Postcard - Victoria, British Columbia

"Parliament Buildings, Victoria BC"

Handwritten on back of card: 1945

Tall Tale or Historical Fact?

After publishing this piece, I sent it to several historians in the area and even visited the government archives in Victoria, BC. Later I posted part of this on OlyBlog.

So far no one can verify there were any brothers named Chase in the area. No one can verify the area that is now McCleary, Washington ever had any Anglo structures erected as early as 1832.

Back in the USA for 21 Cents

My friend and comix comrade Rex Munger and I took the ferry from Port Angeles, Washington to Victoria, British Columbia July 13, 1972. We visited Mad Hatter's Tea Party International member John Newberry and shopped for comix.

I filled up my wooden suitcase with a bunch of great Canadian underground comix in the course of the day.

On the way home, American customs officials detained me for an hour, searched all my belongings, and then charged me a whopping 21 cents duty for the books. I still keep the receipt inside the suitcase lid as a memento. I wonder if I would've been allowed to return if I had not come up with the cash?

Mad Hatters Tea Party International

From about 1971 to 1974, I teamed up with a bookdealer and cartoonist from Victoria, B.C. named John Newberry to form a political entity called the Mad Hatters Tea Party International. John was a couple years older than myself and we shared an interest in the role of comix in the political process.

As the MHTPI we created silk-screened posters, mimeo broadsides, and even an ad in the Daily Olympian. This particular broadside was printed on legal size paper using the same mimeograph machine I used to print Gimmie Comics # 1 in 1973.