City Limits Gazette # ... (Feb. 1993)

Logo by Dockery and Salzbach, Sean Bieri joins us, Maximum Traffic responds to Ricardo Nancy McJacksonstein, Bil Keane Watch by Dusty Rhodes, Obscuro press 1961 by Gary Usher, Bil Keane Watch comes this close to being picked up by Harpers, Bil Keane Watch by Mike Lee, Emergency Horse folds up, Comics Journal small press index by Gary Usher.

City Limits Gazette # Pall bearers on roller skates (Oct. 1992)

A great logo by Jeff Snee, Ricardo Nancy McJacksonstein makes a flashy debut, Bobby London underground Popeye, Bil Keane Watch by Sean Bieri, Bruce Sweeney's Underground Station, CLG profile of Steve Willis by Hank Arakelian, A new direction for high schools by Jeff Snee, another Bil Keane Watch by Maximum Traffic, a thought by Troy Hickman, bad cover versions of Yesterday, graphic by Maximum Traffic later used as the cover for his landmark comix anthology Truth Be Known.

CLG bonus in this issue: State of beings # 14. Illinois.

McJacksonstein was in reality a fellow faculty member at South Puget Sound Community College in Olympia, Washington, where I worked at the time. Psychology was his subject. Needless to say he was not using his real name.

I'm not sure but I think the last copies of Truth Be Known were practically given away in the spirit of obscuro comix at SPACE this year by Max. The cover image is included here.

Interesting to read Hank's interview with me almost two decades later as I realize I probably wouldn't alter almost every answer I gave if I was asked the same questions today. I do miss Hank and his great comix. I wish he'd resurface and give us a shout some time.

SPACE 2011 Report, pt. 13

Matt Feazell gave a presentation on his Cynicalman movie. One of the actors was none other than Sean Bieri as Lone Shark! The thing that was most striking to me was how it was obvious the cast was enjoying the task of making a film. You can tell Matt has a large group of devoted friends.


I am looking forward to seeing the final motion picture. In the meantime, Matt gave me a stack of books for the Washington State University Library comix collection.


Above: Carol Tyler's presence at SPACE gave our corner of the room some class at least for Saturday. Here she is contributing to a jam page.

Above: Itamar Reiner lives in Columbus and shared his portfolio. Although it looked like he was engaged in lots of technical drawing, it was his landscapes that really grabbed me.

Above: I got a photo of Colin Upton getting a photo of the one and only Tim Corrigan. In the background you can see Sean Bieri and Max Traffic visiting with John Porcellino.

Tim was every bit as decent and caring as I imagined him to be. His devotion to small press comics impresses me when he relates stories about how our art form helps people find a voice during difficult times in life. He introduced me to Larry Blake and gave me some new Mightyguy comix.

SPACE 2011 Report, pt. 8

John Porcellino was our other table neighbor. I managed to get a couple photos of him during the rare times he wasn't surrounded by fans. It was gratifying to see that his work attracted a lot of well-deserved attention. And unlike my old guy corner, John's table was a magnet for a good mix of generations and gender.

A mob of cartoonists invaded an unsuspecting Vietnamese restaurant that evening. I sat at the end of the table across from John and Buzz Buzzizyk. I enjoyed talking with him and realized later that we hardly mentioned comix at all. We were also in awe of Sean Bieri, who was sitting next to me, creating brilliant off the cuff drawings in spontaneous jams. Matt Feazell sat on my other side but had to move since the chair and floor were conspiring to eat him alive.

Modernman # 3 ; Maximum Traffic # 210

If you agree with the popular notion the 20th century ended on Dec. 31, 1999 rather than Dec. 31, 2000 (and I'm with the pops) then Modernman # 3 ; Maximum Traffic # 210 was my last published work of the 20th century.

To call this a real jam might be wrong since there was some planning and coordination behind it by that crazy man named Tom in Butler, Pennsylvania who used to call himself Maximum Traffic but has since been known by a few other monikers (my favorite being "Borpo Deets"). He was this project's originator, editor, publisher, and all-around ringmaster.

Nothing was drawn before we had script cranked out by Max, myself, and the great Mike (Worker Poet/Modernman) Hill. Mike, also a Pennsylvanian, once paid me a visit here in McCleary, when he dropped in one day when Lynn Hansen happened to be here. I used to have a photo of that event, and it is possible it is still around in this house.

Anyway, Max wanted me to do all the lettering to give the comic a more consistent look. Contributions were also made by the always amazing Hilary Barta, and a few other artists got their 2 cents in one way or another: Ted Bolman, Mark Campos, Jeff Zenick, and Sean Bieri.

The comic was published in December 1999 and the spine measures 28 cm. I'm also including a scan of the Draft edition, from October 1999, of which only 4 copies exist and is regular digest size.

The Jasper the Pleasant Ghost toy story is actually based on a toy my brother once had and is essentially true. Well, partly true. OK, a little bit true. I've retold this tale in different forms in 3 or 4 comix. It's called recycling. One of the benefits of posting all this old stuff is that I am starting to see where I repeat myself a lot like some old coot blathering away in the corner of the bus station. Hopefully when I put together my next work I'll do something different.

Curve-Vision Man came from a conversation with one of my cousins in the early 1970s. We were talking about useless superpowers, and he mentioned this particular talent, which has stuck in my head ever since.