The Comix Files: Drew Curtis and Tim Whidden

New York artists Curtis and Whidden sent me promo material for Burger around 1995/1996:

The Comix Files: Russell Cowser

In 1996 Russell Cowser of Austin, Texas included this creepy image with an order and commented:

"The reverse is a page from a very scary Scientology textbook that we acquisitioned on a fact-finding mission."

Makes me think this is from the Jack T. Chick School of Graphics.

The Comix Files: Jerry Collins

Atlanta-based cartoonist Jerry Collins and I corresponded in 1984. He contributed a self-portrait to Outside In # 13.

The Comix Files: Jack T. Chick

Back in 1987 I ordered the entire set of those oddball little Jack T. Chick comics so I could donate them to the Washington State University Comix Collection. Jack sent this letter with the order form. It was written during the same era when more famous evangelists than usual were getting caught with their pants down.

"Our enemy, the world ..." Wow. Jack really is from another planet.

But I always admired the way these little guys were distributed, and that method no doubt served as one of the inspirations for how Morty Comix is sometimes presented.

The Comix Files: Jim Charette

Jim Charette, of Fall River, Massachusetts, makes a pitch for his zine Charette's Eye View in 1992.

The Comix Files: Richard C.

Richard C., aka Ricardo Campos had a store and record label in Montebello, California called Wild Rags, and a zine covering underground metal music called Wild Rag. He wrote to me around 1994/1995 when he decided to branch out into comix publishing.

I have no idea how far he got into the comix thing beyond publishing Russell Evans' Dixon (it was considered Wild Rag # 32). Richard C. apparently simply vanished into folklore. A survey through Internet will provide various rumors and gossip about his fate, none of it confirmed.

The Comix Files: Chester Brown

One of the advantages of being a perpetual amateur cartoonist is that I get contacted by amazing artists early in their careers before they really get discovered. Such was the case with the incredibly talented Toronto-based Chester Brown during our correspondence from 1984-1986. At the time he was producing a photocopy digest called Yummy Fur.

I loved the way he usually included a bunny graphic with his signature. It was fun jamming with Chester on our mini Lump Soup Sciopluieas in 1985.

During this era I sent Chester a Morty Comix that was something like 100 or 200 pages long. He shot back his own version, which was just as long, and is now in the comix collection at Washington State University.

The Comix Files: Rick "Ricko" Bradford

 Drawn by Dave Tosh

 Looks like a jam from a comix convention

Rick Bradford of Texas first contacted me in 1992 during the City Limits Gazette days. Although his comix art is wonderful and sparky, we all know Rick as the genius behind Poopsheet, at first a hardcopy resource but it evolved into one of THE most important online resources for creators and collectors of Newave, homemade, zine-like comix. Such energy. The guy must be a strange visitor from another planet with powers above and beyond that of mortal men.

Check out these links:

Poopsheet Foundation

Poopsheet Shop