Richard "Grass" Green was a very unique figure in our Newaver world. It wasn't really the fact he was one of the few African-American cartoonists involved in our game that got our attention. No. It was his experience and age.
Born in 1939, Grass was older than the rest of us. He was considered a pioneer in comic fandom, he had commercial credits under his belt, and he had been involved with underground comix. He'd been around the block and we all respected and looked up to him for the dedication he had given to his art.
Not old enough to be our Dad, but Grass was certainly a mentor. When I visited Cincinnati a couple months ago Carol Tyler called us Newavers the younger brothers of the undergrounds. A very apt description, I think.
The scanned letters here pretty much confirm Grass was aware of this mentor status and passed along advice like a big brother. My correspondence with him was from 1983 to the end of the 1980s. Another one gone too soon, he died in 2002.
The posted documents here represent a sampler of my correspondence with Grass.
