Postcard - Seattle, Washington

"A 23 1/2 ft. (7.15 m) long, 11,000 pound (4,989 kg) Killer Whale is a rare sight in Elliott Bay, with the downtown Seattle Business District in the background. Killer Whales travel Puget Sound and Strait of Georgia waters in families (pods) of about 12 to 20 whales."

1970s, probably about the same time as the infamous Sea World incident in Budd Inlet. Orcas still occasionally go as far south as Olympia in Puget Sound.

Phone photo 1811

Phone photo 1763

La Push, Washington

Louise Amandes and I observed something big swimming around in there. My best guess is that it was a killer whale. A nearby group of children saw it too and it was great to see how excited they were.

Phone photo 957

"The world's largest squirting clam," some killer whales, and one of the six frying pans out there claiming to be the largest of its kind in the world.

I think they should make a movie where this group experiences an incredible journey vision quest.

Long Beach, Washington

Phone photo 882

Olympia, Washington: The Fetid Lake of Doom bordered by the "Isthmus," upon which stands a tall building locals call "The Mistake By the Lake." In the background is Budd Inlet, site of the famous 1976 Sea World whale controversy. Also the former home of the Mothball Fleet.

Ambergris

Ambergris was first published July 14, 2001, 40 copies on yellow cardstock. Six more copies, also on yellow cardstock, were printed as the 1st Danger Room Reprint Ed. in June 2005. In fact, the copy scanned here is one of those. The edition statement is on the last page. Both editions were published right here in McCleary, Washington. It was also scanned and presented on OlyBlog in 2007.

During the first few years of Century 21 I stopped hand lettering several of my stories as an experiment. It was an attempt to put an emphasis on the writing and I thought the typescript letters looked more formal.

Also, after a life threatening surgery in 1995, I found that my drawing hand had lost quite a bit of steadiness. For awhile I was using #1 lead pencils as my drawing tool, as I did here in Ambergris. For many years the felt tip pens picked up on my shaking hand like a seismograph and I found the #1 lead pencil to be steadier. I also enjoyed the texture of the line it made and how grainy it appeared when the image was enlarged. My drawing hand has since regained enough steadiness where I can use felt tip again.

The little guy in the story who is singing is a character I invented in the 1970s while a student at The Evergroove State College in Olympia, Washington. He has yet to be named. Using poetry and song in my comix is one of my joys.

As with many of these scanned images, you will have to click on each one to read the text without squinting.