The United States of Hardwood
The Diogenes Club
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Our Story This Far # 2
Another interesting piece of original art Marc Myers sent our way was my contribution to Our Story Thus Far # 2.
The artwork measures 27 x 17 cm., is drawn with nonphoto blue pencil and felt tip pen. The paper is still the crappy kind I used, but in deference to Brad Foster, who published this thing, I actually used a ruler in the panel pencils, but not the final ink.
This ambitious comix jam, published by Foster under the Jabberwocky Graphix logo, was published in 1985. My page is dated 1983, so apparently rounding up all these crazy cartoonists for this mammoth project was no picnic.
The multitude of Newave artists in this series is impressive. My own page (36) followed that of page 33, Jane Oliver; page 34, Kevin Eastman; page 35, Peter Laird. I introduced Morty the Dog into the narrative and it was fun to watch how the following artists drew him.
I believe this series is still available from Jabberwocky. A must-have collection for any student of the Newave years, and fun to read even if you just like comix.
We Celebrate Marc Myers Week!
We've been down with the flu the last few days. Yesterday I felt so rotten I didn't even make my run to the McCleary Post Office.
But today I'm a little better, so I went to good old PO Box 390. It's near the door on one of the bottom rows in the phone photo.
What I found in there was an amazing package sent as a gift to Sarah by Marc Myers. When I recently contacted Marc to gain his permission to post our jam Little Snowjob, he offered to send me some original art and a bunch of Morty Comix he had been saving all these years. When I read his email out loud, Sarah piped up, "Well, maybe you don't care, but I want them!" And now she has a thick pile original work, thanks to Marc's generosity.
As fate would have it, part of the art he sent included the cover and first story from Cranium Frenzy #5 -- little did I know when I posted that comic this morning I'd be looking the original art later in the day! What are the odds?
Since I have very little of my own original art, especially from the 1980s, this is a real time capsule. It measures 29 x 23 cm., is drawn entirely in various felt tip pens on very crappy paper, the kind that used to aggravate Brad Foster during our comix jams. I used a nonphoto blue pencil, which you might be able to detect in enlargements here, but the pencils are fairly rough and were only outlines.
And, I can't find a single place, not even in the pencils for the panels, where I used a ruler!
Page 10 has a couple notes in the margins in blue pencil. The top left has: "Re-insert through left eye." The lower left corner has: "Freed when balloon goes."
I'll be scanning even more stuff from Marc. This should be declared Marc Myers Week here at the Morty the Blog!
Cranium Frenzy # 5
1st edition, 1985, Pullman, Washington, 70 copies, grey cover, enlarged digest. For some reason I printed these in 1985, but held them for a few months into 1986 before distributing them. If I recall I think I timed it so several new comix were released at the same time. It really wasn't scarlet fever.
2nd edition, February 1986, Pullman, Washington, 30 copies, yellow cover, enlarged digest. I've scanned and posted this edition here, but included the original page [2] from the 1st ed. at the end.
Available as a print-on-demand title, 1994-1996 in regular digest size.
Special Fandom House Edition, 20 copies, September or October 1994, regular digest size. Fandom House put in a special order for hundreds of dollars worth of reprinting many titles. Oddly, none of these have ever subsequently shown up in eBay or Rick Bradford's Poopsheet Shop as far as I know.
1st Danger Room Reprint Edition, June 2005, 5 copies, pink cover, regular digest size.
I wish I could provide some trivia background for this one, but it was drawn during my most prolific period, so it doesn't stand out in my memory. It was during the high tide of Reaganism, when America slipped and fell into the loony pit, and where, as the Tea Baggers have shown us, we remain.
But not to pick just on the Right. I find that vigorous political enthusiasts on both sides have a severe humor deficit. Recently one Olympia activist criticized a rival progressive newspaper in part because it "celebrates frivolity" and was too "lowbrow." Holy elitism, Batman! It appears my quarter century-old comic must have some universals in there that can still be applied today.
Yes, that's my self-portrait on page 22.
The inscription on page [2] still holds true. A free Morty Comic to the first person who translates it!
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