Phone photo 11

Dreamer at the window, with a penguin! This reminds me so much of the old local kid's show, "Three Cats and Penguin."

Brave New Nazis of the Inland Empire

Before I explain why this was one of the weirdest and potentially dangerous comix I ever produced, let me get into the printing stats.

I believe this was first published by Starhead Comix in 1985. Starhead was the baby of Michael Dowers, who lived in Seattle at the time. Since this is the first mention of Michael in these little comic profiles, I must say the only reason my work is known at all to anyone beyond the dozen or people who follow my comix was due to Michael's promotion. He always believed in my comix and spent considerable energy publishing and distributing my stuff. Including this minicomic.

The original Starhead edition was an odd size. It had the traditional spine height for a minicomic (14 cm.) but it was 1.5 centimeters less wide. I think this was due to the fact the master stats were pasted on legal instead of letter standard paper, and folded in a different way. The scanned copy presented here is from the original edition.

The entire comic was reprinted in Maximum Traffic's massive Truth Be Known in 1997 (Butler, Pennsylvania).

In June 2005, 5 1st Danger Room Reprint editions were printed with yellow covers and pink guts. These were colors picked on purpose and deemed appropriate for the subject matter.

In Sept. 2006, 10 copies were printed up as the 1st OlyBlog Reprint Ed. (5 yellow, 5 pink and yellow mixed) as Olympia was experiencing some Nazi activity. I made them as gifts to a certain pro-democracy activist.

I first became aware of local neo-Nazi activity in 1981 when, as a grad student at the University of Washington, a fellow was handing out racist literature in the neighborhood as a self-professed Nazi. He told the press the time was ripe since he felt President Reagan's policies were really not that far from his own. He felt safe at last, he said. In fact, the Ku Klux Klan had endorsed Reagan in the 1980 election.

By 1985 I was living in Pullman, Washington. The home of Washington State University (where I was a librarian and faculty member), this town was, as the natives say, "Not in the middle of Nowhere, but you can see it from here." Only a few miles from the Northern Idaho panhandle, Pullman was in wheat country. Conservative Republican country. It was also the Party School for the state. Not noted for their political awareness, the student body supported Reagan's re-election by an overwhelming margin. WSU supporters of good old boring Fritz Mondale whispered their support as if they were members of the French underground in 1942. It was with amusement I noted the pro-Reagan kids' sense of betrayal when Ron the Con cut student aid as one of his first acts in term 2.

Anyway, right across the border, there was this mentally diseased character named Richard Butler who ran some sort of Nazi compound. His minions would stand in full uniform on the WSU campus and hand out racist literature. Amazingly, well, maybe not, the WSU students blandly accepted the fliers as if given by the pep squad concerning info on the next football rally.

According to the local news, the Nazis torched parts of neighboring cities and always made some guy stay behind to tell the press he witnessed an African American running away with a gas can. Classy.

So, feeling quite politically alone out there, I drew this little minicomic as my response to the nuttiness around me. And then I did something that perhaps I shouldn't of. I sent a copy to Richard Butler as my own little pitchfork jab. Right after that I started getting weird phone calls in the wee hours like 2 am with just silence on the other end. My co-workers and neighbors told me I was asking for suicide by Nazi. Their fear was real. But somehow I wasn't all that afraid. I knew I was either not all that important, or, Butler's group was filled with incompetent failures who couldn't even hurt a mild-mannered cartoonist if they tried.

And I thought, "My God, if just a few of these yahoos can inspire such terror, imagine what a really intelligent well organized group could do!"

You can argue with these clowns all you want. They dig it when you're angry and engaged. But they really really hate being laughed at.

Phone photo 10

Ben Moore's, Olympia, Washington.

Asteroid 1997 XF11

This happy little monograph was published in Mar. 1998, when it was thought the possibility of this space rock slamming into our distracted globe was rather high. Actually, it will be coming uncomfortably close in 2028. But the news did give me a chance to exhibit my feelings about negative social forces that divide the human race.

