Jane Jenkins Oliver Scrapbook

I enjoyed an eight year correspondence with Jane. In hindsight I wish I had been more frequent on taking her up more often on invitations to contribute to comic projects. But I did manage to send in a few pages for her minicomix.

In looking over this folder of her mail I get angry thinking about how she was taken away so early. She certainly was one of the major female Newave cartoonists and I believe she would be gratified today to see the more equitable gender balance of cartoonists producing self-published and obscuro comix as compared to the 1980s.

Jane needs to be more celebrated and recognized as a pioneer. You can find a nice 1986 interview with her by Tim Corrigan in the Newave Reader.

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Embedded Bezangos

Sasquatch (Olympia Power & Light, June 16-29, 2010) posted with Sasquatch Comix # 1

On Comics (Olympia Power & Light, June 2-15, 2010) posted as Bezango On Comics

On Top of the World (Olympia Power & Light, February 24-March 9, 2010) posted with Washington State Legislative Building

Isthmus Time (Olympia Power & Light, May 19-June 1, 2010) posted with Bezango WA 985 # 4

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Bezango: The World's Fair and the Gayway

Olympia Power & Light, March 23-April 5, 2011

J.P. Patches and Gertrude are still around, I'm happy to say. There is a mistaken belief that Matt Groening based Krusty the Clown on J.P., but down in Portland they had their own live kid show host, another clown named Rusty Nails. I used to watch Rusty when I visited my cousins in Vancouver, across the Columbia River.

Matt and Lynda Barry and I used to talk about J.P. and Rusty quite a bit. It was during the time we were together in college that I interviewed J.P. in person, and both of my fellow cartoonists were hungry for the details. Lynda also grew up as a Patches Pal.

I must say having seen both J.P. and Rusty, there was no comparison. J.P. had the magic, Rusty did not. I'm convinced Krusty is Rusty.

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Bezango: Local History in a Crossword, Oh Yeah!

Olympia Power & Light, March 9-22, 2011

Crosswords are a lot harder to create than I thought. Some day I want to try and make a crossword testing the player's knowledge of Newave comix trivia.

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The Real Breakfast of Champions

So here's my original recipe for good breakfast chow. Get some frozen beef sausages, frozen chocolate chip waffles, and Marmite.

Marmite, by the way, has recently become an illegal product in Denmark. Their loss. Some say it tastes like salty motor oil, but I say it is one of the most excellent food products on the planet.


Toss the waffles in a toaster, then after they fill your kitchen with an aroma of toasty chocolate goodness, slather a generous portion of Marmite on one side of one waffle. As you can see in the photo, I have the super big size jar of Marmite thanks to my brother Bryan bringing it to me from England.


Microwave 3 sausages for 1 minute, 50 seconds, then place them on the Marmite, which acts as an amazing adhesive.


And viola! A better than neat taste treat and a perfect way to start a new day. I usually have 2 or 3 of these a week for breakfast.

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Call Kate

Bezango: A Love Story of Sorts

Olympia Power & Light, February 9-22, 2011

Isabella really exists, although she doesn't really announce the product out loud. Other than that detail, this is pretty much a true story.

OK, perhaps a few other points were, er, embellished for dramatic effect.

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Buster

Buster asks me why this blog had to be named after a dog?!?

The old boy (Buster, not me) survived a rather frightening visit to the vet today.

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Bezango: Adventures in Time and Capitol Way (Pt. 2)

Olympia Power & Light, January 12-25, 2011

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Am I the only who thinks this is just plain wrong?

Bezango: Adventures in Time-- and on Capitol Way

Olympia Power & Light, December 1-14, 2010

I still miss Kay's Chop Suey.

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Bezango: On Being Hairy in Olympia

Olympia Power & Light, sometime in late 2010.

To sidetrack here. That 1963 Studebaker Lark was less than a decade old when this Polaroid was snapped. Back then the speed on SR 8 was 70, which meant everyone bombed along at 80. The Lark had a V8 engine in a little body so that baby flew. Also, I loved the fact the ignition was on the left side for us southpaws!

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Bezango: Rutherford B. Hayes Slept Here, Oct. 1880

Olympia Power & Light, sometime in October, 2010

It's a big deal whenever a President visits the Oly area. The last sitting President to come to these parts was Harry Truman, although Gerald Ford visited Lacey when he was Vice-President in 1974.

The only President to visit McCleary was Franklin Roosevelt. He drove slowly through here waving at citizens in an open car while passing through to visit the Coast. All the schoolchildren lined up to cheer, but anti-union Henry McCleary ordered his workers to stay away.

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The fate of cute, stuffed toy animals when they turn to crime

Bezango: Revisiting Woody

Olympia Power & Light, August 11-September 22, 2010

My second column featuring Woodrow "Woody" Barker. One of my all time favorite columnists was Chicago's Mike Royko. He created a character called "Slats Grobnik" as a foil for the old days compared to the modern. Woody is the Slats for my corner of the world.

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Thank You, O Anonymous One!

A big thanks to our anonymous donor who dropped some cash in the donation box! It is very appreciated and helps in printing up these Morty the Blog jam comix!

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Budd Inlet, Olympia, Washington

Bezango: Technicolor in Olympia

Olympia Power & Light, July 28-August 10, 2010

Clarence Chesterfield Howerton, otherwise known as Major Mite, is McCleary's closest claim to Hollywood fame.

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