed... We have enough already to pack eight or ten issues. And here's where we need your help... To do an on-going zine means a lot of work, and in turn, this means a minimum number of readers has to be reached... If you enjoy this zine please tell your friends. We're closing some blow cards for you to send to them...

From the editorial of Burning Skies (1991):

When Entropy Press first came into existence in late 1984 it was with the launch of the media zine SYNDICATED IMAGES. SI was devoted to many subjects, the fannish mainstays appearing regularly, supported by unusual stories from the more obscure parts of fandom. This was perhaps its biggest mistake: it was too varied.

Disappointing Sales

In May 1985, the editor wrote:

There's good news and there's bad news, which do you want first?! Why not start with the good news. SYNDICATED IMAGES has been well received and very kindly reviewed (for which, my thanks go out to the reviewers concerned!); every one who has bought It seems to have liked and enjoyed it — The problem is (and here's the bad news) that very few people seem to want to buy It! We've done heaps of advertising, but as yet the subscription list is woefully short, and only the fact that we do a lot of trading makes that list look half way decent... We were warned before we began that fanzines are hard to sell these days; and that seems to be true!

We enjoy doing the zine, we really do, but to reiterate a sentiment that was made in SI#1, we do need a minimum number of readers to make the sweat and toil worthwhile! 'You can't spend a thousand hours doing a zine and sell five copies.' We said at that point -- and that's still the point! Zines with out readerships don't exist.

This is something that is quite beyond our control — we can do every thing but force people to buy. So, we have decided not to look beyond SI #6: that will be the Nov/Dec Issue, and it may be the last if the Law of Diminishing Returns proves out: the more you do, the less you get... What a pity it would be for SYNDICATED IMAGES to end that way, especially since critics and readers have expressed such appreciation. Still, sentiment aside, at the time of this typing the subscription list seems to be imploding, which is nearly Inexplicable. The rationalisation is that the novelty wore off in two issues, and this third one is old hat, why buy the thing?!

Time will tell: there's still a whale of a lot of ads to go out, and long before November the whole situation could have sorted itself out to every one's benefit. But it makes you grizzle a bit, especially when you read about US fanzines that 'need 200 preorders to go to press'... Yuk.

Needless to say, if you could strong-arm your mates into buying...

Closing Up Shop

In a long, long personal statement in 1986 that was printed in Universal Translator #32, Jane of Australia said Entropy Express was closing down shop due to zine piracy:

It's very sad when fans start to prey off one another: It's true that we all prey on the licenced copyright holders, but producers and fans have come to a sort of understanding, and we thought the understanding between fans themselves was very clear: when piracy raises its head, fandom comes unglued, and if we don't have ethics, we've got nothing ... The photocopier and the SLR camera are the fan producer's worse enemies. We at Entropy are trying to market a range of high quality zines and telepix, and it's recently been brought to our notice that the main reason why our sales have been so poor is that our potential customers in the USA are obtaining copies of both our zines and our photos from ... somewhere. It must be understood that any zine's 'next issue' depends on the financial returns of its past and current issues. When the editor has boxes of unsold copies but the customers have all got pirated copies — there isn't going to be a next issue. This the state of affairs with SYNDICATED IMAGES. It gets rave review, but we literally can't give it away. We're not even asking who it is who's responsible for sticking our zines on the copier for friends [and] releasing the stories onto the circuit . . . but we'd like to say this to them: Congratulations. SI just closed up shop at #8, and unless we sell the mountain of copies we've got in the boxes (which is to say, if they can be kept off the circuit and interested parties purchase the zines instead of bags full of loose copies from Blackbeard Productions), SI9 will never happen. It was going to be a beauty, like #10 after it, but we know when we're licked. You pirates have killed the zine stone dead; when SI8 is available, in about ten days' time, and you've pirated that, there won't be anything else for you to pirate. To the people who own our zines in their pirated form, we'd like to add the following: we're not blaming you. How were you to know that the stories were not cleared for circulation, and that the publishers have heaps of unsold stock? But if you come across the works of the following authors in circuit-story form from this point on, you know that they are the wares of rip-off merchants: Adam Jenson, Jack Heston, Jane Sterling, Peta Brock, G.W. Conrad, Mike Adamson. These writers appear only in SI, and since all our issues are still in print, none of them are cleared for the circuit. To the people who are copying/selling our telepix: do you really think a photographer can't recognise his/her own work? Imagine the shock when you open a zine and find it illustrated with a Xeroxed enlargement of a photo for which the supposedly unique negative is in your own file! There's nothing we or any other photographer could do about this: copyright is a laughing matter when someone has a 35mm camera and a set of CU filtres...

