The Vault of Underground Anthropological Curiosities
Herein lies what has cartooned before in a land and time now passed. A gallery of my comix dipped from the fountain of time for a taste.
Here's my four color process color cover for Gay Comix # 4, 1983.
The Tortoise and the Scorpion
This probably is my best known early work, " The Tortoise and the Scorpion," a 9 page funny animal AIDS psycho-drama, romance, and transformational. I drew this in the early days of the HIV pandemic, and it was a parable of the socio/politics of that time. It first was published in Gay Comix # 15, 1992. Reprinted in the anthology " No Straight Lines" in 2012. This work also got pirated by a Swedish publishing house several years back, printed directly and translated off of a copy of Gay Comix. By the time I found this out, the publishers had gone bankrupt, and getting anything from that unauthorized use of my comic got tangled in international law. One's creative output can wind up in the most interesting of places.
The rest of the story unfolds below in slideshow format, page #2 of the story starts with the 3 birds on top and caption reading " Today we find..." :
The rest of the story unfolds below in slideshow format, page #2 of the story starts with the 3 birds on top and caption reading " Today we find..." :
The two images below are the front and back covers for RFD magazine published in 1997. RFD is still in publication, and has and still publishes my cartoons and graphix from time to time. For more information about this fine publication, please check out their site online.
During the late 1980's while working for the Seattle Gay News I got to design and draw a series of full page newspaper advertisements for the local Thriftway supermarket. The manager gave me free reign to push the content envelope, and these proved very popular, till upper management caught wind of it.
CASCADIA: FOWL JIHAD
Here's a treat, something truly dredged up from the vaults, I'm really yanking out some family jewels now. The above work has mostly never before been seen, posted or published. The first few pages were published in RFD magazine back in the early 1990's, but the rest has only been seen by a few till now. The context was when Oregon was experiencing a series of nasty anti-Gay legislation put forth by a group of anti-Gay zealots called the "Oregon Citizen's Alliance." The OCA set out to codify homophobic edicts into the state constitution. I was involved in several fronts against this act, and the above was meant to be my "great work" about it. My partner at the time was passing from complications associated with H.I.V. infection, and I had to focus then on his care, so this project got lost in the demands of those days.
Above is the first page of "Leatherthing," published in Gay Comix # 8, and "Gay Comics" published by Signet in 1989. Gay Comix # 8 was of a superhero parody theme, so I chose to draw Swamp Thing as a San Franciscan leather queen. The leather sales clerk pictured was my friend Michael Goldberg, who was an artistic powerhouse. Michael wrote " Our Love Was Too Cozmic" which is also posted here in the Vault .
Stan Stone Meets the Cozmic Clones
The above slideshow is my first long-form story that was published in " Gay Comix" # 4 in 1983. I was 21 and in San Francisco when I drew this, living too close to the edge as an underground comix cartoonist. To quote Oscar Wilde " I might be laying in a gutter, but I'm looking up at the stars." I survived as an editorial cartoonist, graphic artist, and lay-out artist: before the digital age, the lay-out production crew would set up a page to be printed by assembling the components, to physically glue strips of photographed images and copy onto master pages that would be etched onto metal printing plates. I was renting a cockroach ridden studio apartment on Polk St. when I drew this, working as art director for the San Francisco "Sentinel, " a Gay community newspaper. I had more idealism than good sense, and am amazed to be still alive today. I had wanted to draw more about the Cozmic Clone universe, and did publish an 8 page follow-up strip in my " Watch OUT!" comix book in 1986.
Stan Stone was loosely based on a good friend of mine, writer Stan Henry. Stan and I then always shared what we were working on with each other, an artistic relationship. We gave honest opinions about each other's projects, and he absolutely gave good advice that helped make what I was working on then better. In our correspondences I started drawing a little caricature of him. As an in joke I slipped his character into a "Watch Out!" comic strip I was drawing when he visited me in San Francisco. People responded well to the character, I got good feedback, so I drew Stan into several other strips, and so the Stan Stone legend was born. Real Stan loved his connection with comic Stan Stone, and even collaborated with me by writing a series of Stan Stone comic strips himself. Stan Stone was a very malleable creation to draw stories around, and became my most popular character. Several times when first meeting me, people who had read the strips would think that I should look like Stan, instead of a long-haired young hippy.
