Pure Insanity # 20

OK, this post cannot really be considered an ad since I don't have any idea how to contact our old Newave comrade Tom Brinkmann, but he recently published 50 copies of Pure Insanity # 20. This is 12 pages/leaves, 28 cm. of Brink jamming with the incredible Buzz Buzzizyk.

Calling this "mindblowing" is no exaggeration. Both of these artists are better than ever.

Postcard - Tucson, Arizona

"Metropolitan Tucson, Arizona, as it appears from the peak of 'A' Mountain."

1950s?

For awhile, up to 1985 or 1986, this town was home to Dale Luciano and Dada Gumbo Press. Some of my favorite jam titles were published here.

Fifteen Heart Attacks, p. 18-19

Two more pages for the ongoing online jam, Fifteen Heart Attacks.

Page 18 has spot illos by Jim Siergey, Chad Woody, Larned Justin, and Bruce Chrislip!

Page 19 is by yours truly.

[I can't seem to find Larned's email. Anyone out there have it handy?}

Fifteen Heart Attacks, p. 13-17

The Fifteen Heart Attacks jam is now online. I've set up a special page for it. The most recent contribution is by our friend in Chicago, Jim Siergey, who followed the setup created by Max Traffic.

My immediate goal before leaving for the Obscuro Bezango show next week is to add one more page to this ongoing effort.

Happy Day After National Donut Day!

I hope the Timberland Regional Library realizes what a gem of a librarian they have with Kelsey Smith. She has become a regular figure at the Olympia Comics Festival, promoting reading and creativity through comic art. In 2012 she passed around a moveable feast of a jam comic. I got in it early but never saw the final results until recently.

The roster of artists is quite diverse: Jason Shiga, Steve Willis, Carter Welliver, Dominic Moreschi, Rhett Nelson, Harper, T.A. Nelson, Tom Dillon, Alex Paul, Lily, Brittany Dalberg, Anna Boyle, Phung Lu, Greg, Fiona Avacado, Aaron Brassea, Shannon Wheeler, Tim Basaraba, Greg Hatcher, Corin See, and Forrest Johnson.

Kelsey gave me permission to scan and post this. She told me there are still copies available if you ask at the Olympia Timberland Branch.

Fifteen Heart Attacks, page 12

By Maximum Traffic

This is last page of the unfinished jam for any of you who want to pick up the story from here

Fifteen Heart Attacks, page 11

By Maximum Traffic

Fifteen Heart Attacks, page 10

By Maximum Traffic

Fifteen Heart Attacks, page 8

By Maximum Traffic

Fifteen Heart Attacks, page 7

Page 7 by Maximum Traffic. Max tried to "draw" me into this jam by using some of the characters from my comix, such as the fellow in panel 3. The face came from a page in Brave New Nazis of the Inland Empire.

There's that "Bezango" word again. This morning I have been blurting "beZANG!-o" once in awhile for no apparent reason.

Fifteen Heart Attacks, page 6

From this point on, all the pages are entirely written and drawn by the amazingly incredible creative ball of energy we know as Maximum Traffic. Students of Newave and Obscuro will notice what care he took to  mimic my drawing style in certain instances in order to have some sort of continuity in the inevitable anarchy of the open jam.

Max is a brilliant star in the comix universe. I am so glad I got to meet him in person last year at SPACE in Columbus, thanks to Bruce Chrislip and Bob Corby making my trip possible.

Fifteen Heart Attacks, page 5

On page 5 I did the pencil work, lettering, and partially "inked" (felt tip) panel 1. Maximum Traffic completed the inking on panel 1 and entirely inked panel 2.

Morty Comix # 2401

The idea for Morty Comix # 2401 came to me in a meeting at work. I quickly jotted down the basic concept while pretending to look serious and intelligent.

So then I came home and drew six faces. The next stop was my little photocopier.

But guess what? I hadn't used my photocopier since Mini-Comics Day last may 26th. So when I opened the lid for scanning I found the original art for The Floating Head of Humptulips, a jam by Frank Young, Paul Tumey, Jim Gill and myself was still in there! A cartoon bomb for me for a change!

So I took that art and it became the first item in a box of material I'll be sending to the Washington State University Comix Collection when it fills up. I just sent WSU a big box of comix and related material earlier this month.

The box, by the way, was originally sent to me by Michael Dowers, one of several filled with copies of Newave! The Underground Mini Comix of the 1980s.

That hideous and frightening doll hanging above the box was given to me by my daughter many years ago as a joke. It is part of my Bulletin Board project.

 Then, for good measure, I tossed my original draft drawing for Morty Comix # 2401 as well.

Well, my my, we certainly got sidetracked, didn't we? So, back to the six faces:

I ran the images through my photocopier, and reduced them in size, on astrobright pink paper. Maybe about 15 copies. Then I cut them into little squares.

All the little squares were then placed inside a styrofoam cup. The cup itself was titled, numbered and dated.

 The original art, which was ballpoint on graph paper, was burned in my woodstove.

The next day, which is today, I visited a Timberland Library branch north of here and found a great place to leave Morty Comix # 2401 as sort of a cartoon bomb ...

 ... right under a dictionary stand.

And so I bid farewell to another Morty Comix left out in the world all on its own to face an uncertain fate.

Mini-Comics Day in McCleary, pt. 10

The Floating Head of Humptulips was a jam on Mini-Comics Day by Frank Young, Jim Gill,  Paul Tumey and Morty the Dog. The "occupency" sign (by Paul?) is a real-life typo from a public notice posted by the City of McCleary in the Community Center. Yes, Grays Harbor County is indeed in the Third World, where literacy is not first nature and dictionaries gather dust. It is even evident on street signs and newspaper headlines. On the public health index and unemployment, this county ranks dead last out of 39 counties in Washington.

Still, I love Grays Harbor County. This place is one of the last islands of the old Washington State, the real Washington we rural Boomer natives knew as we were growing up. Sasquatch is safe out here. We can still scratch where it itches. Wild Russian boars run amok.