General Reactions and Reviews

I think that the lending libraries do a great service to those like myself who are late to fandom, or for those who have read almost everything and need a new source to feed their habit. I do object to the informal circulating of zines that have not yet gone out of print as this practice seems to have killed an Australian media zine I greatly enjoyed, Syndicated Images.

I've seen Syndicated Images's impassioned editorial about the circuit ruining his business (I bought my copy, incidentally), and while there may be a grain of truth, I'm dubious that a Pro's, and essentially B/D, circuit is entirely responsible for stifling a zine which is mixed-media, less than 20% Pro's, and not B/D at all. He's continued with an all Pro's zine, I notice. But do try to apply a soupcon of conscience to zine-copying of in-print zines, folks. I do agree with the principle.

I've just been informed that a zine called SYNDICATED IMAGES out of Australia was running the ad for the Library - as far as I can remember, without permission. Would the editor/publisher(s) please drop the ad? Thanks.

Issue 1

front cover of issue #1

back cover of issue #1, photocopy, JJ Adamson

Syndicated Images 1 was published in January 1985 and contains 52 pages.

According to the very lengthy editorial in issue #2, this issue was about a month late due to communication problems with the Australian train service and communication.

• The Destroyer by Mike Adamson ("On an arid moon, Boomer discovers the remains of a lost alien culture, little imagining that the means of its downfall is still desperately close at hand.") (Battlestar Galactica) (3)
• Dangerous Legacy by Adam Jenson ("At the edges of nowhere, Servalan offers Avon amnesty -- at a price. To delve into a mystery long in his past, and which he swore he would never go near again.") (Blake's 7) (16)
• Widowmaker by Jack Heston ("The Captains of Skydiver 6 always seem to die in combat, but Peter Carlin doesn't believe in jinxes, and when Sky 6 joins him in battle, he knows it's time to lay the ghost") (UFO) (also in Flightpath #1) (23)
• Dear Uncle Frank by Jane Sterling ("Life on Jim Kirk's Enterprise, seen through the eyes of a true-blue Aussie as she writes her Uncle up the bush...") (This may have been reprinted in Federation.) (Star Trek) (28)
• Postcard from Corel by Jane Sterling ("Luke may be "the kid who blew up the Deathstar" but that's no guarantee against being ensnared in red-tape and at the mercy of petty officialdom. It's enough to drive a Jedi to drink!" (Star Wars) (32)
• Freefire by Peta Brock, art by JJ, from an original film script by JJ and Mike Adamson ("A highjacking at London airport brings CI5 into conflict with old adversaries.") (The Professionals) (reprinted in Longshot) (34)
• E=MC3, letter from the editor (51)

• 

  from issue #1, Mike Adamson

• 

  from issue #1, JJ Adamson

• 

  from issue #1, Mike Adamson

• 

  from issue #1, JJ Adamson

• 

  from issue #1, JJ Adamson

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 1

You have completely converted me to Professionals fanfic. I was in two minds about the show - loved the characters but I felt the scripts let them down a lot - for example, when Doyle and Bodie were trapped in a country house with Brian Croucher and sundry thugs holding a family hostage... Bodie on his own could have had that lot for breakfast but the writer had the two of them dithering about like boyscouts... And then again there would be marvellous moments like the time Doyle's Hong Kong girlfriend introduced him to Australian wine... 'Seppelt Solero WHAT?!" ... Loved it. But 'Freefire' was exactly the kind of action story I liked best on the show, with B & D BEHAVING like professionals! The characterisations are spot-on. As Nikki White said (in the review of SI#1 published in her B7 letterzine, CENTERO) you could actually hear Cowley's dry voice speaking the lines. I can't wait to read more. Congratulations to you and Mike, and Peta Brock, for a wonderful effort.

Postcard From Corel is a nice little story, but I suppose it was beneath Luke's dignity to use the Force for such a trivial prupose? ...

The Destroyer is a rather basic plot and suffers from a lack of regular characters: of course there are those who'd be very glad to see more Boomer stories, but BG is a relationship series and pairing him with an original character and no one else leaves some

thing lacking.... I think, reduce the potential to hold the reader's attention.

Issue 2

front cover of issue #2, JJ Adamson

back cover of issue #2, JJ Adamson

Syndicated Images 2 was published in March 1985 and is 47 pages long.

