Morty Comix # 2317

Morty Comix # 2317 was left on the front door handles of a long vacant Hollywood Video as an offering to the nearly extinct VHS/DVD rental Gods. In fact, it was almost as if I was in ancient Olympia, Greece honoring some now forgotten deity instead of being on the westside of chronically overcast Olympia, Washington, leaving some cartoon art on a place that once housed a great collection of movies. I bought a few of their used vids when the store was alive and those movies show up in this blog.

It was very near this spot I first met J.P. Patches about 1960 when he came to open the new Peterson's Foodtown shopping area, now occupied by Grocery Outlet. I would later see him again at the Seattle World's Fair in 1962 and, incredibly, got to interview him on the set in 1975. J.P. Patches is one of my personal heroes, so as you can see the very area where I deposited this residue of my cartoon hand is a special one with a lot of history.  

Notice the Bil Keane-like crucifix symbol posing as a telephone pole over the roofline, giving the image an almost tragically sacred tone. When Hollywood Video pulled out of this place overnight, apparently in some nasty dispute with the landlord according to word of mouth (for what that is worth), they created a literal black space for cinema enthusiasts in the area. And that was quite awhile ago. In fact, in Phone Photo 566 from last year, the place was already closed. I sure hope the workers there were not screwed over in the process.

If video killed the radio star, then Internet killed the video star.

So, Morty Comix # 2317 was offered in remembrance. It probably fell on the ground, got rained on, and is now pulp in the storm drains. A fitting fate in this land of constant rain and natural recycling.