Bezango WA 985 #8

1st ed., December 12, 2002. 40 copies, blue cover.

1st Danger Room Reprint Ed., June 2005, five copies (1 red, 1 green, 1 blue, 1 pink, 1 yellow).

This was the final issue of the series, meaning there are only 45 complete sets of Bezango WA 985.

The "Conspiracy" theme issue includes wild Russian boars, which truly do run around this county.

"Grover" was a nod to Grover Krantz, who I was acquainted with when I lived in Pullman, Washington, home of Washington State University.

The GHC on a t-shirt is for Grays Harbor College in Aberdeen, Washington. And here we find another disturbing mascot, Charlie Choker.

Most of the world probably doesn't know the local meaning of "choker." It is a highly dangerous job in the logging industry. But to the outside world, they probably react with as much shock as they do to the previously mentioned Orofino Maniacs.

Uriah is based on the elderly gentleman I referenced in Phone photo 59. "Impeach Earl Warren" signs used to be a very common sight in neighboring rural Lewis County.

I was about halfway through Bezango WA 985 #9, but my computer crashed and all the text went with it. I took that as a sign to stop the series and move on. Several of the drawings I had in store for #9 were used later in Cranium Frenzy #10.

Bezango WA 985 #7

1st ed., November 16, 2002, 41 copies, blue cover.

Print-on-demand for a brief time starting with Jan. 25, 2003. I'm pretty sure that by March 2003 I was no longer keeping this series in print.

1st Danger Room Reprint Ed., June 2005. Five copies (1 blue, 1 green, 1 yellow, 1 pink, 1 red).

This one is my favorite in the series. The initial character was very loosely based on an eccentric member of an influential family just across the Columbia River in Astoria, Oregon.

The Columbus Day Storm of 1962 was the by far the very worst in living memory in the Pacific Northwest. And I'm one of those living with a memory of it. My family was residing in Olympia in 1962.

And speaking of memory, I'm sure when I invented the shapeless black birds I had an allegory for them all in mind. But whatever it was, the original concept has escaped me, so now I'm as mystified as the rest of you-- which is kind of neat. It isn't unusual for me to read this old stuff as if a different person actually created it. I guess in a way, I was a different person back then.

I do know that I partly based the fowls on those fat little greasy mooch birds that always hung out at the Dick's Drive-In chain in Seattle and scarfed up loose fries. I called them Dick Birds.

Bonker Memorial Hospital is a reference to former 3rd District Congressman Don Bonker, a Democrat who was actually a pretty decent politician and is now retired.

The Bezango Lunatics were inspired by the real-life Orofino Maniacs (Orofino, Idaho). Orofino is also home to Idaho State Hospital North, an institution providing service for those with mental illness. Supposedly, even though the history of the hospital traces back to 1905, the psychotic mascot predates that. But it doesn't matter. The fact Orofino High School still maintains the use of the Maniac comes across as so incredibly socially clueless it really makes that dark humor pool in my cranium swirl with delight.

We used to have a guy here in McCleary just like Sparky. He wasn't a judge but he was a town pillar.