• Luke's Kingdom by Jack Heston. The last summer of Luke's old life on Tatooine is a learning experience, in spades. Come with Luke on this first part of a classic adventure! (Star Wars) (reprinted in Burning Skies) (3)
• Action: Marineville by Jack Heston. The forces of Titan, the evil undersea tyrant, strike at the heart of the World Aquanaut Security Patrol! Fully rewritten and expanded. (Stingray (1964 TV series)) (16)
• Dear Uncle Frank - Again by Jane Sterling. Jim and the crew play diplomat to environmental activists with an axe to grind, as the Aussie continues her memoirs... (This may have been reprinted in Federation.) (Star Trek: TOS) (22)
• The Sentinal by Jack Heston. On a planet rich in mineral wealth, the crew of the Nostromo discover the terrifying machines of an alien warzone. (Alien prequel) (26)
• Freefire by Peta Brock, the conclusion (a novelisation of the original screenplay by JJ and Mike Adamson) (The Professionals) (35)
• Zine Ads (48)
• Letter from the Editor: "Typing, 'flu, and SuperViv..." (This section was supposed to contain letters of comment, but did not due to problems with the Australian trains and communication.) (49)

• 

  from issue #2, Mike Adamson

• 

  from issue #2, Mike Adamson

• 

  from issue #2, Mike Adamson

• 

  from issue #2, JJ Adamson

• 

  from issue #2, Mike Adamson

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 2

I have just finished reading SI. It has kept the very high standard that you set for SI #1 ... I loved The Professionals story.

Combined Issue 1 and 2

In 1995, issues #1 and #2 were revamped and revised and published as a 160-page double-issue.

cover of the combined issue

• The Destroyer by Mike Adamson (Battlestar Galactica)
• Dangerous Legacy by Adam Jenson (Blake's 7)
• Widowmaker by Jack Heston (UFO)
• Dear Uncle Frank by Jane Sterling (This may have been reprinted in Federation.) (Star Trek)
• Dear Uncle Frank - Again by Jane Sterling (This may have been reprinted in Federation.) (Star Trek)
• Postcard From Corel by Jane Sterling (Star Wars)
• Freefire by Peta Brock (The Professionals)
• Luke's Kingdom by Jack Heston (Star Wars)
• Action: Marinevlle by Jack Heston (Gerry Anderson's Stingray)
• The Sentinel by Jack Heston (Alien)
• Jarrat by Mike Adamson (Jammed between advancing basestars and a heavily fortified and cleverly camouflaged Cylon asteroid, the only hope for the fleet is a suicide raid by the elite of her fighter squadrons, in which the warrior Jarrat is a wildcard: is he insane, or merely driven harder than any human being can handle?) (Battlestar Galactia)

Issue 3

front cover of issue #3, Mike Adamson

back cover of issue #3, JJ Adamson

Syndicated Images 3 was published in May 1985 and contains 50 pages.

One of the topics of the editorial is disappointing sales. See more here. And excerpt:

Syndicated Images has been well received and very kindly reviewed... everyone who has bought it seems to have liked and enjoyed it. The problem is that very few people seem to want to buy it! We've done heaps of advertising, but as yet the subscription list is woefully short, and only the fact that we do a lot of trading makes that list look half way decent... We were warned before we began that fanzines are hard to sell these days, and that seems to be true.... We can do everything but force people to buy. So, we've decided not to look beyond SI#6, that will be the Nov/Dec issue... what a pity it would be for SI to end that way...

• Kronos by Jack Heston ("The kind of nitty-gritty story you really wish they'd tell on the show, though they never do. Michael and KITT only think they've been in trouble before: In the wastes of Baja California they meet a machine called Kronos. and the story builds to a showstopper of a climax.") (Knight Rider) (3)
• The Argyll Intercept by Jack Heston ("One of Jack's favourite fields is that of Gerry Anderson fandom. Here, he takes Scarlet and Blue out into the wilds of Scotland, as the Mysterons set out to destroy the World Navy docks.") (Captain Scarlet) (20)
• Prey by Mike Adamson (Battlestar Galactica) ("Long famed for his BSG work, Mike Adamson Is back with a story of survival; Fredrick Brown's ARENA Is the classic format for this Gothic Horror In which Starbuck finds himself enmeshed. Starbuck. alone, has the only gun. and Centurlan Torgan, also alone. Is unarmed: but Cylons can see when a man Is blind...") (25)
• Hit and Run by Jack Heston ("A follow-up to the first Luke's Kingdom story. In SI 12 — but it doesn't matter if you haven't read it, this is a series rather than a serial. In that each of the stories prop themselves up. Luke hasn't got home yet after his slight altercation with Jabba The Hut; here, he's mixed up with Imperials, and Rebels! Princess Leia's operation was not his first brush with Insurrection!") (Star Wars) (reprinted in Burning Skies) (34)
• Worm's Eye View by Adam Jenson ("Avon's idea of a vacation is a comuter fair — without his fellow inmates from the ship! What could go wrong? Well, nothing really, but it's amazing what can happen without anything really going wrong! Situation comedy at, perhaps, it's most unexpected!") (Blake's 7) (39)

