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: 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.

Inspired, issue one

It's sort of collage, Jack T. Chick, Hot Stuff, Lady Gaga rolled into one from our buddy D. Blake Werts. Brings me back to the Newave days.

bwerts@vnet.net

PO Box 49283
Charlotte, NC 28277

Morty Comix # 2533

OK, so I check to see if Morty Comix # 2527 is where I left it. Sometimes these Morty Comix sit for months before anyone finds them. The spot is at a phone booth in a gas station/minimart in Tumwater, Washington. Actually various places on this retail space have served as a depository for Morty Comix for awhile. I think I have left at least half a dozen in this general vicinity in the last year or so.

But wait, I see an interloper.

What should I find at the place where I left Morty Comix # 2527 but a Jack T. Chick weirdo minicomic! This one is called The Contract! and it is the second Chick publication I have found on this retail space this week. How deliciously bizarre.

So is this how the game is played? Two anonymous comix droppers in a turf war? One Obscuro the other Fanatically Religious? Then so be it. I accept the challenge with a sense of fun. It so happens I like Chick publications (for reasons the publisher doesn't intend, I'm sure) and send all I find to the Washington State University Comix Collection.

Morty Comix # 2533 has taken the game up a notch as I replaced the Chick comic with my own work at the phone booth the next morning. Perhaps this is just a brief conflict. Or perhaps not.

Heart Trouble?

When I was pumping gas this morning I looked up and spied this soggy Jack T. Chick publication waiting for me. What a thrill! I used to find these little guys all over the place in the 1970s, but these days they are far and few between.

Although I consider these little comics to be absolutely paranoid and insane, I do enjoy reading them. And I especially like the happy way I feel when I discover one. I am sure the way they are distributed was a big influence on my current method of releasing Morty Comix on the world.

Morty Comix # 2414

 Before

 After

Morty Comix # 2414, part of the Watercolor Series, was inserted into a menu at a restaurant in Forks, Washington, where I met filmmakers Louise Amandes and Ron Austin for breakfast.

As I was stuffing the menu, Ron asked, "Aren't you worried someone is going to kick your ass?"

Well, as a matter of fact, yes. Particularly in the town of Forks, which had a much different reputation before the national media discovered this place. In the 1970s, we hitchhikers knew this was a town never to get stranded in.

Ron's question is a good one. This method of distributing Morty Comix could easily cross some legal/social boundaries if I am careless. Maybe I have even already crossed some. I am sure in some cases my distribution actions have been recorded by security cameras. But as we saw with Morty Comix # 2407 a security guy appeared to enjoy discovering the comic.

This is a blending of graphic and conceptual art. The rules of the game reveal themselves as we play. I'll try to be a bit more playful than those old Jack T. Chick comics I used to find in phone booths, but in many ways his method of distribution helped inspire me on this project.

If the old mailed Morty Comix drove completist collectors crazy, this new set, starting with Morty Comix # 2279,  will be extra hard to find and I must say there is some satisfaction in that.

But at some point I'll stop and allow this certain slice of Morty Comix to be incredibly hard to collect and then move on to something else.