Sasquatch Comix #2

First published 1983, probably late January, in Olympia, Washington. Tan cardstock, 52 copies.

2nd ed. March, 1983, also in Olympia, 54 copies on light grey cardstock.

3rd ed. October, 1983 by Robert Stump in Hopewell, Virginia.

Included in the 1994 collected Sasquatch Comix digest print-on-demand ed.

This tale interested me due to the early date of the event, before the big Sasquatch craze in the 1960s. Including Northern California as part of a Pacific Northwest regional tale was really sort of pushing it, I realize.

Note Arnie Wormwood's appearance on page 2.

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Hettie, the Queen of Beasts

Sasquatch Comix #1

My first solo minicomic, if I'm not mistaken, first published early 1983 in Olympia, Washington, 67 copies on green cardstock. There is no edition statement on the comic itself. The little 14 cm. minicomic form was not a medium I had considered until I was exposed to Clay Geerdes' Newave network in late 1981.

Some qualification here is needed. As a Newaver myself, the word "minicomic" has always meant the little guys, usually measuring 14 x 11 cm. Over the years I've noticed the term has been used to describe all photocopied, small press, independent type comix regardless of their dimensions. That's fine. But in this blog, I still speak in Newave. Perhaps a comix anthropologist should track us down and compile a Newave glossary.

Yes, I am a Newaver. I'll always be a Newaver, no matter how outdated the term becomes. I guess I'm now an Old Newaver, which sounds like a paradox. But as one who embraces paradox as a life philosophy, that suits me just fine.

So. Anyway. Back to the collector stuff. The 2nd ed., not on cardstock but still green, was published March 1983 in Olympia, 74 copies.

The 3rd. ed., physically like the 2nd., was published by Robert Stump in Hopewell, Virginia, in October 1983.

All five issues of Sasquatch Comix were collected under one cover and presented in digest form during my 1994 print-on-demand period.

In June 2005 five copies (4 green, 1 red) of the digest form were published as the 1st Danger Room Reprint Ed.

Sasquatch Comix #1 was posted on OlyBlog, Feb. 2006.

Somehow I have a nagging feeling I'm leaving out some other appearances of this comix, but if I did I'll update this post once it comes back to me.

This series came about from my desire to celebrate regional stories about this great corner of the world, where I was born and raised. Although the scientific discussion concerning our legendary creature is interesting, I was really more involved in what makes a good story.

Shortly after I published the 2nd ed., I moved across the state to Pullman, home of Washington State University. There I met Grover Krantz (speaking of anthrolopogists) , one of America's greatest Sasquatch scholars. Grover and this comic recently became the subject of my column, Bezango, which I occasionally write for the biweekly Olympia Power & Light. I've included a scan of the essay, it's from OP&L issue 15 (June 16-29, 2010).

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Pod Meets Morty the Dog

This jam with the amazing Tennessee cartoonist Bob X was published in 1986 by Starhead Comix. I can't recall how the whole thing came about. It could've been instigated by Bob, myself, or Starhead's Michael Dowers.

Bob's crowded, hectic style really filled up the comic visually and gave it some juice, which was nice since I'm pretty much a minimalist. The use of shading film must've been all Bob, since I haven't used the stuff since the 1970s. I think Bob was also the one who set up the nice centerspread layout.

Notice the nod to our cartoon comrade John E. in the first panel.

Pod and Morty are two characters who should probably not hang out together too often. There aren't enough National Guard soldiers around to handle the two of them combined.

Scanned and posted with permission from Bob X.

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The Persecution and Assassination of Morty the Dog by the Ingrates of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis De Sadadada

... and if you think I'm going to repeat that title in the course of this little description, forget it.

This one was published by Dada Gumbo (Dale Luciano) in 1985 when he was still in Tucson, Arizona.

As I recall, we didn't send these jams back and forth and back and forth. Usually Dale would send me an entire comic with images and words pasted in at random, and then I would impose what narrative order I could. So when my part was finished, the comic was basically done.

A sideways minicomic, it measures 11 x 14 cm.

You can add this to the list of comix where Morty the Dog bites the Big One. But as has been postulated before, Morty is probably a breed of dog and not an individual animal. That would explain why it appears he keeps dying over and over again.

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Groovy Oldsmobile

Omnia Mutantur

Omnia Mutantur means, loosely, "All things change," so there's no use Roman around a Latin dictionary to find the definition of this term.

Heh. "Roman around" ... get it?

Anyway, this is yet another example of a story repackaged for the mini format. This one originally appeared in Delayed Stress Syndrome Funnies in 1982. One Man Studio (Chris Bors) in Ithaca, New York printed up 50 numbered copies in 1985. Chris apparently hand colored each one. The portrait on the back wasn't part of the original story and I can't quite place the source for it.

