Mortymail 5/9/12

OK, I admit I have become a terrible correspondent to those of you who contact me via USPS. And I have been for a number of years. Burnout is liberating yet guilt-inducing.

Anyway. It is not my intention to make this a regular feature of Morty the Blog, but I thought I would report on some of the stuff I get in the mail before I send it off the to the Washington State University comix collection. In no way is this making up for Richard Krauss basically suspending Midnight Fiction, and I am not reviewing. If you are looking for a networking place, send your comix to Rick Bradford at Poopsheet.

I let my mail pile up quite a bit before I even look at it. Then I get out the jack-knife, slice those babies open after they have collected dust for a week or more, and mostly pay bills while some old movie is in the VCR. Yes, you heard me, I said VCR. Occasionally some comix stuff slips in there.

Here's what arrived this week:

Kel Crum sent me his latest, Scribbles. I'd like to know how he found legal sized paper to print this work in the classic enlarged digest size which I loved. I finally got to meet Kel at SPACE last year and admired his performance skills during the comix reading show.

Bruce Chrislip sent me a big packet of material. Included were copies of a couple jams from SPACE 2011. I found his reprint (20 years later) of Thurber of Ohio to be especially wonderful. Before Bruce and I left SPACE in Columbus last year to head for Cincinnati, we visited the Thurber House. I really enjoyed visiting the home of one great Ohio cartoonist while accompanied by another great Ohio cartoonist.

I hope one day Bruce and Joan Chrislip return to Washington State.

And finally, our old Newave comrade, Gary Fields, sent this great version of Morty the Dog! 

I love it!

City Limits Gazette # Nirvana Claw (July 1993)

Cover by the Zen Master himself Bil Keane, Richard Wayne and Leonard Rifas sign up, Dissmeyer and Datmyers, I defend Comics Buyers Guide, Small press cares by Andrew Ford, View of wank minis by Maximum Traffic, Not really a Westercon report by Bruce Chrislip, Bil Keane Watch by Kel Crum - Randy H. Crawford - Wayno, Satanism and Republicans in Thurston County, Kilodney update, Report from Yugoslavia by Sasa Rakezic, CLG reader profile of Bruce Bolinger, Other Sounds by Wayno, Comics Journal small press index by Gary Usher.

City Limits Gazette # ... (Jan. 1993)

Logo by Chad Woody, an issue top heavy with contributions to the Bil Keane Watch by Maximum Traffic - Andrew Roller - Matt Love - Jeffrey Kipper - "Thad Willis" - Kel Crum - Gary Usher, The Incredible Upsidedowns of Old Man [Gustave] Verbeck by Hank Arakelian, CLG reader profile of Bob Vojtko, Randy Reynaldo on NPR's zine explosion coverage, bad cover versions of You've Got to Hide Your Love Away.

City Limits Gazette # ... (Jan. 1993)

Smurf creator Pierre Culliford dies at age 64, a question from Kel Crum, Mark Campos writes a Bil Keane Watch defending The Master against Working Mother magazine, Maximum Traffic responds to Ricardo Nancy McJacksonstein, William Dockery tackles the Fred question, Matt Loves hops on the bus, Matt Groening recalls his Evergroove days in Spin (excerpt included here), Wayno anticipates the indeed later published Collected Bil Keane Watch, CLG reader profile of Jamie Alder, comix reviews by Lynn Hansen.

City Limits Gazette # Peeling the toaster (July 1992)

Logo by S. Minstrel, Kel Crum weighs in on Fred, Xeric Foundation is created, Luciano revisited or RIP Newave 1975-1985, Bil Keane Watch with Jeffrey Kipper, Bruce Sweeney's Underground Station with logo by Jerry Riddle, CLG reader profile of Wayno, Maximum Traffic and Clay Geerdes on the hobby question, bad cover versions of When I'm Sixty Four, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Why Don't We Do It in the Road, Wild Honey Pie, With a Little Help From My Friends, The Word, Yellow Submarine, Yer Blues, Yesterday.

Also a much beloved coffee stained coaster by Wayno I have been using for nearly two decades on my studio desk.