George H.W. Bush is still alive
But in a pretty bad way
He never got my vote
But I'm going to give him a pass
And wish him well.
The Diogenes Club
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Intro to Mini Comix by Blake!
[Above: Blake shows a photo of the legendary Clay Geerdes as portrayed in the Michael Dowers book, Newave!]
Our old friend Blake has just released a 35 minute introduction to minicomix on YouTube.
It is quite an experience to see a comix movement one was a part of be treated as an exciting period in comic art history. Blake tracks the Newave Comix movement from the comix ancestors of the 1960s up to the 1980s.
To this day I still proudly classify myself as a Newave Cartoonist.
Go Blake! Thank you for recognizing the importance and spark of our comix genre!
Update: Blake follows this up with an addendum: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jamUb7Grhc0
Unidentified
Unidentified
Printed: Wiker, Amethyst P.O., Creede, Colo.
Intriguing medallion on his vest.
Monday, December 30, 2013
The McDowell Brothers?
Printed: M.E. Chase, Ouray, Colorado
So here's the story I was told about the McDowells. The Pater familias was one Walter McDowell, born in Venango County, Pennsylvania in 1811. He earned his living making hats and gloves. As he made his way West, through Ohio, then to Casey, Illinois, he married at least four times and each marriage resulted in children.
My line connects to marriage # 3, with Kiziah Jane Albright. That union produced two children, my great grandfather Benjamin F. (born in Casey in 1858), and his sister Ruth "Mamie" (born 1867).
Kiziah died shortly after Ruth's birth. Not long following, Walter married a fourth time.
At some point in the 1880s, according to legend, the large family had some kind of major fight. Walter, now widowed again, and some of the adult children were said to have migrated to Oklahoma and Texas where they became cowboys. Ruth married into Choctaw culture. Walter died in the Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory, in 1892.
Meanwhile, the other half of the family moved to Ouray, Colorado and became silver prospectors. The brothers who moved there were John, Henry, Joseph, Ben, and Walter Jr.
Ben McDowell was said to have struck it rich two or three times, and lost everything at the gambling tables. He deserted the family in 1896 and lived out his life in Cripple Creek, Colorado, site of the last great gold rush in the lower 48, where he made a living sharpening tools. He died in 1910.
My Mom recalls being told this photo depicts the McDowell brothers, with my great grandfather possibly being the guy standing in the upper left. But she isn't 100% sure.
Morty Comix # 2684
Morty Comix # 2684 was left in a stack of broadsides advertising an event in celebration of The King's birthday. They were on a counter at a coffee bar at the entrance to a downtown Olympia, Washington grocery store.
Here's a LINK to the Elvis Dash if you are interested. Looks like a fun photo op!
The Martin Van Buren Song
Martin Van Buren's first language was Dutch
His favorite game was politics
He loved it very much
He was so ambitious
His feet were a-itchin'
He was America's first modern politician
Ol' Marty always said he worked for the public good
Problem was
No one knew where he stood
It probably would've helped him
If his positions had been firmer
Maybe the voters might not have made him
Another single termer
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Morty Comix # 2683
Morty Comix # 2683 was placed inside a broken soft drink storage unit that had been exiled out of doors at a gas station/minimart in McCleary, Washington.
Saturday, December 28, 2013
The Mysterious Brownies: Calling All Comic Art Historians!
This Christmas I was given an unusual gift by my Brother's partner, Lauren. It was a framed color drawing of odd little people helping children learn how to read. A fitting gift for a librarian! Apparently it had been in Lauren's family for awhile, and she said her Mother told her those little people were Brownies.
I saw that some backing tape was eating at the paper, and could tell the drawing was from out of a book. So I removed the frame and found on the reverse side that the little guys were indeed Brownies, just like Lauren said:
When to the seaside off you go
The Brownies will come too, I know;
They'll take you in the sea, no doubt,
And laugh to see you splash about.
On the color page, note that two Brownies have numbers attached to their hats.
I'd love to know the source book for this. Is this by Palmer Cox? Somehow it looks too primitive to be his work, but I could be wrong. One could argue that the two images are by different illustrators, the line drawing being much less polished.
Hopefully I am giving you comic art scholars out there a nice mystery to solve.
Brownies, along with elves, trolls, and fairies, were part of the mythology I grew up hearing stories about. But we knew it was all make believe. Sasquatch, however, was another matter.
The McDowell Family Album
The McDowell Family Album is something of a mystery. This family has never been real big on recording their history. In fact, during the 20th century family members were unable to name their grandparents for official documents like death certificates.
To illustrate this point, my Mom's cousin gave me this album when we visited him in Centralia, Washington over 30 years ago. "Here kid," he said, "Take it. I'm not into this gynecology crap."
Though the photos are mostly unmarked, they are interesting portraits of a colorful family who were part of the history of Colorado in the era of the silver boom in the 1880s-1890s. And obviously, they didn't look back.
The album was curated by my great grandmother, Ellen McDowell. She was born Ellen Snyder in Casey, Illinois, Apr. 17, 1862. She married Benjamin F. McDowell in 1879 and the young family moved to Ouray, Colorado in the 1880s. Ben deserted the family in 1896 and Ellen supported her four sons and two daughters by running a laundry-- by hand-- for the silver prospectors. She followed her sons to Centralia, Washington in the 1920s, where she died Feb. 15, 1949.
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