Here, let me actually get out of my chair and go check. It'll be the most exercise I get all evening.

[SW leaves. In the background are sounds of vault doors opening, empty suits of armor crashing on ground, cats yowling, and then SW giving a shout, "A-HA!!"]

OK, I'm back. And who was that who just described my actions in the square brackets? Weird.

Anyway, that last page on Omnia Mutantur was originally the illustration on the inside of the front cover (or what library catalogers would call "P. [2] of cover") of the above mentioned 1982 monograph. So that solves that little problematic question.

Next.

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Odd Size Comix #15

Published by Borpo Deets (better known as Maximum Traffic) in 1996 in Butler, Pennsylvania. It is one letter-sized sheet of paper folded twice.

At first glance this looks like a jam with Max, since he did such a good job of lifting my style on the cover illustration. But no, this is 100% Max, commenting on one of my several long absences from the whole comix network.

Actually I really did snort, by accident, the ashes of a cremated person. But that story will wait for when I post the comic entitled How Two Ex-Presidents Went Up My Nose. Max also makes a reference to my many attempts to kill Morty the Dog.

I really like the way he drew the Obscuro Plaza. That's just how it looks, too. One of my favorite places to stay.

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Normal

In a symbolic twist, Normal was first published Sept. 2, 2001. My last comic before the end of the Old Normal for all of us. This run had 33 copies, all in yellow.

The 1st Danger Room Reprint Ed. of June 2005 had 5 green copies.

The entire minicomic was scanned and posted on OlyBlog, July 24, 2007.

The original art was drawn in a very tiny size using a sharp-enough-to-perform-surgery #1 lead pencil. Then the art was enlarged on a photocopier. I like the accidental neat stuff that happens in the texture when this method is employed.

As for the content, The Wild Bunch is one of my favorite Westerns. Holden was terrific in that one. Also note the porcupine, an animal that has been in the background of my published comix since 1973. In fact, I saw a huge one waddling around in front of my house just a couple months ago! And yes, I actually do utter the saying, "Drabness is goodness" on a frequent basis.

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Musical Chairs

First published in March 1999, 50 copies (8 pink cover, red guts; 3 pink cover, yellow guts; 1 all pink; 6 yellow cover, pink guts; 12 all yellow; 2 green cover, blue guts; 5 green cover, yellow guts; 1 green cover, pink guts; 12 green cover, red guts).

The 1st Danger Room Reprint Ed. (June 2005) had a run of five copies, yellow covers.

This is pretty much a true story. "Big Poppa Ross" was, of course, Ed "Big Daddy" Roth (1932-2001), the brains behind Rat Fink, hot rod comics, and grotesque cartooning for a generation of us Boomers. He influenced many subsequent cartoonists, and helped lay the groundwork for the later underground comix. One of the Newavers who continued Roth's style was a nice guy named Steve Fiorilla (1961-2009), although many others owe Roth as well for bits of their presentation. Including me. Hence the O-The-Irony-Of-It-All!

When I heard Roth had converted to the LDS faith and expressed disapproval of Morty the Dog, the karma of the whole thing made me laugh. Then I drew a comic about it. You can't make this stuff up.

And yes, our teacher really tried to sell us that load of garbage about pale Commies in NYC skyscrapers.

Ouroboros.

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Fred Flintstone Laughs in the Face of Danger

Mr. Crawford Raises Herfords, Too

First published in 2001, probably in October, with a massive print run of 10 copies (2 pink, 2 yellow, 2 yellow cardstock, 2 green, 2 red).

The 1st Danger Room Reprint Ed. of June 2005 had 6 copies (3 blue, 3 yellow). Two of these six are right here in front of me, so only four of these precious gems were let loose. And I very reluctantly let them go.

I believe the original source for the all the visuals and the text came from a 1950s Wyoming agricultural extension publication. I merely took the drawings and by enlarging certain portions created the greatest masterpiece of my comic career.

This is my best work ever, but I have yet to find anyone who agrees with me. In fact, this blog should just stop right now because it isn't going to get any better than this. Seriously, I laugh out loud every time I read this minicomic.

You think I'm kidding, don't you?

I'm not.

The last page never fails to warm my spleen. I also love the fact that "Herefords" is spelled "Herfords."

A super obscuro minicomic, you can still snap one up from Rick Bradford.

When I die, I want one of these cremated with me. If you want to unlock my mystery, if you want to know who really created all this Morty the Dog stuff-- this minicomic spells it all out.

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