• 

  from issue #3, JJ Adamson

• 

  from issue #3, Mike Adamson

• 

  from issue #3, Mike Adamson

• 

  from issue #3, JJ Adamson

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 3

Talk about impressed! I just finished reading SI#3. It is SUPERB! I've honestly never gotten so interested in fan material as when I was reading your zine! I don't have a favourite -- Jack Heston, Mike Adamson and Adam Jenson are terrific writers! Easily as good as any professional novelisations I've read from TV series. IT'S NOT FAIR! Every single page of SI#3 was gripping, straight-up action/adventure. I HATE YOU! Okay, let's not be childish- Not to mention, the layout and design are far superior to any US or UK zine I've seen. Period.

I just can't believe you aren't able to sell many copies. It's got to be your advertising.

the editor's reply: I wish it were, but we've distributed literally thousands of ads, and the return is, shall we say, minimal — so far. Hope!

I'm writing to you about SI#3. I found and read a copy at a friend's house and now I want copies of my own.

I have only one complaint to make though... Your artwork is good. You can draw the characters very well -- why do you then colour them in with black, dark ink? it makes them too dark. If it's dimension you're worried about I can tell you the portraits already have depth before you add the shading. ... Another question I have is do you take advance subscriptions for SI; for example, a yearly subscription? ... Congratulations on a fine-looking fan zine. I hope the future issues continue to look as good, and you continue to have 'fun' doing it.

the editor's reply: The artwork... Believe me when I say it looked quite nice at full size, and then the reductions gobbled it — I wasn't happy either. Which is why we're starting to experiment with photos, starting this issue, and unless they come out too vastly expensive, we'll be having photos in each issue from now on.

The KNIGHT RIDER story in SI3 has a good strong main plot. I had to struggle to get that far, though. I didn't like the opening AT ALL. Okay, there may be a valid case for him to be in recurring pain with his reworked face, to remember what he did in 'Nam so callously, and to kill without compunction - but he's not like this in the series!

the editor's response: this is exactly why Jack wrote the character up this way in the story; he reckons he's 'up to the rocker covers' with the show! The show is specifically aimed at women, I suppose, but, be this as it may, a Vietnam vet is what it is, and Mike Knight as portrayed in the show is not one. A Green Berret is/was a machine trained to kill on command, and twenty years later he'll still react according to his training. It's actually the scriptwriters in KR who are not allowed to write it properly... Jack told you the truth of the matter; sorry if you didn't like it, but — someone who chases these crimmos is going to get his hands dirty sooner or later! And since Michael operates outside the law (as does FLAG — the very existence of KITT demonstrates this), he is licenced to kill, right?)

Worm's Eye View, In #3 a semi-spoof, isn't It? Even the fourth series never got quite this silly! I enjoyed it, though: I just prefer stories about more char acters than just Avon, much as I appreciate him. The robots don't fit with my idea of B7 really, but of course the BBC budget simply won't run to such things! ...

Abandoning Starbuck with someone we've never heard of for most of the story of Prey does, I think, reduce the potential to hold the reader's attention.

You nave a marvellous little zine in your hands here and I'll oe doing my best to increase sales for you. I was even delighted by Jack Heston's KRONOS, and I don't like KNIGHT RIDER. Prey, too, was one of the very best pieces of BSG fiction I have ever read. Kudos all aroun? to the writers, and of course the artists. The artwork sets off the stories beautifully, of a consistently high quality and displays much talent!

Issue 4

front cover of issue #4, Mike Adamson

back cover of issue #5

Syndicated Images 4 was published in July 1985 and contains 49 pages.

from issue #4, an ad for telepix

This issue contains an ad for telepix that Entropy Express was selling:

All you need is about $2,000's worth of gismos and you too can produce some of the nicest telepix to be found anywhere... You don't have $2,000's worth of gismos? Well, why not settle for the pictures instead? We've got A-Team, B7, Blue Thunder, Buck Rogers. DW, Galactica, Hooker, HHG. Knight Rider, Professionals, Persuaders, James Bond, Star Trek, Star Wars, Space 1999. V. UFO, Scarecrow & Mrs. King, Masada, Alias Smith & Jones, Kung Fu, Cash & Co/Tandarra... Ford, Gibson, Heston, Eastwood, Errol Flynn even! Literally hundreds more, and new titles being added to the list all the time. We're making up a listing -- send a business size SASE...

