Comix Anniversaries in 2013

 

50 years ago, 1963: President Kennedy is assassinated. Lee Harvey Oswald, JFK's alleged assassin, is shot on live TV by Jack Ruby.  I was in grade school and later documented an eerie follow-up in a 2001 minicomic entitled LHO.

40 years ago, 1973: My first obscuro pre-Newave comic, Gimmie Comics # 1, is cranked out on a mimeograph.

30 years ago, 1983: I publish my first 8 page 14 cm. minicomic, Sasquatch Comix # 1. 1983 also marked the very first issue of Morty Comix, which I believe was sent to Hawaii. Other comix published that year: Limbolympia, Sasquatch Comix # 2-5, Retreads # 1, Bonafide Child Innocence # 1, Cranium Frenzy # 4, The Big Picture Picture Book, Outside In # 1-9, As I Recall the 'Sixties, Tragedy of Morty Prince of Denmarke Act 1. Plus there were a number of reprints (called "editions" by collectors) and contributions to various comix with others.

20 years ago, 1993: Most of the year was taken up with editing City Limits Gazette, where I served as editor from Feb. 1991 to Sept. 1993. Also involved with some exhibits, short contribs, a televised lecture called The Wild World of Obscuro Comix, a jam with Max Traffic called Flying, and another with Pat Moriarity in Big Mouth # 3. Bruce Chrislip records our mutual experience with Robert Crumb in Paper Tales # 1.

10 years ago, 2003: By 2003 this old dog was slowing down considerably. Cranium Frenzy # 10, at 60 pages, remains my most recent full length comic book. Will I ever produce another full-length comic? I don't know the answer to that.

2013, what to expect: I'm working on more creative ways to distribute Morty Comix and documenting the process on this blog. Once Ron and Louise are finished with me in the making of their NW cartoonist documentary Bezango WA it is my intention to fully return to my hermit existence here in the hills of the Washington Coastal Range and begin a new phase of my comix art. I have no idea where the lines will lead me.


The last couple years have seen me out and about as a cartoonist in classrooms, panel discussions, performances, conventions, and I even hosted a Mini-Comics Day here in McCleary (which was quite fun!), but we true Mossbacks can only take so much of the sunlight of attention and social interaction.


However, as we all know, Fate has a way of screwing up our plans and sending us places we never expected to visit. I'm enjoying this blog very much (thanks Sarah for making this possible when you set me up in 2010 with your technical know-how) and for now it remains a fun venue for creative expression and provides a medium where my old prehistoric photocopy work can find a new audience.     

LHO

LHO was published May 5, 2001. It had a print run of a whopping 26 copies (5 blue, 2 red, 4 green, 7 pink, 8 yellow).

The 1st Danger Room Reprint Ed. of June 2005 had 5 copies (2 pink, 3 yellow).

This minicomic was drawn with a #1 lead pencil.

I know it is fashionable these days to believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, but the circumstantial evidence of the assassination being a group effort seems too big to ignore for me. But that doesn't mean I don't have a sense of humor about conspiracy theories, as evidenced (I hope) with this work.

The story is basically true, except for a few details. Since there are people who will believe and quote everything they read (Wikipedia is a good example of a very bad reference source in popular use and frequently cited) I feel obliged to spell out some things. There really was an aquarium fellow and he did indeed look like Oswald, but I believe he had teeth. There was no Texas Book Depository box in his house. The person I knew who lived in his house later was actually living in the house next door, but she told me the new resident in her neighbor's house found tons of discarded aquarium stuff in the place.

And by a coincidence, not a conspiracy, the real-life fellow who looked like Oswald died shortly after this comic was first published.