Morty Comix # 2690

Morty Comix # 2690 was left in a spot that is somewhat significant in the history of comic art. The College Activities Building (CAB) on the campus of The Evergreen State College was home to the campus newspaper, The Cooper Point Journal, during the era when staff included cartoonists Matt Groening, Lynda Barry, Charles Burns, Jim Chupa, Flicky Ford, T.J. Simpson, and yours truly, among others.

The exact location of the 1970s CPJ office has since been part of a giant remake. The present area is filled with offices for student organizations. Even the outside looks different, including some kind of extension with wood panel siding.

I left Morty Comix # 2690 behind a decorative wall panel, which back in the 1970s would've been on the left hand of the entrance to the CPJ offices.

Postcard - Olympia, Washington

 

"Daniel J. Evans Library Building. This modern facility, housing seminar rooms and offices as well as up-to-the-minute library operations, is part of a 1000 acre campus on the Cooper Point Peninsula, five miles northwest of downtown Olympia."

Ah, back in the days when tuition for in-state students was less than $200 a quarter. It all became out of reach after Reagan, kids.

This card was handed to me in the spring of 1975, judging by the address. "Rena" was one of the many names used by Lynda Barry, the author of this missive. "Stella" and "Plex" were a couple other monikers for her. My trivia claim to fame in Cartoonland is that I knew Lynda Barry and Matt Groening before they knew each other.

Bezango WA Interview with Ron Austin

The TESC blog, The Evergreen Mind recently posted a nice interview with filmmaker Ron Austin about the Bezango WA documentary.

Also included in the post is the entire panel discussion (apparently) starring Matt Groening, Craig Bartlett, Drew Christie, Tommy Thompson, Megan Kelso, Ruth Hayes and yours truly from last May!

Thanks to Louise Amandes for directing me to this great blog.

Buttons - State Campaign - 1968

Dan Evans

I found this button on the ground when Washington State Gov. Evans was running for his second term in 1968.

Comic art historians might be interested to know Gov. Evans, along with State Sen. Gordon Sandison, was an important figure in the creation of The Evergreen State College. TESC is now known as a hotbed of cartoonists. When Gov. Evans stepped down after serving an unprecedented consecutive three terms as Governor, he became the President of Evergreen and it was viewed as a very controversial move at the time.  

The editor of the school paper, The Cooper Point Journal, during this turmoil was none other than Matt Groening. And here's a bit of Matt trivia. He's not only a great cartoonist, he's also a great journalist. He could've been an amazing investigative reporter, but as it happened his talents were used to better advantage.

Here's yet another bit of trivia. The Evans administration actually employed me ca. 1976 to conduct phone polling. I got paid per each completed survey. It was a night job conducted by college students mostly. This gig was very educational for me in that I heard the vox populi unfiltered.

A Slice of Return to Evergreen

The Evergreen State College put together this 3-minute summary of the Return to Evergreen 40th Anniversary of the school.  Watch for Matt Groening and yours truly just after the first minute.

Godspeed, J.P. Patches

He's gone.

We Puget Sound Boomers who grew up watching live local TV in the late 1950s to 1960s came to love J.P. Patches. Contrary to legend, I do not believe Portlander Matt Groening based his Simpsons Krusty the Clown character on J.P., but rather on Portland's Rusty Nails, an Oregon J.P. counterpart.

J.P. was not really a clown, he was not really an adult, he was something else. Something special. An adult who understood us. He introduced us kids to Spike Jones music, improv theater, and anarchy. He certainly was a key figure in shaping the lives of local cartoonists and was a big influence on my own art.

I interviewed J.P. in person in 1975. I was impressed how he gave me, a nobody college student, his entire morning. Bob Newman, who played Gertrude, joined us as well. I had seen J.P. a couple times before, first at the opening of the big shopping center in west Olympia (now the home of Grocery Outlet) ca. 1960 and later I saw him at the Century 21 World's Fair in 1962 on a go-cart with Gertrude.

Goodbye J.P., we love you. And thanks for all the fun you gave to us Patches Pals.

Olympia Comics Festival 2012, pt. 13

My final bit on the Oly Comix Fest.

All the comix, business cards, and brochures that were traded or given to me will go to the Washington State University Comix Collection, the oldest academic collection of underground, Newave, and small press comix on the Pacific Coast. This library collection was started long before comix were considered acceptable by the mainstream in the early 1980s, even by other librarians. As a result, WSU holds many rare titles from the pioneer days of self-publishing, as well as early works by cartoonists who are now internationally famous such as Matt Groening, the Teenage Turtle guys, Chester Brown, etc. Anyone on the West Coast who has an academic interest in the subject of the history of self-published or underground comix will have to visit this collection. There is no other public place in Ecotopia that can come close in terms of broad coverage.

