Starhead Presents # 1 Cover Prep

It's amazing the things I find while engaged in archaeological digging through my studio.

Here's some of the preparation work by Michael Dowers for the cover of Starhead Presents # 1. Color is not my friend, so either Patrick or Michael Dowers hand colored this draft. I love Colin Upton's saying, "Color is for the weak," it provides me with an excuse for being color-challenged.

I'm also noticing something I forgot about. The draft version is actually an entirely different drawing. I don't remember creating more than one cover. Well, it has been nearly 30 years!

I'm also including a scan of the finished and published covers.

Fremonter Offers Comic Relief

"Fremonter Offers Comic Relief" by Bill Hayes in the January 1986 Fremont Forum, a weekly serving Seattle's Fremont neighborhood. Michael Dowers is pictured sitting on a toilet with a copy of The Seattle Star.

T-shirts

Actually I've covered the story of the OlyBlog t-shirt earlier this year. But it belongs in the gallery of t-shirts anyway.



Michael Dowers made this t-shirt in the 1980s (I think) using the Starhead Comix logo I drew.



From the 2002 AIE Summer Program, including Bezango WA 985 on stage! The images are from the comic series.

A page from Cranium Frenzy # 3 which was captioned "Three seconds in the life of Rindo Bloch" inspired this play by my brother, Bryan, and the original image was used in the t-shirt.

Cast member Jeff Kingsbury went on to be elected to the Olympia City Council for one term and his name became an Oly household word-- and not exactly in way anyone would choose.












I first drew the image for Woofer the Psychic Dog (co-written by Bryan) back in 1986 and it just keeps living on whether it is performed in New York or Olympia. To publicize the 1988 Oly premiere I created a long banner which spanned 4th Ave. about where the Danger Room is today.

Steve Willis Archives v. 4

1st edition, March 1991. Chico, California : Onward Comics. 50 copies. Blue cover, regular digest size.

This final volume of the set is an enlarged version of Stevetreads # 4.

Now, which one of us is going to badger Jeff Nicholson enough to convince him it is time for his return to the comix medium?

White Buffalo Gazette news

A year ago Michael Dowers revived interest in Newave comix with the compilation Newave! The Undergound Mini Comix of the 1980s.

And now in 2011 Butler, Pennsylvania artist Maximum Traffic/Buzz Buzzizyk/Borpo Deets has produced 100 copies of a collection that will revive interest in the post-Newave comix of the 1990s, a genre known by many of us as Obscuro comix. Although most of the art in this book appears to be from the Century 21, many of the artists come from the Newave/Obscuro era.

It is an impressive and beautiful work. Over 160 pages in enlarged digest format. In fact, this is the very same kind of size and binding I'm thinking of for my own compilations, giving the graphics room to breathe. A very good choice in delivering the artistic goods.

Bravo Max! I admire the way you give life to your creative visions.

Stevetreads # 4

1st edition, 1988. Chico, California : Jeff Nicholson. White cover, regular digest size.

Jeff's final issue of this series. But, as we shall see soon, Stevetreads was sort of a draft for a bigger project he published a little later.

The jam with Seattle author Edd Vick, I think, is the only artwork here that has not previously been posted on this blog. We drew it during one of his visits to McCleary and he later published it in his Fantoons. Edd is a thoughtful and gentle person, and a wonderful conversationalist as both guest and host.