Number 9

After Lynn Hansen's death in April 1995, I provided some assistance to the Hansen family in dealing with the estate, particularly with Lynn's comix and Beatles collections. Eventually both of those chunks of popular culture found an academic home in the Washington State University library system.

Then there was the problem of what to do with Lynn's unfinished manuscript, Number 9.

This was a book Lynn had been writing for at least a decade. The first time I proofread it was back in my days at Pullman, so that would've been between 1983-1986. Sometimes he would ask my help in researching trivia and details.

He was fascinated with the Paul-is-dead hoax from the Beatles era. He developed his own original theory about the event and kept fine tuning it over the years. His goal was to have the thing commercially published.

An interesting topic, to be sure. But not nearly half as interesting as the circumstances surrounding Lynn's final year, as covered in the memorial volume Interrupted Song.

To make a long story short, Lynn called me in August 1994 and said he was sending the Number 9 manuscript to me for safekeeping, since he was sure he would soon be dead or have to go undergound very soon. He made me promise to see that the work would be published.

According to Lynn's father, a newer version of the manuscript was found by the front or back door when the police went to Lynn's house and discovered his body.

Through phone calls and correspondence with Lynn's parents in Boise, we worked out a deal where I would edit the text and they would foot the printing bill-- although I think I paid for extra copies to distribute. I can't remember what the print run amounted to, perhaps as many as 100 copies or more. Some of them were given to libraries.

The final product was v, 77 leaves on letter size, held with comb binding.

The Hansens and I were at a loss to locate some of the people Lynn thanked in his introduction. As it has turned out over the years since his death, I have learned Lynn led a highly compartmentalized and enigmatic life. Among those in his comix circle I knew him as well as anyone, but I am still constantly amazed by strangers and the truly odd characters who find me and share some weird tidbit of info about Lynn that portrays a very different person than the Lynn I had known.

Editing this manuscript six months after Lynn died was quite difficult. He had a good outline. He had good essay hooks. He was just a clumsy and awkward writer. How do you edit something like this without losing the voice of the person who created it? Especially when it is impossible to return it to the author with suggested revisions? In addition to that, my mind wandered to an almost unthinkable direction.

This was a book about a death hoax. Death hoax. Lynn was immersed in planted clues, secret messages, creating an illusion. Today I am sure Lynn is really dead (even if he doesn't show up in the Social Security Death Index!) but in September 1995, right after I had finished transcribing and editing this book (on a typewriter!) I wasn't so sure. The surrounding events had been weird enough to make me wonder if I had been set up as I replayed 1994-1995 in my head.

Maybe one day I will draw a comic about this whole thing. Actually I have started to write it several times, but I keep waiting for enough clues in this real life bizarre mystery to show up so I can make sense out of it. I might be waiting forever.

I'm posting the covers and intro material to Number 9. The illustration for the cover was also used in promotional material when Washington State University held an exhibit of Lynn's Beatle collection in 1997, From Penny Lane to Abbey Road: the Beatles, 1964-1970.

Who Buried Paul McCartney?

This one drifts pretty far from comic art, but there is a connection. And hey, how often does a guy get to say he shows up in the film credits? Although in reality it shouldn't have been my name, it should've been Lynn Hansen's.

This documentary was originally broadcast on Dutch television in 2005. Wouter Van Opdorp, the director, heard about Number Nine, Lynn Hansen's book presenting his theory on the "Paul is dead" hoax. Wouter contacted me, I sent him a copy, and apparently they used some of the info.

Although if they did use any of Lynn's book, I'm not sure where it shows up in the film. Several researchers have looked into this hoax as a detective or journalist would by interviewing people and doing lots of field work. That's the case with this highly entertaining documentary. But Lynn was more of an armchair theorizer (at least on this topic) and had a completely different take on the whole affair.

The piece was released on European DVD, which means I can only play it on my computer. It is, however, currently available on YouTube in 3 parts.

The Interrupted Song

A memorial to Lynn Hansen, published in spring 1995 during my print-on-demand phase. I have no clue how many of these are out there. And somehow that little numerical copy information void seems fitting for anything having to do with Lynn.

Events subsequent to Lynn's death have only made his demise all the more mysterious. A few people have surfaced, even as recently as 4 or 5 years ago, who have revealed sides of Lynn I never knew. His life was apparently compartmentalized to an incredible extent.

When most people die, the news is spread through a circle of friends. But Lynn didn't have that. He had a string of friends, and very few of us were connected to each other. And none of us knew him as well as we thought we did.

What exactly happened to me? After doing the normal guy thing and ignoring an abdominal pain for two weeks, my wife discovered I was in trouble when I let out a yelp while sitting down. She forced me to go to the hospital. This no doubt saved my life as the docs rushed to open me up ASAP. It turned out I had swallowed some toxic substance, which they could not identify, and a foot of my colon had died. They said I most likely would've croaked in a day or two if I had done nothing. I now have an 8 inch scar as a souvenir of that surgical adventure, plus nerve damage in my drawing hand (which is about half numb most of the time these days). This was referenced in Cranium Frenzy #8.

From what I gather, Lynn's symptoms were different. Apparently he was dehydrated and had flu-like problems. He died at the same time I was released from my week-long hospital stay.

I'll be revisiting this unfinished story when I post info about Lynn's book on the Paul McCartney death hoax entitled Number 9. And believe me, it just gets weirder.

From Penny Lane To Abbey Road: The Beatles, 1964-1970

When comix collector Lynn Hansen died in April 1995 he left behind a massive collection of recordings, books, videos, etc. related to his other collector interest-- the Beatles. Lynn had, save for one 45 single, everything the Beatles commercially recorded and produced. He also had a ton of bootlegs.

Lynn's father, Ralph Hansen, asked for suggestions on what to do with the Beatles material. My advice was to have it join Lynn's comix collection as part of the Washington State University Library. Ralph and I are both librarians so the idea made perfect sense to us.

Two years later WSU held an exhibit of some of Lynn's Beatles collection. This 25 page book is nice little walk through the albums.

The cover was also distributed as a poster. The image was originally drawn as the cover for Number 9, a book Lynn had written about the Paul McCartney death hoax. Ralph and I published it in late 1995. Our introductions to the WSU booklet had also originally appeared in Number 9.