Stan passed many years back, so I retired the character. I've toyed with resurrecting it in tribute, perhaps.
Distribution then for Underground Comix were mostly through those old-school head shops, which in the early 1980's were an endangered species because of Ronald Reagan's War on Drugs. Comic book stores then were rare, and as a rule would not sell any adult material because of their mostly minor clientele. "Gay Comix" was able to sell through Gay and alternative (hippy) bookstores.There just was not much of a market at all to get adult-themed comix published. A popular assumption then was George Orwell's prophetic "1984" would come true, which in subtle ways it did. "NOMEANSYES" is akin to Orwell's "Animal Farm," incidently.
Stan Stone was loosely based on a good friend of mine, writer Stan Henry. Stan and I then always shared what we were working on with each other, an artistic relationship. We gave honest opinions about each other's projects, and he absolutely gave good advice that helped make what I was working on then better. In our correspondences I started drawing a little caricature of him. As an in joke I slipped his character into a "Watch Out!" comic strip I was drawing when he visited me in San Francisco. People responded well to the character, I got good feedback, so I drew Stan into several other strips, and so the Stan Stone legend was born. Real Stan loved his connection with comic Stan Stone, and even collaborated with me by writing a series of Stan Stone comic strips himself. Stan Stone was a very malleable creation to draw stories around, and became my most popular character. Several times when first meeting me, people who had read the strips would think that I should look like Stan, instead of a long-haired young hippy.
Stan passed many years back, so I retired the character. I've toyed with resurrecting it in tribute, perhaps.
Distribution then for Underground Comix were mostly through those old-school head shops, which in the early 1980's were an endangered species because of Ronald Reagan's War on Drugs. Comic book stores then were rare, and as a rule would not sell any adult material because of their mostly minor clientele. "Gay Comix" was able to sell through Gay and alternative (hippy) bookstores.There just was not much of a market at all to get adult-themed comix published. A popular assumption then was George Orwell's prophetic "1984" would come true, which in subtle ways it did. "NOMEANSYES" is akin to Orwell's "Animal Farm," incidently.
Here's the cover art for my solo underground comix collection published by Last Gasp! in 1985.
Danny and Clyde In the Flesh
In 1986 the Seattle Gay News began publishing a full page comic strip of mine originally under my "Watch Out Comix" title. This series had a run of several years, and featured Clyde and the ghost of his pal Dany. My friend and sometimes collaborator Stan Henry helped plan out the initial storyline. Originally Dany the ghost was a tribute to a friend of his whom passed from complications associated with H.I.V. infection. Stan thought his friend's family would appreciate the tribute, they did not, so Stan dropped out of this project to not incriminate himself. I did not know Stan's friend, so I had to wing it alone. We also switched Dany's living cartoon pal to a character I used to draw in another comic strip for the San Francisco Sentinel newspaper, Clyde Clone. I changed Clyde's name to Clyde Palatine and recast him as less cartoony than in his prior incarnation.
This comic is steeped in the Seattle Gay cultural scene of the late 1980's. I drew actual Gay bars, cruising and hang-out areas, and real-time events and politics. Clyde's apartment was my own down to the furniture. Yesterday I put out on the street a cabinet I no longer need that was drawn in the background of a few of these strips. There are many in-jokes that only me and the dead know. I would sneak in friends into the backgrounds, and other comic strip characters drawn by my fellow cartoonist travelers. It was quite the learning experience writing and drawing a full newspaper page each week of original, very radical subject matter. The original artwork was drawn at 10' by 15' inches. My editor then George Bakan was very supportive and helpful.
I did plan on the individual strips adding up to a full story when read together, and had several unsuccessful tries at getting this all published as a book, hence the " In The Flesh" title. I ended up with a story 71 pages long, editing out a few pages that did not work in the greater storyline. Last year I included a couple dozen of these pages in my Portland art show, which did get a good response. I was concerned these strips could be too time-locked in the times they were created. The strong idealisms of my youth certainly come out in these strips, it is a sort of diary from back then, and at times quite personal. I also experimented a lot, giving the finished work many rough areas. It was fun to draw ghosts free floating in space, granting myriad compositional possibilities.
