Mini-Comics Day in McCleary, pt. 3

Jim Gill has compiled a nice post on McCleary Mini-Comics Day.

Taken in Elma, Washington (where we went for dinner) by Ron Austin with Jim's camera: L to R: Jim Gill, Morty the Dog, Paul and Reid Tumey, Frank Young.  

Mini-Comics Day in McCleary, pt. 2

Original drawing by Paul Tumey. We all had a chance to pick one and I loved this piece.

The great Seattle Post-Intelligencer cartoonist Ray Collins advised me to study poetry when I met with him in 1977. I think Paul must've overheard our conversation.

Mini-Comics Day in McCleary, Pt. 1

Yesterday I hosted the McCleary site for National Mini-Comics Day at our local Community Center. During the first hour, from 9-10, I was totally alone, listening to whatever creature it was that was living in the wall or ceiling of the building. Knowing my time might be crunched as the day went on, I used the opportunity to put together my minicomic for the day.

There should be a name for those strands of paper that are a byproduct of trimming newly printed minicomix. When I mentioned this later, I think Jim Gill suggested "mippitts."

So, this is is one the fastest minicomix I have ever produced, exactly 44 minutes from conception to the finished 10 copies. It is untitled.

The greeting table, including promo material for the Olympia Comics Festival, to take place June 2!

The first contingent arrived at about 10 from Seattle! Paul Tumey and his son Reid, Frank Young, and Jim Gill. I was thrilled to finally meet all of them in person and grateful they made the long trek to the hills for this.

All three of the cartoonists above have known each for a long time since they first met in their native Southeast U.S. I loved the way they fit together when they talked. It was like listening to well practiced tag-team comedy with a real mutual respect and affection.

Paul Tumey and I first corresponded back in 1990. Paul can be counted among one of the more thoughtful cartoonists I've known, like Joe Zabel, Scott McCloud, Hank Arakelian, and several others. He has several websites, my favorite being Screwball Comics.

Frank Young is a very funny fellow with a thousand voices. Also, he is a former editor of the Comics Journal and is juggling enough blogs to qualify him as a circus act.

Jim Gill and I have been corresponding since 1996. He was the first person to ever post a Morty Comix on Internet. Plus, and I cannot say this about anyone else I know, he actually knew someone who was eaten by an alligator!

Frank and Jim have a website called The Jim and Frank Podcast, and if you think radio comedy is dead, you need to visit this site first.

As the day progressed more people trickled in. I think we had a grand total of a dozen people in the six hours of the event. In the background of this shot you can see Bothell, Washington cartoonist/filmmaker Ron Austin and his partner Louise setting up as part of a project they have in mind. I met Ron last week at Evergroove's 40th Anniversary.

Bryan and Amy collate and staple a minicomic that was really wonderful. Part of the whole idea of this event was to attract non-comix artists to the art form, and these two created a very nice work entitled This is the Story of Ludwig. My brother's modesty prevents him from giving me permission to post it, but maybe one day he'll relent. I'm serious, I think these two put together an elegant little 8-pager. At least WSU will get it, so it won't be entirely lost.

Hey, if I can sing "I haven't seen my underpants in weeks" in public, which I did in Elma after this event (as Jim Gill can bear witness), certainly this mini can be shared with the world. But, I'll respect Bryan's wishes.

Figuring out the logistics of printing back-to-back pages on my copier can be maddening. I loved how Frank lapsed into one of his comic radio voices while figuring it out.

Jim posted a nice short bit on YouTube where I talk to three brothers about how to construct a minicomic.

On some levels this event was a success since we had a lot of energy from creative artists who also happened to be nice people. Sarah popped in (and traded stories with Jim about being former residents of  Port Townsend), but apart from the two of us, no one else from McCleary showed up. And I have to admit I was disappointed none of the locals bothered to come. But, this is far from the first time I have felt like a literal voice in the wilderness out here, so I can roll with it.

There was some talk as we wrapped up that maybe next year in the 2013 Third Annual National Mini-Comics Day, a happening might take place in Seattle and I could go up there. I would love that! But at least in 2012 the tiny hamlet of McCleary can now officially take a place in the history of Mini-Comics Day!

I'll be posting the comic art results of our creative efforts in the next chapters. Plus, there will be a surprise participant from McCleary's sister city in Ohio-- Cincinnati, home of goetta!

Mini-Comics Day Prep

Mini-Comics Day is almost here!  I took the afternoon off and went to City Hall to pick up the key to the Community Center. Then I found Sarah and brought her with me for set-up since she graciously offered to help. Somehow that seems fitting since she was the one who set this blog up in the first place, so this whole thing in McCleary really traces back to her!

A tip to those of you coming from other places. We are about 25 minutes from Shelton, 30 minutes from Oly, 40 minutes from Aberdeen, 60 minutes from Centralia, 90 minutes from Seattle, 2+ hours from Portland, 6 hours from Spokane my birthplace, 9 hours from Redding, California if you drive like a bat out of Hell, and a stone's throw from Bezango. Keep in mind Memorial Day weekend traffic to the Coast will be thick.

These tables are not the greatest for acting as a drawing surface. Be sure to bring a drawing board or pad. I'll be using a clipboard.

I'll be providing a photocopier, a very funky paper cutter, a longneck stapler, some old dry gluestick, colored paper, pencil sharpener and a few other things. Bottled water will be there too, as well as some "fine" music on old sound cassettes. heh-heh.

This is also the venue where the Man in the Morty the Dog suit appeared in the late 20th century.

