Mini-Comics Day in McCleary, Pt. 1

Yesterday I hosted the McCleary site for National Mini-Comics Day at our local Community Center. During the first hour, from 9-10, I was totally alone, listening to whatever creature it was that was living in the wall or ceiling of the building. Knowing my time might be crunched as the day went on, I used the opportunity to put together my minicomic for the day.

There should be a name for those strands of paper that are a byproduct of trimming newly printed minicomix. When I mentioned this later, I think Jim Gill suggested "mippitts."

So, this is is one the fastest minicomix I have ever produced, exactly 44 minutes from conception to the finished 10 copies. It is untitled.

The greeting table, including promo material for the Olympia Comics Festival, to take place June 2!

The first contingent arrived at about 10 from Seattle! Paul Tumey and his son Reid, Frank Young, and Jim Gill. I was thrilled to finally meet all of them in person and grateful they made the long trek to the hills for this.

All three of the cartoonists above have known each for a long time since they first met in their native Southeast U.S. I loved the way they fit together when they talked. It was like listening to well practiced tag-team comedy with a real mutual respect and affection.

Paul Tumey and I first corresponded back in 1990. Paul can be counted among one of the more thoughtful cartoonists I've known, like Joe Zabel, Scott McCloud, Hank Arakelian, and several others. He has several websites, my favorite being Screwball Comics.

Frank Young is a very funny fellow with a thousand voices. Also, he is a former editor of the Comics Journal and is juggling enough blogs to qualify him as a circus act.

Jim Gill and I have been corresponding since 1996. He was the first person to ever post a Morty Comix on Internet. Plus, and I cannot say this about anyone else I know, he actually knew someone who was eaten by an alligator!

Frank and Jim have a website called The Jim and Frank Podcast, and if you think radio comedy is dead, you need to visit this site first.

As the day progressed more people trickled in. I think we had a grand total of a dozen people in the six hours of the event. In the background of this shot you can see Bothell, Washington cartoonist/filmmaker Ron Austin and his partner Louise setting up as part of a project they have in mind. I met Ron last week at Evergroove's 40th Anniversary.

Bryan and Amy collate and staple a minicomic that was really wonderful. Part of the whole idea of this event was to attract non-comix artists to the art form, and these two created a very nice work entitled This is the Story of Ludwig. My brother's modesty prevents him from giving me permission to post it, but maybe one day he'll relent. I'm serious, I think these two put together an elegant little 8-pager. At least WSU will get it, so it won't be entirely lost.

Hey, if I can sing "I haven't seen my underpants in weeks" in public, which I did in Elma after this event (as Jim Gill can bear witness), certainly this mini can be shared with the world. But, I'll respect Bryan's wishes.

Figuring out the logistics of printing back-to-back pages on my copier can be maddening. I loved how Frank lapsed into one of his comic radio voices while figuring it out.

Jim posted a nice short bit on YouTube where I talk to three brothers about how to construct a minicomic.

On some levels this event was a success since we had a lot of energy from creative artists who also happened to be nice people. Sarah popped in (and traded stories with Jim about being former residents of  Port Townsend), but apart from the two of us, no one else from McCleary showed up. And I have to admit I was disappointed none of the locals bothered to come. But, this is far from the first time I have felt like a literal voice in the wilderness out here, so I can roll with it.

There was some talk as we wrapped up that maybe next year in the 2013 Third Annual National Mini-Comics Day, a happening might take place in Seattle and I could go up there. I would love that! But at least in 2012 the tiny hamlet of McCleary can now officially take a place in the history of Mini-Comics Day!

I'll be posting the comic art results of our creative efforts in the next chapters. Plus, there will be a surprise participant from McCleary's sister city in Ohio-- Cincinnati, home of goetta!

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Morty Comix # 2363

Morty Comix # 2363 was placed under a seat cushion in a bakery in Olympia, Washington. As you can see, I could be classified in the "seat-of-your-pants" school of cartooning. At least this is better than placing a whoopee cushion there. Or is it?

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Legislative Building, Olympia, Washington

Favorite Movie Quotes: The Box

"Your home is a box. Your car is a box on wheels. You drive to work in it. You drive home in it. You sit in your home staring into a box. It erodes your soul while the box that is your body inevitably withers and dies whereupon it is ultimately placed in the ultimate box to slowly decompose."

