City Limits Gazette # Pete Best Isn't (Apr. 1992)

Logo by Wayno, Chad Woody's relatives, news and comments from Mark Campos and Matt Feazell, Bil Keane Watch, Hank Arakelian defends himself against the onslaughts of Jim Ryan, comix comment by Lynn Hansen, Hector chain cartoon, Bruce Chrislip profile, bad cover versions of Paperback Writer, Penny Lane, Piggies, Please Please Me, Polythene Pam, Rain, Revolution, Rocky Raccoon, Run For Your Life, Savoy truffle, Sexy Sadie, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, She Came In Through the Bathroom Window, She Loves You.

City Limits Gazette # Chock full o' frogs (Oct. 1991)

Hank Arakelian comments on Kennedy's Guide, reviews by Lynn Hansen, bad cover versions of I Want to Hold Your Hand, I Want to Tell You, I Want You (She's So heavy), I Will, If I Fell, If I Needed Someone, I'll Be Back, I'll Cry Instead, I'll Follow the Sun, I'm a Loser, I'm Down, I'm Happy Just to Dance With You, Bruce Sweeney's Underground Station, The Bil Keane Watch with contributions from Bruce Chrislip and Wayno.

State of Beings # 3. Arizona was included as a bonus with this issue.

Raining Quills pt. 4

Seattle, Washington : Starhead Comix, 1991. Steve Willis, Hank Arakelian, Mack White, S. Minstrel, Lynn Perez, Brian Cremins.

Another entry in the start-with-the-same-first-page-for-every issue jam. See Raining Quills pt. 2 and Raining Quills pt. 3

The final three pages were inspired by a ride I enjoyed in Disneyland in 1971. The Haunted House tour included a place where busts on headstones were cheerfully singing. That image stuck with me.

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.

Morty Mysteries

While looking through my files I found a letter from our Newave comrade Hank Arakelian. It's dated 7/6/92.

He provided me with a copy of this image and captioned: "Remember this? It will appear in the Exp View in a month or two."

Whatever happened to Hank? At the time he suddenly vanished from our radar Hank and I had been pretty deep into a full length comix jam. Unfortunately, I believe he has all the art from that effort since the ball was in his court and he was going to publish it. I can't find any copies here. So will it always be one of those Lost Comix? Actually, I have several of them out there floating in the void.

Also, I don't believe I ever saw the above image in print. Did it ever see the light of day via photocopy toner in his Exploded View comix?

Oh well. What's life without a few mysteries? Hank, if you're still out there, drop us a line if you feel like it. We miss you.

Missing Persons

This was another WFMU giveaway as part of a fund drive. Compiled in 1996 by Hank Arakelian, these were actual playing cards.

The theme concerned missing persons. I was given the diamond number cards and assigned to come up with missing persons in the Pacific Northwest. My subjects were Jacko the Sasquatch, Harry R. Truman, Hale Boggs, Butch Cassidy, Wesley Everest's grave, victims of Billy Gohl, flying saucers over Mt. Rainier, me, and D.B. Cooper.

The artists in this project were: Sam Henderson, Deirdre Kennedy, Justin Green, William Graef, Dave the Spazz, John Schnall, Kaz, Hank Arakelian, Harry S. Robins, George Erling, Doug Skinner, Krystine Kryttre, Diane Farris, Chris Ware, Bob Powers, Steve Willis, Nisa Rauschenberg, Mack White, Robert Armstrong, David Chelsea, R. Sikoryak, and Dorian.

The set was accompanied by a small booklet presenting the biographies of the subjects.

Wes Everest's grave is now a well marked IWW memorial to the 1919 Centralia Massacre. I never met Harry R. Truman, but I remember seeing his lodge when I visited Mt. St. Helens and Spirit Lake a year and a half before the eruption.

Missing