Postcard - Seattle, Washington

"Seattle, Washington's Gasworks Park, on the north shore of Lake Union provides an attractive recreational setting. In the background, the downtown business district."

Late 1970s, most likely. Too bad the postcard didn't include the crazy looking industrial ruins of the park.

During Norwescon 20 in 1997 at SeaTac the amazing Brad Foster was a guest of honor and several cartoonists hijacked him and took him to this park. I wasn't part of that crew but I did join the subsequent comix lunch. We all compared what we had studied in college to the reality of what we were doing now. I believe I was the only one in the large group who was actually employed in my academic degree (MLS, i.e., librarianship).

Outside-In: The History of a Comix Series

I have no memory of drawing this or why it exists. Looks like it was created in 1989, but if it was ever published I am not aware where. Michael Dowers sent me these pages in the recent stack of original art he returned.

$300 - Original Art - Rainmaker Painraker

"Rainmaker Painmaker" original art, first appeared in Storm Warnings (1986)

12 pages, nonphoto blue pencil and felt tip on light bond, 11.5 x 9 inches.

In good condition. No whiteout or paste-ups from what I can see.

Includes cameo appearances by Arnie Wormwood, Morty the Dog, and Brad Foster (as a character, not as a contributing artist).

This is not one of my favorite stories. I always felt it was one of my more predictable and conventional pieces. Maudlin too. But, it seems those who are enjoy predictable and conventional comics like this story even if they are uncomfortable with my regular fare.

300 smackeroos is my asking price.

$300 ppd.
Check or money order to
Steve Willis
PO Box 390
McCleary, WA 98557-0390

or order through PayPal

To My Comrades in the Dallas Area

Hope all you Morty the Blog pals down there weathered the twisters and are well, Brad, Rick, Dave, and whatever Lone Star Lurkers there are who read this. You are in our thoughts. The film footage looked horrific. I trust you guys were not part of that carnage bestowed by Mother Nature.

Phone photo 1214

This sculpture in Portland's Goose Hollow makes me think of Brad Foster's drawings

Makeshift Comics 1996 Catalog

I don't know what Brad Foster and I did in order to make Jefferson Powers go out of his way to get so personal in slamming us and our work, but we found it sort of amusing at the time and enjoyed the status of being officially unhip. Actually I had never heard of Jefferson until this arrived in the mail, so it came out of nowhere for me.

If we were thought of as dinosaurs in 1996 I'm not sure what we would be called in 2011! But I considered it an honor to be lumped together as a one-gag wonder with Brad. That's good company.

It's rather unusual to be so critical of the very books you are attempting to sell, hence my scanning and posting this.

Most of the titles Powers listed had a 1st Fandom House ed. statement. It is interesting he singled out Storm Warnings as a title that stands out, since I consider it one of my weaker, maudlin, and more conventional works. Oh well, I guess our type of comix are not for everyone. Jefferson and I had a brief correspondence after this came out. Everything was fine, there were no hard feelings.

City Limits Gazette # The world is so big and we are so small, yet we're turning it to shit in no time at all (Dec. 1992)

Logo by Maximum Traffic, Evergreen Mafia, CLG 1992 index, Ricardo Nancy McJacksonstein responds to Max, Bil Keane Watch by Jeff Snee, CLG reader profile of Brad Foster, yet another Bil Keane Watch by Russell Rose, ye gods another Bil Keane Watch by Bryan Willis, (sigh) another Bil Keane Watch by Maximum Traffic, Ahab the cat 1982-1992, Comics Journal small press index by Gary Usher.

The "Evergreen Mafia" article cited above is included here. I'm guessing David George was the editor who reprinted this profile. David no doubt supplied the names of us lesser knowns, padding the list a bit within those square brackets since we were not listed in the original piece. The term "Evergreen Mafia" was first coined by Jay Kennedy ca. 1982.

City Limits Gazette # ... (June 1992)

Logo by Maximum Traffic, Jamie Alder-Hank Arakelian-Jim Ryan World War, Randy Reynaldo news, Michael Stengl signs up, Bob Richart gives a long answer to the Fred Flintstone question while Jane Oliver gives a brief one, The Pizz on TV, State of beings # 11. Georgia written by my nephew Tristan Sill, comix reviews by Lynn Hansen, Brad Foster on selling out, The Bil Keane Watch by Bruce Chrislip, Mary Longo joins CLG.

City Limits Gazette # 29, 70, 5, 2, 33, 110, 72, [etc., etc.] (Aug. 1991)

Bil Keane Watch including Mark Campos, American Libraries cartoonist guidelines (this entry will eventually gain national recognition and get me in trouble with my librarian colleagues), another Bil Keane Watch (and illustration) by Wayno, Brad Foster gets hitched, bad cover versions of Help.

The Brad W. Foster Checklist : Works in Print, 1972-1994 / compiled by Gary Usher

McCleary, Washington : Steve Willis, 1995. Regular digest size, print-on-demand.

Brad Foster made a deal with the Devil, right? How else can you explain the astounding amount of work as documented by Gary Usher in this bibliography?

In the mid-1990s I was trying to publish and encourage comix researchers to send me manuscripts in order to promote the idea our brand of comix needed to be taken seriously as an academic subject. Bibliographer extraordinaire Gary Usher sent me enough material to produce a few books, but this particular monograph was the most impressive to me of all his lists and indexes. I was also thrilled to make this available as a tribute to a great cartoonist.

Brad has produced an amazing amount of work. I would love to see if some brave bibliographer has the fortitude to update this list to the present day and annotate each entry!