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Legislative Building, Olympia, Washington

Mini-Comics Day Prep

Mini-Comics Day is almost here!  I took the afternoon off and went to City Hall to pick up the key to the Community Center. Then I found Sarah and brought her with me for set-up since she graciously offered to help. Somehow that seems fitting since she was the one who set this blog up in the first place, so this whole thing in McCleary really traces back to her!

A tip to those of you coming from other places. We are about 25 minutes from Shelton, 30 minutes from Oly, 40 minutes from Aberdeen, 60 minutes from Centralia, 90 minutes from Seattle, 2+ hours from Portland, 6 hours from Spokane my birthplace, 9 hours from Redding, California if you drive like a bat out of Hell, and a stone's throw from Bezango. Keep in mind Memorial Day weekend traffic to the Coast will be thick.

These tables are not the greatest for acting as a drawing surface. Be sure to bring a drawing board or pad. I'll be using a clipboard.

I'll be providing a photocopier, a very funky paper cutter, a longneck stapler, some old dry gluestick, colored paper, pencil sharpener and a few other things. Bottled water will be there too, as well as some "fine" music on old sound cassettes. heh-heh.

This is also the venue where the Man in the Morty the Dog suit appeared in the late 20th century.

The Community Center resides next to the McCleary Cemetery, originally started by the Knights of Pythias in 1912 and then given to the town shortly after McCleary incorporated in 1943. Here is the headstone for one of the many Greeks who lived here in the early days, Christ Pappas, 1882-1956.

 A rare thunderstorm followed these clouds a few minutes later.

I returned home to start hauling out my dusty comix-making tools. Meanwhile, Charlie and Dreamer had an epic wrestling match next to the equipment I gathered in my living room.

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Legislative Building

Olympia, Washington

Favorite Movie Quotes: Shutter Island

"Which would be worse? To live as a monster? Or to die as a good man?"

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Temple of Justice

Olympia, Washington

Morty Comix # 2362

Morty Comix # 2362 was placed inside an issue of the Weekly Volcano, in the page featuring an article about the Evergroove cartoonists. This was in a restaurant in Tumwater serving Asian cuisine.

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One of the six little bunnies living in a hole next to my carport

Favorite Movie Quotes: Showdown

"I was infected with a social disease-- known as 'Bad Luck.'" 

A deliciously awful film

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Favorite Movie Quotes: Shopping

"Look at them, the living dead."

[Reviewed in Cheaper by the Dozen 2]

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Favorite Movie Quotes: The Shootist

"I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a-hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them."

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Favorite Movie Quotes: The Shining

"Hello Danny. Come and play with us. Come and play with us Danny. Forever, and ever, and ever."

[Reviewed in Cheaper by the Dozen 25]

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Skookumchuck River

Bucoda, Washington

Favorite Movie Quotes: Shenandoah

"It's like all wars, I guess. The undertakers are winning. And the politicians who talk about the glory of it. And the old men who talk about the need of it. And the soldiers, well, they just wanna go home."

[Reviewed in Cheaper by the Dozen 2]

Some personal trivia. My Mother picked my first name, my Father my middle name. According to my Virginian raised Dad, if my parents had switched roles in the name game I would be known today as Shenandoah. Mom probably still would've picked Steven, but as my middle name. So I could've been Shenandoah Steven Willis.

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Site of Washington Territory's first prison at Seatco (now Bucoda)

Favorite Movie Quotes: She-Devil (1989)

"Yes, well, accounting can be very creative!"

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Oyster shells and barnacles under the boardwalk at low tide

Budd Inlet, Olympia, Washington

The Laughing Librarian / by Jeanette C. Smith

This just out from McFarland, The Laughing Librarian : a History of American Library Humor by Jeanette C. Smith. Not a lot of graphics, but some cartoonists are included in the narrative, including a certain dusty old cataloger. I know Jeanette had been working on this book for a long time and it is an impressive and unusual contribution to the profession.

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Bucoda, Washington

Favorite Movie Quotes: The Shawshank Redemption

"I guess it comes down to a simple choice. Get busy living or get busy dying."

[Reviewed in Cheaper by the Dozen 49]

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Abandoned quarry converted to a community swimming area

Tenino, Washington

SPACE Interview Reposted

The Jim & Frank Podcast somehow found audio from my visit to SPACE 2011 when Bruce Chrislip interviewed me. Mostly this piece of comix history is valuable for hearing Bruce's incredible rendition of a couple Bil Keane Watch columns.