The Community Center resides next to the McCleary Cemetery, originally started by the Knights of Pythias in 1912 and then given to the town shortly after McCleary incorporated in 1943. Here is the headstone for one of the many Greeks who lived here in the early days, Christ Pappas, 1882-1956.

 A rare thunderstorm followed these clouds a few minutes later.

I returned home to start hauling out my dusty comix-making tools. Meanwhile, Charlie and Dreamer had an epic wrestling match next to the equipment I gathered in my living room.

Mini-Comics Day!: Someone Does Not Want You to See This Poster

Here in McCleary the Post Office bulletin board is the central form of text communication. I have been putting up posters daily heralding the coming of Mini-Comics Day, and daily someone has been taking them them down, ripping them up, and throwing them in the garbage. It seems aimed pretty much at just this event as compared to other posters on the bulletin board.

And here I thought I was pretty much washed up as a cartoonist and self-publishing advocate, but apparently I still have the power to offend, so that feels good. I cannot even begin to guess why anyone would do this with such discipline. It is nice to know I can still get under the skin of some intolerant person. Most artists want to inspire people, but we cartoonists were born to step on toes in this ungentlemanly art, so this very targeted vandalism makes me feel like I'm doing my job.

Strike a blow for fun and creativity and come to the McCleary Community Center on May 26! If you don't feel like drawing anything, come and cheer on those who are willing to risk expressing themselves on paper. An event like this has never taken place in the entire history of McCleary, so come be a part of history.

McCleary Mini-Comics Day! May 26!

This event is now less than a month away, so I guess I better start getting serious about organizing this thing.

If you are coming from the Roman Road we call I-5, take the exit at Oly to Aberdeen/Ocean Beaches and you'll find yourself on US 101 heading west. After crossing Mud Bay you'll be given a choice of continuing on 101 to Shelton, or staying on the main road, which magically turns into SR 8 heading for the Coast. Stay the course and head for the Coast on SR 8. You'll find 9 out of 10 vehicles turn off to continue on 101. Only the few, the proud, keep climbing the mountains on to SR 8. You will now be entering a world outside of the Seattle media. You will be visiting the old, original Washington. And romantic as it may sound, it isn't always pretty or politically correct. But it is harshly real.

From the start of SR 8 it takes about 20 minutes to climb to McCleary, the highest point on the road between Oly and the Coast. After you take the McC exit, turn right, left, descend down the hill into the town at exactly 25 m.p.h., and at our stop sign with the flashing red light on top turn left. Now you are on Simpson Ave. heading west, otherwise known as the old Highway 410. Go about 8 blocks and on your right you'll see the McCleary Community Center, happily located next to the town cemetery.

As you fall into McCleary you'll see as you come down the hill the McCleary Methodist Church on your right. This building was designed by Joseph Wohleb, an architect responsible for many buildings in Oly, including the Capitol campus.

After you turn on to Simpson, you'll see diesel pumps at a gas station on your left. When I was a kid there was a big house there. I believe that is where McCleary's only movie actor, Major Mite, lived.

This ground-down corner of the state can use some good, positive creative energy.  I hope you crazy cartoonists out there are willing to make the trek up here to the woods and produce some comix. We are going to have fun and celebrate the comic art form!

Evergreen Lecture

Last night I had fun talking with a classroom of 40 plus students in "The Women's West" program taught by Jolie Sandoz and Ann Storey at The Evergreen State College. My talk, which was a bit rambly, attempted to tie together the threads of the Baby Boom, the history of Evergreen, and Newave Comix and the creative freedom afforded by photocopy technology. Most of the students were in their 20s, the same age I was when I attended Evergroove.

I printed up special TESC editions (75 copies each) of Write-In Morty the Dog for McCleary Mayor, Dante's Coat, Ambergris, To Touch the Face of Larry,  and As I Recall The 'Sixties, as well as a sample of Bezango WA 985.

For you bibliographic completists, the above minis also had a blue test copy, except for To Touch the Face of Larry, which had two copies. I used the lecture opportunity to promote Mini-Comics Day in McCleary and who knows? Maybe we'll see some future cartoonists come out of this.

I had a blast and this was the first time I have given an academic lecture in several years. This was also my first time talking to an Evergreen audience, and it was sort of strange delivering this in a building that didn't exist when I was a student there. They were a good group, very attentive and asked good questions. We even had a drawing exercise.

Thanks for having me over, fellow Geoducks!

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.

Mini-Comics Day, May 26, 2012, in McCleary

Mini-Comics Day
McCleary Community Center
726 W. Simpson Ave.
McCleary, Washington
9 am-3 pm

 http://www.minicomics.org/

Last year on the first Mini-Comics Day I was inspired to draw one (Beholder of the Eye), so even if no one shows up, at least I'll produce an annual 8-page work.

Holding an event like this in a rural area might seem insane, but on the other hand my county produced painter Robert Motherwell, comic artist John Workman (who I was acquainted with as a fellow hangerouter at Eaton's Bookstall in Aberdeen in the early 1970s), music artists Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic, and the wonderful author Angelo Pellegrini. So it is always dangerous to underestimate this obscure edge of the U.S. of A.

Beholder of the Eye!

1st edition, April 9, 2011, 10 copies, blue minicomic.

Drawn in celebration of Mini-Comics Day!

The idea of an eye in a cave came to me in a dream awhile back. This morning I expanded the concept into a little story.

This took about two hours from start to finish. Drawn directly on cheap typing paper with a Pentel Rolling Writer, no pencils or pasteups. Copied original size, folded, trimmed, stapled, and ready to read!

Mini Comix Day

Today is Mini-Comics Day!

Check it out at: http://www.minicomics.org/

I'm hoping to participate myself if I can!