Ignore the page numbers, I kept reshuffling the page order, and more or less now have them posted below in slideshow format pretty much in working order...
This comic is steeped in the Seattle Gay cultural scene of the late 1980's. I drew actual Gay bars, cruising and hang-out areas, and real-time events and politics. Clyde's apartment was my own down to the furniture. Yesterday I put out on the street a cabinet I no longer need that was drawn in the background of a few of these strips. There are many in-jokes that only me and the dead know. I would sneak in friends into the backgrounds, and other comic strip characters drawn by my fellow cartoonist travelers. It was quite the learning experience writing and drawing a full newspaper page each week of original, very radical subject matter. The original artwork was drawn at 10' by 15' inches. My editor then George Bakan was very supportive and helpful.
I did plan on the individual strips adding up to a full story when read together, and had several unsuccessful tries at getting this all published as a book, hence the " In The Flesh" title. I ended up with a story 71 pages long, editing out a few pages that did not work in the greater storyline. Last year I included a couple dozen of these pages in my Portland art show, which did get a good response. I was concerned these strips could be too time-locked in the times they were created. The strong idealisms of my youth certainly come out in these strips, it is a sort of diary from back then, and at times quite personal. I also experimented a lot, giving the finished work many rough areas. It was fun to draw ghosts free floating in space, granting myriad compositional possibilities.
Ignore the page numbers, I kept reshuffling the page order, and more or less now have them posted below in slideshow format pretty much in working order...
American Jesus
After I finished the long run of those Dany and Clyde comic strips posted directly above, I experimented with several shorter format series published in the Seattle Gay News, including the really experimental above " American Jesus. The main preacher dude pontificating throughout could well be the father to my current NOMEANSYES comic strip star zealot Walla Marts. I really have drawn many variations of the same stripe of demagogue over the decades. Slide show of the rest of this series follows below:
Poster Potpourri for the Proletariat
( please note: this section under construction and not finished ) I've enjoyed drawing posters and handbills for many social / political / and activist causes and events. This also gave me a wealth of material to draw from for my comic strips. Before the ease of internet accessibility, one really had to work to get information that was beyond the attention of the media mainstream. I absolutely wanted to draw new stories from this raw, radical political edge, and creating protest posters and handbills has much proud history. These posters were usually published at 11" by 17" in size. I don't have many of the originals left, so these are mostly scanned from off the printed copies. I got to work with many different and diverse groups, and mourn the current dearth of protest organizations today.
Below is the poster art for my show at the end of last year. I first drew this strip for Gay Comix in 1996.
Special Righteousness Committee
In Oregon from the late 1980s through the early 1990s, an anti-Gay organization called the Oregon Citizen's Alliance worked to put very homophobic edicts into the state constitution through a series of failed ballot initiatives. The O.C.A. was capitalizing on fear and religious intolerance, and public hysteria during the worst of the H.I.V. pandemic. Basically, the O.C.A. wanted state law to rule that homosexuality is the same as bestiality and necrophilia ( their words ).
A friend of mine Marvin Moore started a counter-protest group called the Special Righteousness Committee, whose message was that the O.C.A. didn't go far enough with their cherry-picking of old testament levitical law. It also is an old testament sin to eat oysters, wear clothing made from mixed fibers, sowing mixed seed, etc. The SRC organized street theater protests, held media events, and got statements published in the state voter's guide. The SRC turned the OCA's efforts upside down and into comedy. The SRC had support at the state capitol, and were able to get our statements at the front of the voter's guide published before the elections. The SRC of course mocked the OCA, arguing that the OCA did not go far enough, that the state of Oregon should also do such as close all oyster bars. It was political satire in full glory.
To come up with the cash to pay the fees to get our statements published in the voter's guide, the SRC as a state non-profit sold indulgences, licenses to discriminate, paper dolls, and bible tracts. The OCA also suffered from it's own internal conflicts, it became a family industry for OCA founder Lon Mabon. One of the OCA's leaders Scott lively physically assaulted a lesbian news photographer, ,and the lawssuits further crippled the OCA, which faded off into the sunset. Today Scott Lively has risen on the international anti-Gay circuit, and advocates state execution for homosexuality.
