Treasury of Mini Comics, Vol. 1

A box of contributor copies of Treasury of Mini Comics, Volume 1 arrived in the mail today. It's a thick little guy, 848 pages but only 16.5 cm. high. Fantagraphics is selling it for $29.99.

Edited by Michael Dowers, the artists and writers included are Dowers, Leonard Rifas, Justin Green,  Gary Arlington, Jim Siergey, Larry Rippe, Richard Krauss, Lori-Ann Reif, Bob Vojtko, Clark Dissmeyer, Par Holman, Macedonio Garcia, Matt Feazell, Matt Howarth, Rick Bradford, Steve Willis, Ronald Russell Roach, Bruce Chrislip, Edd Vick, Brad Johnson, Tim Corrigan, David Miller, Colin Upton, Robert Pasternak, David Lee Ingersoll, Glen Ingersoll, Roberta Gregory, John Porcellino, Dylan Williams, Tom Spurgeon, Erik Reynolds, Molly Kiely, Blair Wilson, Jim Blanchard, Chris Cilla, David Lasky, Jim Woodring, Marc Bell, Rupert Bottenberg, Ron Regé Jr., Leela Corman, Karl Wills, Onsmith, Travis Millard, Mark Campos, Nate Beaty, Peter Thompson, Fiona Smyth, Carrie McNinch, Mark Todd, Esther Pearl Watson, Mark Connery, Billy Mavreas, Andy Singer, Noah Van Sciver, Kelly Froh, Aaron Norhanian, Max Clotfelter, Marc J. Palm, David Heatley, Laura Wady. 

For you regular Morty the Blog readers, the Willis piece reprinted here was Brave New Nazis of the Inland Enpire, which was first published in 1985. There is also a nice summation of the Outside In series.

Unlike Michael's previous Newave book for Fantagraphics, which had the same format, this book is not just concentrated on one slice of time. It is a testimony to how enduring the 14-16 cm. minicomc genre has become. Somewhere, Clay Geerdes is smiling.

Comixtalk Interview

Comixtalk was a very nice concept zine consisting of interviews with small press and Obscuro comix cartoonists. This was one of Kevin Collier's publications out of Nunica, Michigan.

Kevin had come from the more mainstream fannish side of comic art enthusiasts. This was a network older and larger than us underground comix-inspired Newave troublemakers. But he made an honest effort to bridge the gap between his home camp and the more remote and alien world of what was left of Newave in the late 1980s. It was an admirable try and the few issues of Comixtalk are now valuable historical source documents for anyone interested in the history of Newave comix.

In some ways Kevin was ahead of the curve. Anything new, dangerous, progressive and possibly profitable quickly gets co-opted into mainstream culture and becomes the new norm. He was making an honest effort to treat us seriously before Fantagraphics moved to Seattle and soaked up all those Newave cartoonists into their commercial fold. In this regard, Kevin needs to be respected as a visionary.

The motive behind my involvement with the Fan camp was I felt we Newavers could perhaps get some of the more mainstream influenced cartoonists to open up their artistic vistas if they could see our work and realize they didn't have to mimic the Big Boys in order to express themselves. It was the arrogant evangelical side of me, I suppose. But I did get to know many fine cartoonists through the network Collier was part of and had to rearrange my world view of cartooning as a result. I had to accept it is OK to be a fan, since there were so many decent people and great cartoonists who used that as their premise.

This interview comes from Comixtalk no. 1 (August, 1987).

Seattle Star

Oh, Washington my home, wherever I may roam--

Michael Dowers first published the comic tabloid Seattle Star in the mid 1980s. Most of my contributions were recycled from my books, but Michael added color to several of them. Here are the colorized versions. All the black and white stuff you guys have already seen in this blog.

I liked the fact that no matter if the comic was reprinted in color or black and white, Michael liked to use a lot of my cartoons with a Washington State or Pacific Northwest theme in keeping with the Seattle Star feel.

Before Fantagraphics moved up here in the late 1980s, Michael Dowers' Starhead Comics publishing concern was probably the main venue for outsiders to learn about comix art from the Pacific Northwest.

You and Your Big Mouth #3

Pat Moriarity's series, popularly known as simply Big Mouth, featured Pat illustrating the stories of others-- including folks who who were primarily known as visual artists. Check out the list of writers on the cover.

And while you're looking up there, you'll also see a dead Starhead Comix logo. Between being contacted to write a story for Pat and actual publication I was surprised to see this title jump from Starhead to Fantagraphics. It's an incident Pat used to comic effect on the cover and in the first few pages.

Our collaboration centered on the fact I had apparently made yet another (failed) attempt at killing off Morty and walking away from comix. This was published in December 1993. By that time I was probably burned out from editing and publishing the biweekly City Limits Gazette (1991-1993).

It is a sad coincidence Barbara Billingsley, the actress who played the role of June Cleaver, died at the same time I was contacting Pat for permission to scan and post this comic. Yes, I really am a fan of Leave It To Beaver.

Pat remains very active in comix. You can find him online and he informs me signed copies of You and Your Big Mouth #3 are available. Pay him a visit.

Pat and I met for the first time last February at the Fantagraphics debut of Michael Dowers' Newave anthology. A nice guy with a face that radiates kindness. Hopefully we'll meet again, but I must say ever since Bruce Chrislip left Seattle I hardly ever attend cartoonist get-togethers.

The Newave Comix Vapor Book Really Exists

Whenever old time comix people get around the Sterno canned heat campfire at night out in the wilderness, away from the mainstream, they whisper tales of authors who, maybe, just maybe, will compile a history of the Newave comix movement the way it was meant to be told. Several of these supposed books have come up in the rumor mill over the years.

Michael Dowers edited Newave! The Underground Comix of the 1980s which was published by Fantagraphics earlier this year. Although it is a wonderful book, it doesn't really fall into the scope of the vapor book or books being discussed. First, Michael's effort has a focus on just one subgroup in the Newave, the 14-16 cm. little minicomic format. Also, his monograph was chiefly illustrated with some historical text supplementing the reprinted minicomix. No, the book or books being whispered about serve as the back story to the already published Newave! work.

Well, I'm here to tell you that I now know for sure one such book exists because I just finished proofreading the thing. Since the old Newavers are starting to die off at a rate that makes me very cross indeed, I'm gratified to see one from our own ranks has set the story down in print before we all croak. How he plans to publish the thing I do not know.

Before the use of the terms "zines," "graphic novels," "DIY," there was us, the Newavers. And we did it without Internet! This book traces our history and influence on current comic art. Hopefully the author will go public soon and get his book out there.

(Illustration is cover of Cranium Frenzy #1 (1981), as an example of the era)