Outside In # 1

1st edition, 1983, 150 copies on white cardstock.

2nd edition, December 1983, 20 copies on white cardstock.

3rd edition, 1984. Seattle, Washington : Starhead Comix, regular stock white paper.

Created with the intention of starting a visual directory of self-portraits.

The first issue featured Hank Arakelian, Clint Hollingsworth, Brad Foster, Tucker Petertil, Jean Turnbow, Mark Hopkins, and Jon Turnbow (now known as Strongbow)

The cover was an accident. I loved Hank's drawing and thought he sent this as his self-portrait right after I sounded the call. But it turned out he sent the graphic to me just to do it and didn't consider this a self-portrait. Yet it works and was the perfect illustration to kick off the series.



Hank's original still adorns my studio wall. My poor studio. Right now it looks like the Tasmanian Devil has paid it a visit.


Mark Hopkins is someone I've known since the third grade. He is one of the greatest natural born artists I've ever seen. While the other kids were drawing crude figures during art time in school, Mark would be creating an image that looked like a lost Van Gogh painting. Here's a photo of Mark and I in Santa Barbara, California, April 1, 1976 as we hitchhiked together down the West Coast. Mark's on the right. A lot of people thought we were brothers.

Terminal

Terminal. June 2, 2011. 100 copies, ivory paper, regular digest size.

Cover: Steven Stwalley
p. 2: Steve Willis
p. 3: Harry Bell
p. 4: Bob Vojtko
p. 5: Dan W. Taylor and Chad Woody
p. 6: Steven Stwalley
p. 7: Ed DeVore
p. 8: Roldo
p. 9: Marc Myers
p. 10: Bob Vojtko and Anvil
p. 11: Bruce Chrislip
p. 12: Bruce Chrislip
p. 13: Brad W. Foster
p. 14: Bob Vojtko
back cover: Chad Woody

I'll be sending out contrib copies to the artists and to our fab Morty the Blog patrons who have dropped some of the coin of the realm in the donate box.

I've already got a few drawings for yet another jam. Please feel free to send me a random image and I'll see how I can make it part of story!

And Dan W. Taylor, I have not forgotten I still owe you a drawing.

Terminal

Lynn Hansen Photos, San Diego 1983

Here are some photographs Lynn Hansen took at the San Diego Comic Convention in 1983. None of them are marked so I'm taking a guess.

You fellow old folks are welcome to hop in and help me identify some faces. Brad Foster, Dave Miller, and Clay Geerdes are the only three here I've met in person.

Top: Valentino, David Miller, Par Holman, Clay Geerdes.
Middle and Bottom: Clay holding court.

Left to right: Brad Foster, Par Holman, Dave Miller, guy with hands in mouth is Steve Lafler, and the fellow holding a drink behind him is Valentino. The rest I cannot identify.

Top: Robert Williams
Bottom: Trina Robbins

Top: Brad Foster on the right.

Bottom: Gerard Santi, Robert Williams, Don Donahue, Ron Turner, Trina Robbins, Warren Greenwood.

David E. Miller, one of the greatest Newave cartoonists ever, holding a Comix Wave spec sheet. Of this photo Lynn wrote: "The spotting process I used did not work as well as I had hoped. Oh well No one else will get a copy of the David Miller print, only two exist and that is it."

Top and bottom: The one and only Brad W. Foster, the undisputed most prolific artist to come out of the Newave. That Texas star behind him reminds me that if you read up on the U.S.-Mexican War, Texas was actually founded by illegal immigrants. Holy irony, Batman! I need to ask, is that Dave Patterson in the background of the bottom photo?

New Jam Comic Still Alive, Honest

As some of you might recall, last February I compiled and published a Morty the Dog blog jam called We Rode With the Clowns. Shortly after that I sounded a call for contributions for a second book.

Yes, that book is still alive. The script is now finished and I'm hoping to get it into print in the next month or so. The contributors are: Anvil (she created the above image), Harry Bell, Bob Vojtko, Dan W. Taylor, Steve Stwalley, Ed DeVore, Roldo, Marc Myers, Bruce Chrislip, Chad Woody and Brad Foster. Is that a great lineup or what? Hopefully my script will do these wonderful artists justice. I still have to create my linking illustration and captions.

In the meantime, any graphics that arrive from this point on will find their way into a third jam book. Basically, just send me an image, any drawing that I can present before a mixed audience, and than I'll link the randomness together into a story like the Clowns book. This next one has a tighter story than the first. So stay tuned.

Norwescon 20

I have not been much of a con attendee, but I did go to this one in 1997, held at SeaTac, Washington, for the the express purpose of meeting special guest Brad Foster. I think this was the one where I also met Steve Gallacci. Also in attendance were the usual gang of familiar local troublemakers: Mark Campos, Bruce Chrislip, Roberta Gregory, Donna Barr, Edd Vick, etc.

If my memory is correct, I think Edd roped me into a panel discussion about comic art and publishers, and I championed the Newave philosophy of do-it-yourself. At the time I felt pretty lonely up there.

Storm Warnings

1st edition, February 1986, Pullman, Washington. 50 copies, white cover, enlarged digest size.

2nd edition, February 1986, Pullman, Washington. 30 copies, white cover, enlarged digest size.

3rd edition, 1990, Seattle, Washington : Starhead Comix. 17 x 13 cm. Color covers.

Available as a print-on-demand title in regular digest size, 1996.

1st Danger Room Reprint edition. July 2005. 5 copies, blue cover, regular digest size.

The nationally distributed Starhead version reprinted the 1980s story "Downtime Laff Riot" and a maze not found in the original edition.

My initials follow me around. I was born in Spokane, Washington. SW. I live in Southwest Washington. SW. Storm Warnings. SW.

I'm not particularly fond of this comic, especially the Rainmaker story. Oddly, it seems to me that out of all my comix, this one is the most acceptable to fans of conventional comic books.

Trivia:

P. 3-4: Mr. Wright also appeared in Delayed Stress Syndrome Funnies.

P. 13: Mukey and porcupines. It doesn't get much better than this, one of the few bright and happy spots in this book. Notice Mukey has a Max Fleischer character type of nose here. He was still under construction.

P. 23: Hey, isn't that ... Brad Foster in that crowd? Why, yes, I think it is!

Steve Willis Archives v. 1

1st edition, March 1991. Chico, California : Onward Comics. 50 copies. Blue cover, regular digest size.

Jeff Nicholson expanded the Stevetreads idea in this series. But unlike the former title, all four volumes in this were published at the same time.

Volume 1 was basically an enlarged version of Stevetreads # 1, a consistent pattern throughout the Archives.

The image in this work that captures my attention the most is the ad for One Normal Guy Talking With a Nut, which I don't believe has been posted on this blog before.