Pure Insanity # 20

OK, this post cannot really be considered an ad since I don't have any idea how to contact our old Newave comrade Tom Brinkmann, but he recently published 50 copies of Pure Insanity # 20. This is 12 pages/leaves, 28 cm. of Brink jamming with the incredible Buzz Buzzizyk.

Calling this "mindblowing" is no exaggeration. Both of these artists are better than ever.

The Comix Files: Ben Adams (Minnesota)

The following is the original material used for Ben Adams' interview, which was published in City Limits Gazette # Ch-ch-ch-changes (Sept. 29, 1993), the very last issue.

Intro to Mini Comix by Blake!

[Above: Blake shows a photo of the legendary Clay Geerdes as portrayed in the Michael Dowers book, Newave!]

Our old friend Blake has just released a 35 minute introduction to minicomix on YouTube.

It is quite an experience to see a comix movement one was a part of be treated as an exciting period in comic art history. Blake tracks the Newave Comix movement from the comix ancestors of the 1960s up to the 1980s.

To this day I still proudly classify myself as a Newave Cartoonist.

Go Blake! Thank you for recognizing the importance and spark of our comix genre!

Update: Blake follows this up with an addendum: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jamUb7Grhc0

Paul Tumey Covers Short Run

[Image from Paul's article]

Paul Tumey wrote a nice summation of Short Run 2013 for Comics Journal. A few old Newavers can be seen in this report. Lots of photos. Check it out at this LINK.

Hey! Andy Nukes is Now Blogging!

Andy Nukes Artwerks / But Is It Art?

Our old friend from Newave days has a very nice website. It is on WordPress, which looks great! Looks he just started it last month.

Inspired, issue one

It's sort of collage, Jack T. Chick, Hot Stuff, Lady Gaga rolled into one from our buddy D. Blake Werts. Brings me back to the Newave days.

bwerts@vnet.net

PO Box 49283
Charlotte, NC 28277

John E and Newave Comix in the News!

Our old friend from Newave Comix days, John E of Kansas, was featured in a news article covering comix yesterday in the Hutchinson News by reporter Kristen Roderick.

It's available online too. Don't know for how long. Here's a LINK.

Obscuro Bezango Show 6

The Opening Night.  An astounding thing happened. Five of us from the old City Limits Gazette crowd were there at one time: Left to right, Bruce Chrislip, Tom Rehm, Wayno, Mike Hill. I was the 5th but how can I be in two places at once?

I was too busy schmoozing to take many photos, but I did document the following for you students of Newave Comix.

 Hillary chats up Bruce

Wayno, Chrislip, Hill. This was first time I have actually met Wayno in person, even though we corresponded off and on since the 1980s. He was a wonderful contributor to the Bil Keane Watch in City Limits Gazette and a major part of the spark in that title. He brought me a package of coasters, in part to replace my coffee stained and much loved Scottie's Bar coaster in my studio.

 Mike Hill, Bruce Chrislip

A graphic of the mysteriously vanished Maximum Traffic is on the wall

Bruce braved a four hour drive from Cincinnati to attend this opening. As the historian for our brand of comic art, his presence gave the event a a few more "chops" as they say in West Pennsylvania.

But too soon it was all over and the crowd spilled out to the night streets of Pittsburgh. Buzz Buzzizyk, Maximum Traffic, Tom Rehm, all free spirits inspired by the shadowy Borpo Deets, had their night of being honored.

Obscuro Bezango Show 2

I was invited to Pittsburgh to be part of a mission-- to assist Obscuro Bezango show curator Tom Rehm in setting up the exhibit at the Future Tenant gallery.

It is interesting Pittsburgh International Airport is not named after anyone. I propose they name it Borpo Deets International Airport after the mysterious West Pennsylvania art guru who apparently was a mentor to Tom, Maximum Traffic and Buzz Buzzizyk.

Anyway, I noted that a large T-Rex skeleton greeted me at Borpo Deets International Airport. And somehow, feeling like an old Newave dinosaur as I dove into this project, this seemed appropriate.

Tom took me up to his sanctuary in rural Butler County, where he had an extensive collection of art on display by Traffic, Buzz, Deets, himself, family members and friends. It is an impressive gallery I was honored to visit. Here's a sample:
 

 The ceramic coin kiln!

 A jam by Max Traffic and Mike Hill

They say an unintentional skull can be seen on the left hand side

Jonathan Winters, 1925-2013

Hey fellow Boomers, the amazing Jonathan Winters died today. The guy was a walking and talking cartoon story narrator, complete with comic sound effects. Another person from our Newave Comix upbringing we could look up to who let us know it was OK to unlock those creative gates in our minds.

It should come as no surprise Winters studied cartooning early in his career.

Thank You, Jim Carrey!

Cold Dead Hand

Beautiful work. Earning the displeasure of Fox News is like winning a Medal of Honor.  In just a few minutes you accomplished more than Bowling For Columbine took too long to get across in a smarmy manner. I live deep in gun crazy country and am a product of it, and your bit here was 100% accurate in all respects.

In terms of short, irreverent, and comedic bits that insult great swaths of people, you have joined us old underground and Newave cartoonists. God bless you. And welcome to the fight. Now I know our side will win.  Right wingers exist on a foundation of fear, and in their world they fear humor more than anger in my political experience. They really really hate being laughed at.

Morty Comix # 2550

Morty Comix # 2550 is going to Florida. A Morty the Blog reader sent me a SASE with the above note.

The thought crosses my mind that those of you who were raised in the email era might not know the acronym-- SASE means Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope and was a regular part of our pre-Internet vocabulary in the Newave Comix era.

Anyway, I'll the keep the identity of this individual anonymous for the time being, since I know this person to be a fellow lover of mischief and I don't want to spoil whatever surprise he has in mind.

The envelope now waits by the door for my next trip to the Post Office.

Morty Comix # 2530

 The distribution of Morty Comix # 2530 needs some explaining.

So I'm watching this super-epic film from 1962 called How the West Was Won. I have a Random House book that was released with the movie. Picked this monograph up long ago at some sale.

As I was viewing this Space Age celebration of Manifest Destiny (the movie ends with freeway traffic and urban sprawl portrayed as a good thing), I told myself I would send the next Morty Comix to the first city uttered by any character in the story.
 

And that city turned out to be Pittsburgh. Jimmy Stewart, in the role Linus Rawlings, Mountain Man, utters, "I kinda itch to get to Pittsburgh. I ain't seen a city for a long time. I aim to whoop it up a little."

Pittsburgh. Home to the amazing Wayno. A city that has been showing the art of Maximum Traffic. and a hop and schlep from the home of one of my favorite artists of the Newave Comix era, Mike Hill.

I am not a big fan of Stewart, but there have been a few movies where I could tolerate him. The Shootist, Shenandoah, Rope. I think I like him in those since he wasn't playing his normal Jimmy Stewart character. The guy could act if the studios gave him a chance.

Since his given name was James I sought out James Street in Pittsburgh. And once again Google's street view assisted me in finding a good home for a Morty Comix. Since they produce a product using more creativity than most, I selected a trophy store as the next random art recipient.

I have a lot of ancestors on both sides who lived in, are buried in, passed through the colony/state of Pennsylvania on their generational trek out here to the West Coast. One of my ancestors was supposedly converted to the Quaker faith by Penn himself. His grandson, another forefather of mine, ran off and wed a Shawnee woman, and became a frontiersman in Virginia. So the Quaker strain in my family was short-lived.
 

Off to the Keystone State for you, little one. I've been to Philadelphia but one day I'd love to visit Pittsburgh.