City Limits Gazette # ... (March 1991)

News on John E., a Walt Rodgers drawing, Bruce Chrislip's Cartoonists City column, Clay Geerdes responds to Chrislip, bad cover versions of Across the Universe, All My Loving, and All You Need is Love. The very last sentence on page 4 is a bit chilling since my fellow listed major WSU Library comix collection donors are no longer with us.

Alas! Comics

McCleary, Washington : Steve Willis, 1994. Reprint of Alas 1-3. Print-on-demand

In the mid-1990s I tried my hand at being an obscuro publisher and distributor (handling unsold inventory for Clay Geerdes and Dale Luciano) as well as reprinting my old stuff on a print-on-demand basis.

But I also brought several works by others into print. I'll be scanning and posting the books where my role was strictly that of an editor and publisher and including them in this blog for the next while.

One artist I was eager to publish and introduce to a wider audience was Sasa Rakezic (a.k.a. Aleksandar Zograf), the Serbian cartoonist who produced a series of chilling and dream-like minicomix fed by his personal experiences from the turmoil in the Yugoslavia. At the time this comic was published, Sasa was still a relatively unknown artist in the United States outside of the obscuro network.

A great example of creation under fire and some of the most interesting comix I've ever read.

Alas Comics

Outside In # 2

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.

Doug Holverson, John Howard, David Miller, Robert Stump, Robin Coder-Willis, Steve Willis, Clay Geerdes.

That great cover shows Holverson in, I believe, his beloved Studebaker. David Miller's self-portrait looks like it could've been drawn during the Renaissance and it remains one of my favorites in the series. Robin's demonstrates just how provincial we native Washingtonians can be, tucked up here in this corner, walled off by water, mountains and rain. Morty obviously has little patience for T.S. Eliot.

Howard and Stump were two prolific Newave regulars during the early-mid 1980s. John produced some of the funniest wage slave comix I've encountered, and Robert was very active in publishing, including reprinting my Sasquatch Comix series.

I met Geerdes and Miller in 1989 on a visit to the Bay Area. As you can see by the photos in the Clay Geerdes Scrapbook post, David looks pretty much like the way he portrayed himself, but Clay had a more creative self-image I must say. Oddly, to me Clay's self-portrait matched his voice, but not his face.

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?

Olympia Comics Festival 2011 Report, Pt. 1

This year the Oly Comics Fest filled 40 tables. I'd say the majority of attendees were from Portland, reflecting how our neighbor has become the cartoonists magnet of the Pacific Northwest while the Seattle scene fades into the background. Either way, Olympia is lucky to be situated between these two great cities.

I took a whole bunch of phone photos and apologize for the poor quality. Think of it as an impressionist impression of the event. Yeah, that's the ticket. I also didn't get quite all the tables or catch everyone's names, but sometimes it's more fun to visit than to document.

Spritual Succesor(us)

Larry Gonick, Megan Kelso, Paul Chadwick, the special guests. At the stage show all three had to endure a short interview, and then survive a longer interrogation in the afternoon. I had the pleasure of talking with Larry in preparation for this, and then later on stage in front of an audience of maybe 100 people.

Since I didn't have a lot of time, my questions were pretty off the wall, just serving as a preliminary for his later interview. Larry never considered himself fully a member of the small circle of underground cartoonists when he produced work for Corporate Crime Comics, Tales From the Ozone, etc., but rather on the periphery. But he still regards that association as a very positive thing.

Larry does have one Newave comix title he contributed to: Unfunny Animals in 1981, published by Clay Geerdes. When I asked him about this before the show, he couldn't really recall it.

I was also fascinated by the fact he is the only cartoonist I've met who had Jackie Onassis as an editor. According to Larry, she was something of an advanced doodler/cartoonist herself!

A true Renaissance Man cartoonist covering a wide variety of topics, it was a pleasure to meet him.

Kelsey Smith is a librarian with Timberland Regional Library and is an energetic activist for promoting comix and zines for library use. She is one of those people who makes me feel good about being a librarian. It's impressive and forward thinking for Timberland to have a presence at this event.

Chelsea Baker, cartoonist, Evergreen alum, and one of the Fest organizers, announcing the agenda of workshops and presentations.

The Exiled

I love the accidental symmetry these Portland cartoonists provided here


Julia Gfrörer

I wish this photo had turned about better. A quiet gentleman came up, introduced himself and made me about fall over when he told me his name. This is none other than Wade Busby from the Comics F/X years of the late 80s/early 90s! It was so nice to see someone else from the old days. Fewer and fewer of them are showing up each year.

Retreads 13

1st edition, December 2005, 25 copies, white cover, regular digest size.

Trivia:

Cover, etc.: There are several images here from the final Morty Comix of the 20th century. Some of them were drawn in Kent, Columbus, and Worthington, Ohio during a business trip in November 1999. Interesting these should surface as I prepare to visit the Buckeye State again next month, but this time for fun-- SPACE!

Page 7: This was an unfinished story originally comprised of perhaps 4 pages. After I decided not to complete the thing I turned it into a Morty Comix.

Page 11: The gentleman with the flute is a portrait of John Barcellona and was used on a poster for an Olympia, Washington concert.

Page 12-13: A guide to Morty Comix originally compiled for OlyBlog.

Page 16-17: Clay Geerdes talked me into interviewing myself, but obviously I wasn't really in the mood at the time.

Page 20: In addition to this newspaper ad I also painted a big sign in color for Salt Creek Farm that had the same basic design as this panel. You can find the owners of this farm on pages 21-23 of How Two Ex-Presidents Went Up My Nose.

Pages 22-23: I miss Loafers in hardcopy and enjoyed drawing covers for them.