The initial printing was just 20 copies. My personal copy is on red paper and unstapled, but I don't know about the others. The June 2005 1st Danger Room Ed. consisted of 5 copies on pink card stock.

You can see by the quotes at the start and finish that I am a Woodian. I first became of aware of Ed Wood and his films when I lived in Pullman sometime between 1983-1986 and have been interested in his work ever since. By the time Ed Wood was the age I am now he was dead. Too bad he didn't live long enough to see the attention he has generated.

Phone photo 9

I have frequently wondered how Buster, one of the cats who chooses to live here, can suddenly appear or disappear at will. Sometimes I'll search the house thoroughly and conclude he must be outside, and then he'll calmly saunter into the room as if he had been just around the corner all along.

Well, now I have photographic proof this feline can materialize and dematerialize whenever he damn well feels like it! I suppose Lewis Carroll must've discovered this cat secret and used the information when creating the Cheshire Cat.

Here we see Buster while in the act of vanishing right before my eyes. He teleported to my studio and landed on top of my photocopier. When I found him there I declared, "Oh, a copycat, eh?"

As I Recall the 'Sixties

The parallels between the 1860s and 1960s have long fascinated me. Those of us who grew up in the 1960s sometimes think that particular bubble in time was unique. But was it really? The captions could easily fit the 1960s, but the etching-like illustrations of the 1860s are also appropriate.

Now get set for a long printing history only of interest to comix fans. And I'm sure the following is not complete. There are some printings in my own files that I can't explain, account for, or guess at their origin:

One of my more reprinted minicomix. First published in Pullman, Washington in 1983, 75 copies.

The 2nd ed. was published by Robert Stump in Hopewell, Virginia in 1984.

In 1994 I had a large catalog of titles I would print on demand and each work had a "Reprint Series" statement. An unknown number of copies of this minicomic were printed and sold.

Also in 1994 25 copies (blue cardstock) were printed for the "Media, Communication, and Culture" program, South Puget Sound Community College (SPSCC), Olympia, Washington.

And again in 1994, 20 copies were printed as a "Special Fandom House Ed." for a distributor in Colorado.

In 1997 As I Recall the 'Sixties was reprinted in Maximum Traffic's enormous comix anthology, Truth Be Known, published in Butler, Pennsylvania.

38 copies were printed in 1998 for Mike Murray's history class at SPSCC (13 gray, 23 blue, and 2 blue without edition statements)

40 copies (20 green, 20 blue) were printed for Mike Murray's class in Feb. 1999. One of these was later posted on OlyBlog (July 2007)

The comic was included among several others as part of an exhibit of my comix at SPSCC July 5-Aug. 12, 1999.

The "KHW Ed." of Oct. 21, 2002 consisted of a grand total of 5 copies (4 green, 1 white).

The last hardcopy versions were published as 1st Danger Room Reprint Ed. in June 2005. Five copies (4 blue, 1 pink).

6.8 Aftershocks

This blogging format is definitely not the way to read this minicomic. I used a word wraparound technique, where sentences ran from page to page, requiring the reader to flip the book at least 5 times to read the entire piece. The disorienting essay method was employed as a way to share how experiencing a massive earthquake can literally jolt you out of the familiar frames of reference.

6.8 Aftershocks was published Apr. 21, 2001, a couple months after the worst earthquake I've ever experienced. And being a long time Washington State native, I've been through a lot of them, including the 1965 6.5 quake. But the Feb. 2001 event was by far the scariest.

The first print run had a grand total of 15 copies (2 white, 2 pink, 2 red, 3 blue, 3 green, 3 yellow). In June 2005, 5 blue copies were printed as the 1st Danger Room Reprint Ed.

Comix Jams

While I'm crawling through the vault in order to locate old comix to scan and bring back to life, I'm finding a ton of comix jams.

