The Old School / by Robert Boyd

As part of his "Minimalism" column in The Comics Journal # 183 (Jan. 1996), Robert Boyd covered a couple of my books as well as some comix librarianship activity.

Jane Jenkins Oliver Scrapbook

I enjoyed an eight year correspondence with Jane. In hindsight I wish I had been more frequent on taking her up more often on invitations to contribute to comic projects. But I did manage to send in a few pages for her minicomix.

In looking over this folder of her mail I get angry thinking about how she was taken away so early. She certainly was one of the major female Newave cartoonists and I believe she would be gratified today to see the more equitable gender balance of cartoonists producing self-published and obscuro comix as compared to the 1980s.

Jane needs to be more celebrated and recognized as a pioneer. You can find a nice 1986 interview with her by Tim Corrigan in the Newave Reader.

Newave Reader

1st edition was available as a print-on-demand title, I bet there are probably 100 copies out there.

Special Micah edition, December 28, 2001, 3 copies, parchment cover.

In attempting to put together a history of the Newave comix movement, I gained permission from various participants to reprint essays and interviews. The inside cover lists the original sources of the material from Jay Kennedy, George Erling, John E.'s interview with Jim Ryan, Tim Corrigan's interview with Jane Oliver, and my own writing from City Limits Gazette and J.R. William's Fun House.

Clay Geerdes, on the other hand, didn't want me to reprint anything of his. Instead he generously provided me with a wonderful essay just for this book. It was later reprinted in the recent Fantagraphics Book, Newave! the Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s.

Clay was very enthusiastic about this project and wanted me to make it a series. If his health had held up I think he would've been happy contributing original writing to each issue. As it was, I felt very fortunate to have this great document where he looks back and really ties things together.

Likewise, I think I could've roped Jay Kennedy into providing original essays if this title had been a series. It would've appealed to his frustrated librarian side. Once again, I'm lucky to have what I have here.

Including the great George Erling was a no-brainer if you want to study the history of Newave. Jane Oliver was an important figure to include since she was one of the pioneers in making this boy's club less of a boy's club. And the incredible Jim Ryan was always one of my favorite artists to come out the Newave, one of our very best.