Obscuro Comix Philosophy in Action

I got Charlie to pose with the next three Morty Comix I'll be distributing. It looks like # 2321 will have a little Charlie toothmark on the upper right hand corner as a result.

Morty Comix is moving into a new phase. Initially, starting nearly three decades ago, I sent a copy of an original art Morty Comix to each correspondent. I stopped in December 1999, but revived the series in 2010 with issue # 2196.  I guess this series could not co-exist with a George W. Bush presidency. No matter what surrealist image I could draw, there was no way I could outdo his real life absurdity. The man was political Dadaist.

In the pre-Internet days, we Newavers relied heavily on the USPS for our communication, and as a result a lot of Morty Comix were sent to my comix comrades. 

But those were the sunny slopes of yesterday. I still draw Morty Comix but the audience has changed. If this series made completist collectors go nuts in the past, it will really drive them over the edge now. Since Morty Comix # 2279 my tactics have changed.

I now just drop them at random in little secret pockets in the world at large here in the Pacific Northwest  where anyone might find one. Like little cartoon time bombs. Guerrilla comix I suppose you could call them. What happens to the art after I deposit it is beyond my control. So far, only one of these Mortyfied sites has responded back to Morty the Blog. The rest of them probably land in the recycling or trash can.

Can't explain why, but this method of comix art distribution really appeals to me. It seems to me this is almost the quintessential Obscuro Comix sort of activity. A true Obscuro would draw it and just throw it away, but I have enough ego to want some sort of audience, even if they discover it and ask, "What the Hell is this crap?" Well, especially if they ask, "What the Hell is this crap?" It seems so subversive and mischievous. Perhaps that is the appeal.

Plus I'm scanning and posting each one here, so at least the images are preserved even if the original gets deep-sixed, which I'm guessing most of them are.

I would love to know what Marcel Duchamp would make of this. I suspect he would've approved and made elaborate suggestions for how to fine tune this activity.

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.