From the editorial:

We seem to be selling less copies than ever, and unless something happens, this zine is doomed. We've done so much advertising you wouldn't believe, for a bewildering result. Let's put it this way: our circulation would have to triple by #6, and we're typing #5 now, or it'll have to be done mimeo...

• Cadenza by Adam Jenson ("Adam is back with a tale from his other favourite show. It's an intrigue piece, where Doyle is missing and the answer to the whole baffling riddle is tied up in the manuscript of Beethoven's Emperor Piano Concerto. See if you can figure this one out before the last page!") (The Professionals) (reprinted in Longshot) (3)
• Friends and Traitors by Adam Jenson ("Here's a really different UFO story, with an Allen who is trying to defect, an old comrade of Straker's, a gun battle in the wilderness and a nail-biting race against time - can Alec get there before Straker surrenders to his wounds or the UFO renders the whole situation academic?! Here is Adam Jenson as you've never read him before!") (UFO) (also in Flightpath #1) (11)
• KITT Alone by Jack Heston (Knight Rider) (18)
• The Pharoah Sanction by G.W. Conrad (" Here's a new writer with a new subject, and a story you won't be able to put down, as Max Rockatanski and his Dog do battle against a strange, crazed biker tribe in the wilderness near Broken Hill where Max finds the city reduced to a ghost town and a mechanical fortress inhabited by an old man who holds the secret of unlimited fuel and firepower!") (Mad Max 2) (20)
• Imperium, Inferno by Jack Heston ("This begins a new post-Jedi SW series. In which all the characters appear. Jack Heston at his nuts-and-bolts, nitty-gritty best! Skin-of-the-teeth adventure as the star-destroyers advance on the Calamari homeworld and the Rebels fight a desperate rear-guard...") (Return of the Jedi) (27)
• The Video Voyages, review of the movie The Search for Spock and the book Ishmael by JJ Adamson (46)
• The Fanzine File, ads (48)

• 

  from issue #3, a telepix, see comments about the inclusion of more photos rather than art going forward in the comments for issue #4

• 

  from issue #3, Mike Adamson

• 

  from issue #3, first page of the article

Reactions and Reviews: Issue 4

SI is one the of absolute best zines I've had the pleasure to read. Tis true! SI Is filled cover to cover with some of the most professional writing ever to grace a non-professional magazine.

Being an old UFO fan (make that a fan from way back!) I read Friends And Traitors first. Goodness. Straker is human after all. He even bleeds like the rest of us. It was a good story from the technical bits to the emotions.

Next was Cadenza. Adam Jenson's PROFESSIONALS stories are infinitely better than the professional PROFESSIONALS novels (?!). Bodie and Doyle are as real on paper as they were in real life.

Imperium — the story utilised all the characters quite effectively, considering their number. Love that line: "Han Solo, the wild one housebroken by circumstances." The battle was well done, it was almost like reliving ROTJ. Interesting -- the Rebels are on the run again. As much as they deserve to live happily ever after that makes for boring writing.

The Pharoah Sanction should be made Into a MAD MAX movie!

Kitt Alone — who says David Hasselhoff is the star of the show? Maybe KITT lets him think he is. "Taking his perm in for a retread." indeed. All in all. SI #4 is a good zine!

It is a highly worthwhile zine (well, you think that or you wouldn't publish Iit, right?). Very much enjoyed Adam Jenson's B7 writing and Cadenza, though all the stories I've read so far show more than competent technical skills in writing (I'm awfully tired of correct

ing fanzine punctuation as I real along), and, usually, a dramatic and well-plotted storyline as well.

1. 4 is even better... but I have been thinking about your problems or readership. It's a hard one and the main problem is that not everyone who likes or watches a show is really a Fan as we know the term. The next problem is even worse: people who watch TV can be categorized in many ways, and many are almost strictly visual types... They are totally lost when it comes to reading about their heroes.

the editor's response: : absolutely... Yet still, you read about zines in America that require two HUNDRED preorders in order to go to press... Cute, no?

Combined Issue 3 and 4 (NEVER PUBLISHED)

Is there anyone out there who remembers something called Syndicated Images? That was the one that started it all... In late 1984 a small press called Entropy Express was launched to publish a multimedia zine carrying a selection of favorites of the day, and over the following two years or so eight issues were released. Some years ago the first two were rereleased under one cover as a special, including any rewrites the authors cared to make, plus new art by moi and a completely new DTP typeset and layout. This was one of the titles Bill Hupe handled, and according to him we sold only a tiny handful. It so happens he sold a large part of the print run and pocketed the cash, which effectively meant that the 3/4 double issue already in planning never happened.

