I'm Sure There Must Be a Story Here

... but I'll be damned if I can remember what that story would be:

The Comix Files: Sanford Berman

Here's a phone doodle I made around 1984 while in conversation with Jim Danky, I'm betting. I was a frequent cartoon contributor to Alternative Library Literature, co-edited by Danky and the legendary Sandy Berman.

The Mysterious Brownies: Calling All Comic Art Historians!

This Christmas I was given an unusual gift by my Brother's partner, Lauren. It was a framed color drawing of odd little people helping children learn how to read. A fitting gift for a librarian! Apparently it had been in Lauren's family for awhile, and she said her Mother told her those little people were Brownies.

I saw that some backing tape was eating at the paper, and could tell the drawing was from out of a book. So I removed the frame and found on the reverse side that the little guys were indeed Brownies, just like Lauren said:

When to the seaside off you go

The Brownies will come too, I know;

They'll take you in the sea, no doubt,

And laugh to see you splash about.

On the color page, note that two Brownies have numbers attached to their hats.

I'd love to know the source book for this. Is this by Palmer Cox? Somehow it looks too primitive to be his work, but I could be wrong. One could argue that the two images are by different illustrators, the line drawing being much less polished.

Hopefully I am giving you comic art scholars out there a nice mystery to solve.

Brownies, along with elves, trolls, and fairies, were part of the mythology I grew up hearing stories about. But we knew it was all make believe. Sasquatch, however, was another matter.

Favorite Movie Quotes: Pleasantville

"I mean, going up to that lake all the time is one thing, but, now they are going to a LIBRARY?!?"

Postcard - Athens, Greece

"Athens - The University and the National Library"

1970s

Phone photo 2945

This fine fellow was sitting in the Olympia Timberland Library today

Postcard - Detroit, Michigan

"Detroit Public Library, 5201 Woodward Ave., Detroit, Michigan 48202, Adam Strohm Hall. An exhibition center for the display of books and other cultural materials. This room of outstanding architectural beauty is enhanced by the mural triptych on Man's Mobility, designed and executed by Detroit artist John S. Coppin."

1970s probably.

Phone photo 2808

This little scene mysteriously materialized in my office at work

Postcard - Seattle, Washington

"University of Washington. This aerial view shows Lake Washington and the Evergreen Point Floating bridge in the background."

1970s.

That Gothic structure near the center of the image and above the Red Square is Suzzallo Library, which is not only the graduate library but was also home to the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. To give you an idea of how captivating it was to be a student in this institution, the nearly 200 pages of my monster comic Assorted Thoughts on Insanity was almost entirely composed while enduring lectures in this delightful program.

After attending undergrad at the wild and experimental Evergreen State College in the 1970s, going to the UW was like stepping back into high school. But I did enjoy being on a large academic campus in a major city.

Public, Subscription and Academic Libraries in Washington Territory, 1853-1889.

This paper was hammered out on a manual typewriter before the Internet existed. It was probably produced for some class at the UW, but I cannot recall the details. This document currently resides in the McCleary Museum files.

Postcard - Seattle, Washington

"Seattle, Washington, looking north towards the downtown business district with Interstate 5 in the foreground."

In 1980, which was about the time I acquired this card, I worked right about dead center in this photo at Seattle Public Library. What a great city.

Does Gilbert Shelton Have a Legal Case Here?

As I mentioned a few months ago, I hope Gilbert Shelton is getting some kind of commission from the catnip company Ducky World for the blatant use of his Fat Freddy's Cat character. And maybe he is, but I sure don't see Shelton's name anywhere on this container.

If Shelton is getting screwed over here, I can empathize.

Any attorneys who want to play David to Goliath (pro bono, of course, we cartooning librarians are not living in poverty, but we can see it from here) are welcome to contact me about Disney's use of my Floating Baby Head character. I think I have a good case. My character appeared in a nationally distributed comic book long before it later turned up in Phineas and Ferb.

Corporate America had no problem going after the underground cartoonists for copyright violations, but seems perfectly at ease lifting the creative efforts of underground/Newave artists for their own profit.

Postcard - Seattle, Washington

"Seattle, Washington's Gasworks Park, on the north shore of Lake Union provides an attractive recreational setting. In the background, the downtown business district."

Late 1970s, most likely. Too bad the postcard didn't include the crazy looking industrial ruins of the park.

During Norwescon 20 in 1997 at SeaTac the amazing Brad Foster was a guest of honor and several cartoonists hijacked him and took him to this park. I wasn't part of that crew but I did join the subsequent comix lunch. We all compared what we had studied in college to the reality of what we were doing now. I believe I was the only one in the large group who was actually employed in my academic degree (MLS, i.e., librarianship).

City Limits Gazette at The Evergreen State College

Not very many academic libraries have a near complete set of City Limits Gazette 1991-1993,  and those that do probably don't have copies out on open stacks-- except for The Evergreen State College Library. 

Notice how the staff used logos by Max Traffic and Bruce Bolinger to decorate the holding box.

I'm happy to note that on the shelves CLG is neighbors with Vital Speeches of the Day and American Literary History. Hoit-de-la-Toit company!

As an added bit of trivia, CLG is shelved at about the same point where the TESC Library ghost was spotted walking into an invisible door in 1988.

Dr. Seuss Necktie

Picked this up at Goodwill and wore it to work. I like it because it blends my librarian and cartoonist selves. Dr. Seuss has been one of my art heroes since childhood.

The reverse side has a quote:

"The more you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn, the more places you'll go."

-from I Can read With My Eyes Shut, by Dr. Seuss.

Happy Day After National Donut Day!

I hope the Timberland Regional Library realizes what a gem of a librarian they have with Kelsey Smith. She has become a regular figure at the Olympia Comics Festival, promoting reading and creativity through comic art. In 2012 she passed around a moveable feast of a jam comic. I got in it early but never saw the final results until recently.

The roster of artists is quite diverse: Jason Shiga, Steve Willis, Carter Welliver, Dominic Moreschi, Rhett Nelson, Harper, T.A. Nelson, Tom Dillon, Alex Paul, Lily, Brittany Dalberg, Anna Boyle, Phung Lu, Greg, Fiona Avacado, Aaron Brassea, Shannon Wheeler, Tim Basaraba, Greg Hatcher, Corin See, and Forrest Johnson.

Kelsey gave me permission to scan and post this. She told me there are still copies available if you ask at the Olympia Timberland Branch.