Below is the bible tract we distributed statewide, it's unassembled of course, so you have to follow the page numbers at the top of the panels. The cover was printed on pink astrobright paper.
A friend of mine Marvin Moore started a counter-protest group called the Special Righteousness Committee, whose message was that the O.C.A. didn't go far enough with their cherry-picking of old testament levitical law. It also is an old testament sin to eat oysters, wear clothing made from mixed fibers, sowing mixed seed, etc. The SRC organized street theater protests, held media events, and got statements published in the state voter's guide. The SRC turned the OCA's efforts upside down and into comedy. The SRC had support at the state capitol, and were able to get our statements at the front of the voter's guide published before the elections. The SRC of course mocked the OCA, arguing that the OCA did not go far enough, that the state of Oregon should also do such as close all oyster bars. It was political satire in full glory.
To come up with the cash to pay the fees to get our statements published in the voter's guide, the SRC as a state non-profit sold indulgences, licenses to discriminate, paper dolls, and bible tracts. The OCA also suffered from it's own internal conflicts, it became a family industry for OCA founder Lon Mabon. One of the OCA's leaders Scott lively physically assaulted a lesbian news photographer, ,and the lawssuits further crippled the OCA, which faded off into the sunset. Today Scott Lively has risen on the international anti-Gay circuit, and advocates state execution for homosexuality.
Below is the bible tract we distributed statewide, it's unassembled of course, so you have to follow the page numbers at the top of the panels. The cover was printed on pink astrobright paper.
Below is the Oregon Citizen's Alliance paper doll. Marvin wrote the copy.
These are from my "Watch Out!" series, drawn in 1988. This was published at the beginning of the Catholic Church scandal avalanche. The zealot in the big, silly hat would be another Walla Marts ancestor. The abuses of fundamentalism, Christian or pagan, still a common theme of my work.
Here's page # 1 of "Our Love Was Too Cosmic" written by Michael Goldberg, and published in Gay Comix # 13 from 1988. Michael wanted to write a tribute to the romance comic book genre of yore, set at a Radical Faerie Gathering of the day. This was one of three stories which Michael wrote that I illustrated, we had wanted to collaborate on more comix together, but the market for publication was limited, and then Michael passed. I really enjoyed collaborating with Michael, his enthusiasm and passion for what he worked on is missed. In his honor, The rest of the strip is posted directly below in slideshow format:
Above is an illustration which I first drew for a Radical Faerie directory in 2001, and later it was used in the fall 2006 edition of RFD magazine. Over the years I've knocked out many diverse radical faerie art and graphix for a myriad of paper ephemeras. The below illustration was scanned off a printed image, as I've lost track of the original art. I gave away a lot of art over the years, including some which I don't even have copies of, sadly.
RESTORATIONS
Below is an odd duck of a transitional work for me. This was created for the "Meatmen" series published by Gay Sunshine Press several decades past. "Meatmen" collected the work of Gay male cartoonists, mostly of the erotic bent. The comix I was drawing then dealt more with the social and political aspects of being Gay, a genre which often was a ghetto within a ghetto within a ghetto. I was a newspaper editorial cartoonist working in the network of local Gay/alternative/radical newspapers. "Meatmen" did publish my political strips, but I wanted to try drawing a sex sequence in a more realistic style than I had tried before "Restorations." I wanted to draw a sex-positive post-apocalyptic erotic romantic romp with a Goddess theme, ballsy for a men's sex comic, but there it was. The referenced " Apocalypse" of course was metaphor for the HIV pandemic. There are many themes I first drew with "Restorations" which still surface into my artwork today. I had intended on expanding "Restorations" into a lengthy graphic novel, to be published by Gay Sunshine Press. The contract I got to do this was in my opinion a bit dodgy. GSP with prior contracts I signed with them had printed mini press runs below the publication number in which I would get royalties for reprinting. This was late 1980's during the worst of the burning times of the HIV pandemic. Many of my friends then died, sometimes several a week, and I seriously doubted making it into the 90's. So, if I died, I did not want to leave the copyright of my comix with a publisher whom I did not trust. I also had to focus then on caring for my terminally ill partner Ted , and I had to put aside projects and dreams to get done what needed to get done. I have around 50 pages in various stages of completion for the expanded "Restorations," which today molders packed away in a cabinet in my studio. I still might resurrect. restore, and finish it. These 9 pages, or the "mini-restorations" version, are all of this which has ever been published.
