Stevetreads # 2

1st ed., 1987, Chico, California : Jeff Nicholson. 3 copies, regular digest size.

Jeff seems to have edited this one with a local Washington State theme.

I see the geoduck, mascot of The Evergreen State College, not only recently made the "9 worst college nicknames" list but is now a highly coveted by the Chinese mafia.

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The commute home

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The commute to work

Stevetreads # 1

1st edition, 1987, Chico, California : Jeff Nicholson. 3 copies, regular digest size.

That's right, only 3 copies.

The hopefully-not-really-retired-from-comix-for-life cartoonist Jeff Nicholson, creator of Ultra Klutz, Through the Habitrails, Colonia, and Father and Son published a 4-issue short run of this "bootleg" Stevetreads series to fill out his own collection.

I believe everything in this first issue has already been scanned and posted here in various places.

We'll be seeing quite a bit of Jeff's work down the road when I reach the part of the backlog containing our Ultra Klutz jam.

Hmm, I see a cat hair got into the scan of the final page. That makes it a cat scan, right? I guess I should've stopped the machine by hitting the paws button. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.

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Starhead Presents # 1

1st edition, 1986, Seattle, Washington : Starhead Comix. Traditional comic format.

I believe this was my first nationally distributed comic, published during the start of the Great Black and White Glut of the 1980s.

50 copies included a hand drawn Morty Comix inside the front cover. The range was # 1641-1690.

A physical oddity: the cover is made of the same newsprint material as the guts.

This was later re-released by Starhead in 1992 under the title Morty the Dog in the Shadow of the Rainbow.

I'm also including the promotional material Starhead's Michael Dowers assembled for marketing to comic dealers.

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South Sound Places

South Sound Places : a Guide to Olympia, Lacey, Tumwater & Thurston County / by Nancy Patterson. 1st ed. Olympia, Wash. : Four Seasons Pub., 1993.

Nancy asked me to illustrate the chapter headings, which were then compiled into a grid for the cover.

Some of the subjects on the cover include:

Samuel Thurston. I agree with the notion Thurston County should be renamed McLoughlin County after Dr. John McLoughlin.

The Legislative Building on the Capitol Campus.

The Old Capitol Building.

The Evergreen State College.

Mount Rainier, which I can see from my office window on clear days.

Tumwater Falls. Most famously known as being on the label of Olympia Beer. A fellow high school classmate of mine once swam behind the falls and grooved out in a cave behind the water. He was back there long enough for rescue teams to start forming, wondering what happened to him. I attended Olympia High School, just a few blocks away from the brewery. The Oly Brew work whistle and the smell of hops on hot days was part of our high school experience.

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Charlie flips out

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State of the Morty Blog, 2/26/11

Still trying to post something every day, and as I look at the pile of material yet to be shared (I originally typed "shred" by accident. Hmmm), there is lots more to do in the scanning and posting department.

We've been slowly making material available via the Mortyshop. The funds we get through sales and the donation button are being poured back into other comix projects. Right now I am looking into the possibility of publishing the 5-part, almost 200 page Tragedy of Morty, Prince of Denmarke as a single volume squarespine paperback in the original legal size enlarged digest.

Of course the big excitement around here is in the preparation for attending SPACE in Columbus, Ohio next month! Sarah is going to remain here in Mortyville to keep the cats fed and the blog warm while I go Back East, so she shall remain a mysterious and shadowy figure, the power behind the blog.

We Rode With the Clowns could be called our first Morty the Blog comic. I'm gathering material for the next one and already have contributions from Harry Bell, Bruce Chrislip, Bob Vojtko, Anvil, and Roldo. Want to climb aboard? Send me a random drawing! The more the merrier.

Here are some interesting numbers, demonstrating we remain very obscure:

Total number of visitors so far: 10,503
43% of you use Firefox, 41% IE, 8% Safari.
81% use Windows, 12% Mac.

Top ten posts:

McCleary Time Capsule, 1943-1963

about that Donate button

Brad Foster Has Lit the Fuse

City Limits Gazette: Sample Discussion

End of the Earth and Turn Left

Strange and Unbelievable, but Real and True! I Inherit Over 5 Million Bucks From June Pointer!

City Limits Gazette: Lynn Hansen Interview

Newave Reader

Mr. Crawford Raises Herfords, Too

Brave New Nazis of the Inland Empire

Where the readers are from, the top 10 states:

Washington
Utah/New York (tie)
Texas
California
Oregon/Ohio (tie)
Minnesota
North Carolina
Pennsylvania

Top 10 countries:

USA
South Korea
Spain
France
Poland (mostly spammers, thanks a lot guys)
Germany
Canada
United Kingdom
Russia
Malaysia (more spammers)

Top Referring Sites:

Facebook
OlyBlog
Comics Reporter
The Jim and Frank Podcast
Midnight Fiction
The Magic Whistle

The minicomic Dante's Coat gets plenty of hits I assume from people trying to find a real life product that matches the overcoat of a character in the Devil May Cry game named Dante, or at least that's what I gather since the term "Dante's Coat" is one of the most popular here.

Anyway, I'm still having a blast and I hope you readers are enjoying this too. Many thanks to the Fabulous Sarah for making this particular place of pixels a reality.

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