A comix jam is when 2 or more cartoonists collaborate and produce what generally turns out to be improv in print. I've never taken the trouble to count how many jams or artists I've worked with over the years, but there were many. Most were back and forth through the mail in the pre-Internet era, but a few were live.

If you are one of the artists I'm talking about, you can expect me to eventually contact you for permission to post our comic here. Or, you could be pre-emptive and let me know ahead of time.

In the meantime I'll continue to plow through these small minicomix at first and then graduate to the digest and standard sized comix.

For the readers who simply want to read the comix, I'm hoping to scan as much as I can with background commentary over time. Sarah and I are still working on a way to make hardcopy versions available of both new and vintage publications for those of you who enjoy collecting this stuff.

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.

Pop. 1075

In the mid-1980s Paul Curtis was active as a cartoonist and publisher in Saegertown, Pennsylvania. He produced a series called Micro-Comics, little comix about 3.5 inches high, drawn by a wide variety of artists. Reading a packet of these tiny comix was like eating potato chips. You would find yourself reading one after another until your head was full.

I got my turn to contribute to this fun series with #125. It was drawn in 1986 and published in 1987. In June 2005 I reprinted 5 copies on green card stock as the 1st Danger Room Reprint Ed.

The story told in Pop. 1075 is basically true. By the time the comic was published I had returned to McCleary and was rediscovering the town. The theater/auction hall in the story burned to the ground, cause unknown, about 2003-2004.

The concept of using real stories from rural Southwest Washington as story material for comix was expanded in the Bezango WA 985 books I wrote about 8 years ago.

Phone photo 8

Tumwater McDonalds

Phone photo 7

Tumwater Burger King

Phone photo 6

Tumwater Dairy Queen

Incitatus

Incitatus has been the tiniest comic I've published to date. The spine is a mere 2.5 inches high. 35 copies were printed in late 1984 in Pullman, Washington. In June 2005, six more copies were printed as "1st Danger Room Reprint ed." in McCleary, Washington.

Named after the horse of Caligula, this minimal comic was created by accident. In the course of creating homemade Christmas cards, I found there was a little rectangle to create a wreck tangle of lines, so this was dashed off. Looks like it was drawn in felt tip. Being left-handed, I seldom use India ink.

This is the first of what I hope will be many posts presenting images of past work with commentary. I'm starting with the little micro and minicomix. I hope you enjoy the 5 nanoseconds it takes to "read" this comic.

Phone photo 5

The cat days of Summer.

Yes. I know. You're asking yourself why are cats all over a blog called Morty the Dog?

What?

You're expecting an answer?

Hahahahahahaha!

Phone photo 4

Two troublemakers and little muses: Charlie and Dreamer.

Danger Room News

The Danger Room, an Olympia, Washington comix shop has been around for well over a decade. The store has been a champion and promoter of self-published, small press, and alternative comix. Olympia's annual comics festival, hosted by Danger Room, has been unusual in that it is artist-centered. The vender tables are frequently manned by the creators themselves.

When Frank worked there he even talked me into reprinting special Danger Room editions of my old comix to put up for sale! And I did it! (in print runs of 5 copies each. No, none of those comix are there now) This guy must be a hypnotist.

Anyway, according to an email I just received from an employee, it is now official that Pat and Kendra have sold the Danger Room to former employees Frank and Casey. Should be interesting to watch how this impacts Oly's amazing evolution as a comix center.

Thanks Pat and Kendra (and Chelsea!) for your efforts. And best of luck to Frank and Casey.

Phone photo 3

Toast at the Monticello Hotel, Longview, Washington. The lobby has tons of artwork by the legendary Joe Knowles.

Phone photo 2

Dinnertime at Steve's Acres of Cats!

Phone photo 1

Tumwater ivy on an I-5 retaining wall.

Yeah, But Where Is It?

