Phone photo 2471

"World's Largest Egg"

Winlock, Washington

Morty Comix # 2565

Morty Comix # 2565 took advantage of a flaw in an information kiosk on the Interstate 5 exit for Winlock, Washington. One of the metal display sheets had a "wow" in it, just inviting a Morty Comix to jump in there, where I suspect it will remain for years.

I imagine on a totally clear day, which we don't really have too many of here in Bezango, WA, this site offers a great vantage point for viewing what is left of Mt. St. Helens.

Hard to believe, but Winlock was actually a hotspot for Communist activity back in the 1920s-1930s.

Phone photo 1909

Winlock, Washington

Suuri Kurpitsa

Finnish cartoonist Pauli Kallio invited several of us American Newavers into his amazing anthology series, Suuri Kurpitsa (translated = "Great Pumpkin"). I've included the cover of the issues followed by my contributions.

While many of us here in the states were messing around with cheap photocopy, Suuri Kurpitsa had slick paper production values and color on the covers. I couldn't decide what was more thrilling: having my work published in high quality hardcopy, or someone thinking enough of my comix to take the trouble to translate them.

Finland, by the way, has quite a role in Pacific Northwest history. Here in Grays Harbor County, you can see many Finnish surnames adorning the signs of business enterprises, especially in Aberdeen. Down in the neighboring Lewis County, the town of Winlock was basically a Finnish colony. Nearby Astoria, Oregon had a major Finnish neighborhood that was home to Maila Nurmi, also known to us Ed Wood fans as Vampira.

It would also be safe to place the Finns as among the most politically radical ethnic groups up here in the first half of the 20th century.

Anyway, I'm starting to ramble. So I'll slap myself in the face and start my morning chores now, like filling the porcupine with helium. No, that isn't a quaint euphemism for anything-- I really do have to fill the porcupine with helium. Otherwise he gets earthbound and cranky.

Bezango WA 985 #2

1st published Dec. 8, 2001, 50 copies, digest size, parchment cover.

2nd ed., June 2, 2002, 15 copies, digest size, blue cover.

Starting in August, 2002, this was a print-on-demand comic for a brief time.

The 1st Danger Room Reprint Ed., June 2005, 5 copies (1 yellow, 1 red, 1 blue, 1 pink, 1 green)

This issue has the local festival as the theme. Here in McCleary we have the Bear Festival, where bear stew is served. Seriously. In Winlock they have Egg Days, where eggs are eaten. It makes me wonder what they consume at Montesano's Festival of People.

The mountain beaver is real animal pretty much regulated by nature to the Pacific Northwest.

The character on page 3 was someone I witnessed up in suburban King County. The man on pages 4-5 is based and modified from a story that came from Port Townsend. The guy on pages 6-7 was a neighbor. The fellow on page 12 was from a story I heard about a local character in Winlock. I have a cousin on the Winlock City Council, by the way, and need to talk to him about why they have the world's 2nd or 3rd largest egg replica on display. The page 13 character really exists to this day. Page 14: I wrote about the Midnight Sponge in Evergroove Trivia pt. 39. Page 15: This guy gave me a ride while I was hitchhiking on Cooper Point in the 1970s. Page 18, my daughter, Rose, used to collect pieces of the road.