Morti Resurrectus

While rummaging through a trunk to begin scanning the oversize items for this blog, I ran across the original art of "Morti Resurrectus" by George Erling, Jim Ryan, Bruce Chrislip, and J.R. Williams.

This is from the mid-1980s and initially appeared in, I think, Cartoon Loonacy. Later I responded with a four-panel page (reproduced here but not the original).

These three pages also appeared together in Retreads 4.

Retreads 4

1st edition, 1985, Pullman, Washington, 70 copies, cherry cover, enlarged digest size.

1st Danger Room Reprint edition, July 2005, 5 copies, blue cover, enlarged digest size.

In the 2nd half of 1985 I published several comix but didn't release them until the start of 1986. This was one of them.

Trivia:

Pages 10-11: "The Leash" was always one of my favorite short pieces. It originally appeared, I think, in Equinox, a comic with more of a fan audience than a Newave readership.

Page 16: As I recall, the title for this was created by first drawing the background texture and then taping a cut out stencil of the title over it.

The device of using third parties to describe a basically unseen character in an almost documentary way is a convention that has long interested me. Come to think of it, applying nonfiction narrative techniques to comix is something I learned from the undergrounds. If a documentary is well produced, no matter what the topic, I'm much more engaged than watching, say, football or baseball.

Pages 29-31: George Erling, Bruce Chrislip, Jim Ryan, and J.R. Williams are four very silly people.

Newave Reader

1st edition was available as a print-on-demand title, I bet there are probably 100 copies out there.

Special Micah edition, December 28, 2001, 3 copies, parchment cover.

In attempting to put together a history of the Newave comix movement, I gained permission from various participants to reprint essays and interviews. The inside cover lists the original sources of the material from Jay Kennedy, George Erling, John E.'s interview with Jim Ryan, Tim Corrigan's interview with Jane Oliver, and my own writing from City Limits Gazette and J.R. William's Fun House.

Clay Geerdes, on the other hand, didn't want me to reprint anything of his. Instead he generously provided me with a wonderful essay just for this book. It was later reprinted in the recent Fantagraphics Book, Newave! the Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s.

Clay was very enthusiastic about this project and wanted me to make it a series. If his health had held up I think he would've been happy contributing original writing to each issue. As it was, I felt very fortunate to have this great document where he looks back and really ties things together.

Likewise, I think I could've roped Jay Kennedy into providing original essays if this title had been a series. It would've appealed to his frustrated librarian side. Once again, I'm lucky to have what I have here.

Including the great George Erling was a no-brainer if you want to study the history of Newave. Jane Oliver was an important figure to include since she was one of the pioneers in making this boy's club less of a boy's club. And the incredible Jim Ryan was always one of my favorite artists to come out the Newave, one of our very best.