The following email was discovered in our inbox this morning:

Hi Steve,

With a couple of coincidental happenings, I came across your name/artwork in a couple of places while learning what I could about mini comics. First on Richard Krauss's Midnight Fiction site and then in Michael Dower's Newave! book that came out earlier this year. I really enjoy your work and would love to purchase up anything that you may have available today, old or new, comics or zines. I've gotten a couple of older pieces from Rick at Poopsheet.

Richard made me aware that you have started a new blog which is how I'm contacting you now.

Thanks very much for your consideration,
D. B. W.

Thanks for asking, D.B.W. Life is sorta slow out here in the sticks of Grays Harbor County, Washington. The Fabulous Sarah has more or less coaxed my comix persona into the online world. Somehow the Muse had her fuse lit and now here I am. We are planning on getting the vintage stuff on the block, probably through eBay or something like that. I also have, I think, all the original artwork to one of the Cranium Frenzy comix (maybe #8 or #9) I'll put up for sale, just as soon as I fish it out of the place it fell between the filing cabinet and wall about a decade ago. Hopefully it is still in good shape.

We are still coming up with a plan on reprinting the over 120 solo titles I can re-release without special permissions. Quite frankly, the older I get the less I like collating, stapling, and folding. Michael Dowers has told me he gets an almost Zen like state of bliss in that activity, but I have grown to hate it.

I recently revived Morty Comix and have been working, slowly, like syrup, on a new Cranium Frenzy. Not sure if I'll ever finish the latter, or where the former will go.

In the meantime, Rick Bradford's Poopsheet is the outlet where you'll find most of my work available. Other older comix (and new stuff) have been scanned and appeared in OlyBlog under "Steve's Comix."

Stay tuned.

The Newave Comix Vapor Book Really Exists

Whenever old time comix people get around the Sterno canned heat campfire at night out in the wilderness, away from the mainstream, they whisper tales of authors who, maybe, just maybe, will compile a history of the Newave comix movement the way it was meant to be told. Several of these supposed books have come up in the rumor mill over the years.

Michael Dowers edited Newave! The Underground Comix of the 1980s which was published by Fantagraphics earlier this year. Although it is a wonderful book, it doesn't really fall into the scope of the vapor book or books being discussed. First, Michael's effort has a focus on just one subgroup in the Newave, the 14-16 cm. little minicomic format. Also, his monograph was chiefly illustrated with some historical text supplementing the reprinted minicomix. No, the book or books being whispered about serve as the back story to the already published Newave! work.

Well, I'm here to tell you that I now know for sure one such book exists because I just finished proofreading the thing. Since the old Newavers are starting to die off at a rate that makes me very cross indeed, I'm gratified to see one from our own ranks has set the story down in print before we all croak. How he plans to publish the thing I do not know.

Before the use of the terms "zines," "graphic novels," "DIY," there was us, the Newavers. And we did it without Internet! This book traces our history and influence on current comic art. Hopefully the author will go public soon and get his book out there.

(Illustration is cover of Cranium Frenzy #1 (1981), as an example of the era)

The Question is: Is it normal to talk about being Normal so often?

upcoming chance to get Steve's artwork - 3rd Annual Silent Art Auction

Friday, October 1- Fall Arts Walk OFS Mezzanine Gallery Presents...3rd Annual Silent Art Auction

5:00pm -10:00pm
Free admission, all ages

The Mezzanine Art Gallery at the Capitol Theater is hosting it's 3rd Annual Silent Art Auction showcasing creations by: Olympia Screen, Sarah Adams, Rachel Carns, Craftsman Copper, Will Eikleberry, Ira Coyne, Eric Fleming, Beech Tree Building Co., Jenny Macc, Lauren O'Conner, Chris Ross, Big Hammer Technology, Devin True, Sarah Utter, Vince Ryland, Nikki McClure, Queen Bee Creations, and more!

Proceeds from the silent auction benefit the Olympia Film Society.

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My current fav piece of library card art by Steve