The Comix Files: Randall Ainsworth

I first met photographer and computer guy Randall Ainsworth in 1992 when he photographed me for an article I wrote about McCleary.

A bit later we connected again. Ainsworth was based in Aberdeen, and I was interested in other small periodicals in Grays Harbor County. This was during a transitional period in 'zine history. The early era of online serials was just starting. Randall had a monthly called RAndY's RumOR RaG, which can now be considered something a pioneer effort.

So here's how Ainsworth described his publication in 1993:

And here is the July 1993 issue.  We Newave Comix artists call this digest size. Remember, the Worldwide Web was still in an embryonic state at this time. It would not start becoming a household feature for two or three more years. Oddly, the very first website still exists!

Hope you enjoyed this little peek into computer technology coupled with 'zine history. Impressive that this publication was started in 1985!

Morty Comix # 2550

Morty Comix # 2550 is going to Florida. A Morty the Blog reader sent me a SASE with the above note.

The thought crosses my mind that those of you who were raised in the email era might not know the acronym-- SASE means Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope and was a regular part of our pre-Internet vocabulary in the Newave Comix era.

Anyway, I'll the keep the identity of this individual anonymous for the time being, since I know this person to be a fellow lover of mischief and I don't want to spoil whatever surprise he has in mind.

The envelope now waits by the door for my next trip to the Post Office.

Phone photo 2276

Strike a Post

Das Kapital Mall, Olympia, Washington

Is it

A: A typo

B: A clever pun

C: Some kind of online lingo I have not caught up to yet since I am an old hermit and am not part of the Facebook universe

$25 Sale - Original Art - Mukey the Mutant Membrane, p. 2

Mukey the Mutant Membrane, page 2

Heavy bond paper, 35.5 x 28 cm. Felt tip over nonphoto blue pencil. Drawn in 1996.

First three panels include paste-ups of the house drawing.

$25 ppd
Check or money order to
Steve Willis
PO Box 390
McCleary, WA 98557-0390

Or order through PayPal

What Younger Cartoonists See When They Meet Me

This is what younger cartoonists see when they meet me, especially if I start talking about the sunny slopes of yesterday in the pre-Internet Newave era of the late 1970s-early 1980s, when improved photocopy technology opened up a whole new world for us, and we relied on the United States Postal Service to distribute our work.

But what an electric ride it was. Those were the days, my friend. But I knew they'd end.

What short lives we have. Like mayflies.

Steve Willis Anticipates the Demise of Paper / by Peter Oakley

Back in early 1991 I spoke to the Cartoonists Northwest group in Seattle. Interesting to read this half-accurate prediction about online comix two decades later.

Peter Oakley reported on the talk in CN's newsletter, Penstuff (March 1991). For the record, I had nothing to do with the legendary minicomic Penguins in Bondage. That effort came from Bruce Chrislip and Wayne Gibson in 1981, before I had been in contact with either one of these fine cartoonists.

The ending comment about post-it notes has come to pass right here on this blog several times over.

Prehistoric Proto-Internet Review of Morty

In 1986-1988, while working in a temp job in The Evergreen State College Library, a student named Ms. Greenberg would occasionally pay me a visit and want to talk comix. I don't know how she found me, but she was a Morty fan. I enjoyed visiting with her whenever she came by. I recall she was unfailingly cheerful and pleasant, which of course made me wonder even more how she could've been a Morty reader.

But she was, and I was grateful that such an upbeat person found something of worth in my comix.

One day in the Spring of 1987 she brought me this printout sent by her friend Casey Boyd of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This was the first time I ever saw any of my works reviewed by an online source.

This was also the first time I saw an email address, including the use of the "@" symbol. Of course, I didn't see it online, I just saw the printout. I wouldn't be exposed to BITNET as part of my job at WLN until 1990.

Anyway, it turns out hsu@uicsrd.CSRD.UIUC.EDU is Dr. William Tsun-yuk Hsu, now a professor of computer science at San Francisco State University.

So Dr. Bill Hsu, a very belated thank you for providing what was probably the very first online mention of my work. And thank you Casey and Ms. Greenberg, wherever you are, for giving me the info.

Morty Comix # 2114 and # 2058

One of the first people to post my comix on Internet was Jim Gill. These two Morty Comix appeared in the now defunct minicomic.com. I printed these off in 2001.