Issue 5

Syndicated Images 5 was published in September 1985 and contains 50 pages.

front cover of issue #5 (photocopy), JJ Adamson

back cover of issue #5

From the editorial:

Briefly, may we drag you, kicking and screaming, back to the Real World. It's a yucky place to be, I know. But it's where the fanzine happens to be pounded together, mailed out, paid for... And not paid for. You guessed it; we're going to whine about our circulation again... You see, it's about the same now as it was when we published #3. We only have up to the end of the year to achieve a 'decent' circulation so as to be able to secure a printing deal, or -- and this is the bit you may not like -- it's either a) going to go to Fanzine Heaven, or b) get cranked out of a mimeo machine... Ooooh but that stings. Right now we're using a (and I quote) 'cheap printing deal,' but even this is going to be at an end in January. To get a deal for offset we'll have to order at least 100 copies of each issue, and that would mean we'd have a box of unsold copies and a dent in the bank account that'd take a year to fix — and this rag is bimonthly! If every issue does a year's worth of damage to the bank account... SYNDICATED IMAGES isn't going to exist much longer, is it??

Okay; one fellow- editor called it the best zine in the world; everyone who buys it loves it; but there's so few people who want to buy it that it just isn't working out. Let's put it another way: it takes 2 - 300 man hours to produce each issue with this reduced type and photos, and it's expensive... We're masochistic, but we're not that masochistic, right?

So what can you do to help alleviate this most excruciating situation? What we've been asking folks to do since the first issue... Tell your friends about SI, recommend us to them, and don't -- DON'T!! lend it do them. Or pretty soon no one's going to have a zine at all. We gotta have buyers, because buyers equal lever age at the printers, and it all comes down to paper and ink... And money. How would you like to pay $8 an issue for SI? No? Didn't think you would. But that's what it'll cost if I wander into a printers next year and ask for some stupid, fiddling number of copies. First he'll smile indulgently, then he'll rob me -- and you blind...

Yuk. I hate the Real World. Back to the fantasy posthaste.

The editors remark again about sales:

Will SYNDICATED IMAGES be coming up with new issues after #6? That's the $64,000 question! The problem of itty-bitty circulation is not petting any easier; direct sales at overseas cons will help, but there's going to have to be a drastic shake-up to keep the price down. When you only print a few, it costs a packet... to keep going 1n photocopy would make the zine $8 + postage at least!

So, we'll be changing format slightly, and doing tattle to preserve the quality you've come to expect... Some photocopy, some offset, some duplicated — but they should all dovetail on the same paper stock etc. And if our readership ever does pick up, then we can go angling for a professional printing deal.

• Mandalay by Jack Heston "Scarlet and Blue are ferrying a leviathan generator from its manufacturers in Israel to its destination in Burma. By road is the only way. and a lethal high-speed road war ensues as Scarlet is afraid he has made a lethal, irreversible mistake!") (Captain Scarlet) (3)

• The Carrier 60 Incident, by G.W. Conrad ("G.W. is back with his second story in SI, and this is a futuristic Gothic horror in which Enterprise answers a mayday from a Federation ore carrier, and a terror begins that could engulf the whole galaxy...") (Star Trek: TOS) (13)

• Waiting Game, by Elyse Dickenson ("It's a protracted game of nerves for Han Solo, played with a grenade in one hand and only the life of an Imperial officer to bargain with.") (Star Wars) (19)
• Viper Starhound by Mike Adamson ("Apollo and Jolly escort Tiger Flight — six raw pilot cadets — on their first training missing; if was never intenc- ed to become a battle, but Fate had other ideas!") (Battlestar Galactica) (27)

• Imperium — Safehaven by Adam Jenson ("With the Empire breathing down its neck, the Rebellion knows it needs a new base, and Luke Skywalker is dispatched to scout a likely planet; however, this planet is inhabited -- and this time, the natives are neither small nor cute. Luke is in a lot of trouble.") (Star Wars) (38)
• Behind Thunderdome: The Making of Mad Max 3, article by Mike Adamson (44)
• The Fanzine File (48)
• E=MC3, letters of comment (50)

• 

  from issue #5, a telepix

• 

  from issue #5, Martynn

• 

  from issue #5, Mike Adamson

• 

  from issue #5, Mike Adamson

Issue 6

front cover of issue #6, Mike Adamson

Syndicated Images 6 was published in November 1985 and is 57 pages long.

From the editorial:

... it's not a question of 'if' SI #7 will happen, it's a question of 'when.' We've held to the bimonthly schedule till the money ran out.... If we had enough readers we could drop the price and go monthly. Yes, monthly! As it is, until the $$$ appears to cover the print bill, SI #7 will remain a figment of everyone's imagination -- SINK THE GREENPEACE! (and we gas as we steal a glance at the manuscript of that one) and all.