The Oly Comix Fest really has roots in the old Newave Comix movement. God bless you Clay Geerdes. 

Olympia Comics Festival 2012, pt. 3

What comix gathering wouldn't be complete without someone walking around in a giant cartoon suit based a character invented by someone I knew in the distant past?

My Favorite Portland Troublemakers!

http://turbooverdrive.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tim-Goodyear/155112131176562

 http://www.kinokogallery.com/

 http://www.ebbits.net/

http://www.markmonlux.blogspot.com/

 http://www.ducknbeaver.com/

I am guessing this name comes from the two mascots for Oregon's big two college sports teams. 

 

Neoglyphic Media

Morty Comix # 2362

Morty Comix # 2362 was placed inside an issue of the Weekly Volcano, in the page featuring an article about the Evergroove cartoonists. This was in a restaurant in Tumwater serving Asian cuisine.

CPJ Photos of the TESC Cartoonists Seminar

 Seated left to right: Matt Groening, Craig Bartlett, Drew Christie, Tommy Thompson, Megan Kelso, Steve Willis, Ruth Hayes

See this and other photos by Kelli Tokos at:
http://cooperpointjournal.tumblr.com/post/23322690497/animation-seminar

The Weekly Volcano Interviews Frank Hussey

Alec Clayton of The Weekly Volcano interviewed Frank Hussey of Olympia's Danger Room in preparation for the TESC 40th anniversary cartoonists panel. The piece is available online!

I had a great time at the event! After the panel discussion Matt and I were filmed together outside by Evergreen staff talking about TESC. Not sure when or where that will eventually surface. I understand the panel discussion was recorded as well.

40th Anniversary Reunion at Evergreen

I took part in the program Animation, Comics and Graphic Novels: A Great Evergreen Tradition as part of the 40th anniversary of The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. On my way there I was saddened to see the Handy Pantry, or the "H.P.," a place we used to go to on frequent beer runs back in the 1970s, apparently in a state of stasis.

 The TESC Steam Plant. Sometimes we would sneak past the guy in the glass office and gain entry into the maze of steam tunnels that honeycomb the campus.

 Dorm A. In 1974 Matt Groening lived in the room with the window on the 2nd floor far left. The next window was my room. He was the first person I met on my first day at Evergreen.

 This is the spot where an incident I relate in Evergroove Trivia Pt. 15 took place.

 One time Lynda Barry and I were walking together and at this point she grabbed me and made me hide with her around a corner while a conceptual artist walked by. "That man hates art!" she trembled. The actual corner has since been obliterated by building expansion.

 A lecture hall where one of our classmates in Shakespeare and the Age of Elizabeth vaulted over several rows of seats to beat up someone he didn't like in 1979.

 Ron Austin of Cartoonists Northwest and son Liam.

 Setting up

 

 With Tommy Thompson

 Tommy Thompson, Craig Bartlett, Matt Groening, Megan Kelso, Drew Christie

 Evergreen faculty Ruth Hayes, who will moderate, joins the group

 Showtime begins

The geoduck, Evergreen's mascot

Upcoming events

April 17: A lecture on The Evergreen State College, Baby Boomers, Photocopy, and Newave Comix at Evergroove for "The Women's West" program at Evergreen.

May 18: A "Fishbowl Seminar" celebrating Evergroove's 40th anniversary with: Craig Bartlett, Drew Christie, Matt Groening, Megan Kelso, Tommy Thompson, and yours truly. The bad news, they are selling tickets for the whole multi-day event at $150 bucks a pop and it does not appear as of today you can just come to this event alone at a discount.

May 26: Mini-Comics Day is a national event, and I'll be hosting the McCleary venue. Apparently, I have gone crazy.

June 2: The Olympia Comics Festival. Don't know yet what I'll be doing at this shindig, but I do plan on being there and if nothing else reporting on the artists.

A Short Walk Through Evergroove-- a Comix-eye View

The main "Red Square" and Library Building for The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. It was somewhere on these bricks Lynda Barry dropped a human skeleton and looked in horror as it shattered into tiny pieces.

Behind these doors in the CAB Building (Campus Activities Building), before the place went through a major facelift, sat the office of the student newspaper, The Cooper Point Journal when Matt Groening was editor. Today the area houses student activities offices.


I was amazed and pleased to see the Stairwell Dragons are still with us! Our fellow cartoonist David George was fascinated by this spiral mural. Cruz Esquivel and I shared an adventure with local law enforcement.











The area where the Library Ghost was originally spotted in 1988. According to the eyewitness who returned to area and demonstrated where the ghost had been seen, the being would've been walking away from the camera in the center of the photo.

The huge stairs are now absent, but this is the spot where Evergroove's amazing dedication ceremony took place in 1972.

This squat little cube is actually an air vent and one of many entrances to the fabled steam tunnels. If you are inside this thing you can see people through the grate.