HEEELLLPPP!!!

A fan's got a heart, 'asn't she?

Jokin' apart, 'hasn't she?

So just buy the bloody zine, pretty please. Whimper, beg, plead. Huh? With rum and bananas on? How about getting a copy for yourself and getting a couple more for birthdays, barmitzvas [sic], weddings, funerals -- who, in this life needs an excuse for gifts???

• The Tartarus Incident: Black Has Darker Shades by Adam Jenson ("Was it a rescue or a massacre? Is Travis really as black as they paint him, or are there darker and lighter -- shades of black??!") (Blake's 7) (3)
• Fire on the Border by Jack Heston ("An oil well fire on the Bereznik border, and Scott Tracy finds himself at war, pitting Thunderbird 1 against ballistic missles before they can undo the rescue operation!") (Thunderbirds) (13)
• Innocent Revenge by Valerie DeVries ("Bodie and Doyle are set to catch a subway killer, and the criminal turns out to be less a surprise than a shock, especially for Bodie!" )(Professionals) (18)
• Imperium — Calypso by Adam Jenson ("As the Rebels settle in to their new base, Han Solo is dispatched on a mission to an ocean world. It should have been a romp in paradise, but...") (Star Wars) (30)
• Operation: Obliterate by G.W. Conrad ("This story is set prior to the tenth episode of the series and ignores the deteriorated/redrawn/wrecked format. The Resistance has been planning this operation for a long time, it's the biggest wipeout ever felt by the Reptiles, and despite Mike Donovan's jubilation there remains one last and bitter chore before victory can be counted honourable.") (V) (40)
• The Fanzine File (58)

• 

  from issue #5, JJ Adamson

• 

  from issue #5, JJ Adamson

• 

  from issue #5, telepix

• 

  from issue #5, JJ Adamson

Issue 7

Syndicated Images 7 was published in April 1986 and contains 52 pages. It has blue paper covers with a tape binding over the staples.

front cover of issue #7, Mike Adamson

back cover of issue #7, a tribute to the crew of the spaceshuttle, Challenger

From the editorial:

Okay — this issue is late. What else is new?! If you recall, from the Editorial of #6, we've always had our circulation problems, and by the end of our first year in print, those problems had come to the point of disaster... When a zine gets into debt one of two things happens: it goes under, or it learns how to pay for itself.

Well, we met it half way: by delaying publication into April, preorders did indeed help to pay the costs of production, but even now, circulation is at that funny, on-again-off-again level. We're in that grey area where things could go right or come unstuck at any moment.

What we've decided is this: we're only making plans up to SI #8, but occasional specials are entirely within the bounds of possibility ~ as is SI #9, eventually. Even SI #10. If enough people order SI#8, SI#9 will happen; and if enough people order #9, #1O will happen. And so on, in this simple and logical progression... The bottom line is, it's up TO YOU to decide if the zine lives or dies!

The first of the special issues is to be DEAD RECKONING, and there's a flyer in this zine, up near the list of new zines in the back. Like it? Buy it! Seems like 90% of the SI readers are looking for PROFESSIONALS stories before they get to, any other show, so it naturally follows that Doyle-and-Bodie should be the first special issue off the slips. Next, there'll be a RED ALERT! #2.

For fans of the 'Double Talk' universe from CONTINUUM, note especially that there's a follow on story, 'Dark Side,' in DEAD RECKONING!

[...]

And now the bombshell. SI is going to have to come off schedule... If we'd been able to stick to schedule, #7 would have been out in January (!); but we can't do a zine till there's x-amount in the bank account, and that means the date is determined by the amount of business we've done recently. So, we're aiming at June with #8, but... don't hold your breath, folks!

A synopsis of "Sink the Greenpeace!" part one (as printed at the top of the second part of the story in the next issue):

When the Greenpeace protest flagship is headed for the Port of London to victual before leading an expedition against a Norwegian whaling fleet in the summer of 1986, French secret service agents are observed working in England. After the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, Cowley, Doyle and Bodie smell a rat, but in fact agents Lamargue and Grantaire are in England to protect the Greenpeace — and France's international reputation — from a Norwegian terrorist threat. A consignment of the deadly explosive, ALX, is on the loose, and €15 throws a security cordon around the target vessel...

Unfortunately, their actions are too late. A bomb is already in place, and when Murphy reports by R/T a fantastic explosion shakes the London docks, leaving Murphy in a critical condition...

• Action: Cortez, by Jack Heston ("Smugglers and Aquaphibians in the sunny Gulf of California — and a death trap for the supersub.") (Stingray) (3)

• Luke's Kingdom #3, 'Ocean Of Stone' by Jack Heston ("Luke still hasn't got home, and his trusty T-16 lets him down at last, plunging him into a wilderness where even the Jawas can't subsist. Luke is in very big trouble, and it's odd that his only friend should be an Imperial soldier!") (Star Wars) (10)

• Constitution Hospital, by G.W. Conrad ("Murdock and Face go under cover, patient and doctor, to expose a scam that is milking citizens of big money within the retrace of a psychiatric hospital!" (The A-Team) (27)

• Sink The Greenpeace!, Part One, by Adam Jenson and Jack Heston ("The new Greenpeace protest vessel is putting in to England to lead a protest fleet against the Norwegian whalers; strange, that known French terrorists and secret service personnel should also be in the city. Then — an anonymous phone call and an explosion! And CI-5 are in top gear! This whale-sized story (pun intended) concludes in SI #8, when Bodie and Doyle take to the high seas.") (The Professionals) (35)

• a review by Brian Cotter of Prime Attack

• 

  from issue #7, Mike Adamson

• 

  from issue #7, JJ Adamson

• 

  from issue #7, telepix

Issue 8

Syndicated Images 8 was published in 1986 and contains 80 pages. It contains stories from Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars, UFO, Star Trek: TOS, Star Wars, The Professionals.

from issue #8, front cover (photocopy) by JJ Adamson

From the editor:

SYNDICATED IMAGES #8 will be the last of the SIs for some time... Costs and schedules are getting away from us, and it's time for us to put the zine on hold and go scouting markets for the product... With luck this won't take long, and SI #9 may be a feasibility this year. But, we're planning some special issues. The first to appear will be DEAD RECKONING, for which there's a flyer in this issue; next will be RED ALERT! #2 -- DR will be ready to mail with SI #8, if we can stick to plan, and the second RA! issue will be out by Christmas or so. Till we know how things are going to go. however, SI #8 will be the last zine in the series -- but we will keep on copying all the issues, so, if you'd like to tell your friends about SI, they can get any and all back issues from us direct by airmail, or from our overseas agents.

• Night Trap by Jack Heston ("It's a struggle against time and the unknown when SHADO seeks to ensnare the enemy in a battle of wits.") (reprinted in Flightpath #1, using a different pseud: G.W. Conrad) (UFO) (3)
• The Adventures Of Captain Adonis by Jane Sterling ("Interfleet Video are making a video adventure series based loosely on the careers of Starbuck and Apollo. It's a morale booster. It boosts everyone's morale, but Starbuck's and Apollo's, because they are unfortunate enough to be doing the stunt flying for the tall, blonde 'fairy' who plays the hero!" Another publisher's summary: "Aboard the battlestar, Interfleet Broadcasting are making a TV series loosely based on the exploits of Starbuck and Apollo, which pleases everyone but the two pilots. They do all the hard work while the actor gets 'the bows.") (Battlestar Galactica) (16)
• Sink the Greenpeace!, part two by Adam Jenson ("Bodie and Doyle take to the high seas in a life-and-death situation that will tax their ingenuity to the limit. London was never like this!") (The Professionals) (24)
• Imperium: Thunder in the Heavens by Jack Heston ("The Series concludes with this massive space opera when Rebels and Empire lock horns once more to decide the future of the Galaxy.") (Star Wars) (45)

• 

  from issue #8, Mike Adamson

• 

  from issue #8, JJ Adamson

• 

  from issue #8, telepix

Issue 9 (NEVER PUBLISHED)

[From 1999]: ... we've stepped back and reassessed things, and now we're looking seriously at picking up where we left off, not with the rerelease of the early material (though we'd still love to do that in due course) but with the brand-new, fully reincarnated Syndicated Images, kicking off at Issue #9, and at the same size as our standard zines today. The line up? How about a Whitesword Xena: Warrior Princess adventure; a major seaQuest DVS epic following from the catastrophic conclusion of Season 1; what about Arthur of the Britons, a cult favorite for many? We got it! And we even have the good old Professionals, in both their classic form, and an entirely new and fascinating form — not, I hasten to add, the essentially crappy new version of the show that's been filmed, but the genuine article... Just an amazing new take! And there are so many terrific new shows, we're recruiting material for La Femme Nikita, Sentinel, ST:TNG and others. Stay tuned — we'll post the news as it breaks.

Best Of Issue

Best of Syndicated Images was published in 1986 and contains 47 pages.

cover of the "Best Of" issue

It's content is unknown.