Below is an odd duck of a transitional work for me. This was created for the "Meatmen" series published by Gay Sunshine Press several decades past. "Meatmen" collected the work of Gay male cartoonists, mostly of the erotic bent. The comix I was drawing then dealt more with the social and political aspects of being Gay, a genre which often was a ghetto within a ghetto within a ghetto. I was a newspaper editorial cartoonist working in the network of local Gay/alternative/radical newspapers. "Meatmen" did publish my political strips, but I wanted to try drawing a sex sequence in a more realistic style than I had tried before "Restorations." I wanted to draw a sex-positive post-apocalyptic erotic romantic romp with a Goddess theme, ballsy for a men's sex comic, but there it was. The referenced " Apocalypse" of course was metaphor for the HIV pandemic. There are many themes I first drew with "Restorations" which still surface into my artwork today. I had intended on expanding "Restorations" into a lengthy graphic novel, to be published by Gay Sunshine Press. The contract I got to do this was in my opinion a bit dodgy. GSP with prior contracts I signed with them had printed mini press runs below the publication number in which I would get royalties for reprinting. This was late 1980's during the worst of the burning times of the HIV pandemic. Many of my friends then died, sometimes several a week, and I seriously doubted making it into the 90's. So, if I died, I did not want to leave the copyright of my comix with a publisher whom I did not trust. I also had to focus then on caring for my terminally ill partner Ted , and I had to put aside projects and dreams to get done what needed to get done. I have around 50 pages in various stages of completion for the expanded "Restorations," which today molders packed away in a cabinet in my studio. I still might resurrect. restore, and finish it. These 9 pages, or the "mini-restorations" version, are all of this which has ever been published.
CASTRO STREET 2000
Castro Street 2000 was another collaboration written by my friend Michael Goldberg. This was published in Gay Comix # 14 in 1991. I drew Michael as the chief rabbit narrator, and scads of other Gay cartoon characters were included. This is one of my more detail-riddled works. The rest of the strip follows below in slideshow:
The above sequence was from my full page "Watch Out!" comix series, this was first published in the Seattle Gay News, and then later in RFD magazine. It is steeped in the politics of the day. The B-2 bomber had been declassified, the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska a environmental disaster, the war on drugs amped up. "Obscene" artwork was the cause celeb of the radical right, Robert Mapplethorpe's homoerotic photography and Andres Serrano's crucifix in a jar of urine favorite targets. Whole forests got clearcut and shipped out. Senator Jesse Helms then was quite toxic, beholden to big tobacco money ( hence his ciggie fingers.) Bill Dannemeyer another arch homophobic politico. Also the Reagan's and Bush's #1, Vice prez Dan Quail, and Sam Kinison, a nasty homophobic comedian, now dead and forgotten. Stan's apartment building was one I had lived in when I drew it.
Below is a slideshow selection of other "Watch OUT! " comix that were published weekly (usually) in the Seattle Gay News in the 1980s. I had a full page format to expand out into instead of the standard small comic strip size. I very much was inspired by the old Sunday full newspaper page sized comic strips from the early 1900s, the main character of Stan Stone often was a contemporary " Little Nemo in Slumberland." ( look it up ) in this series.
Below is a slideshow selection of other "Watch OUT! " comix that were published weekly (usually) in the Seattle Gay News in the 1980s. I had a full page format to expand out into instead of the standard small comic strip size. I very much was inspired by the old Sunday full newspaper page sized comic strips from the early 1900s, the main character of Stan Stone often was a contemporary " Little Nemo in Slumberland." ( look it up ) in this series.
That is supposed to be me in the bandana, I do admit to inking and lettering it, a full page filler for " Annie Sprinkle is Miss Timed # 4,1991."
"Annie Sprinkle is Miss Timed" # 1, 2, 3, 4, published by Rip Off Press, 1990 - 1991
This comic was produced in the standard comic book collaborative model: editor, writer, pencil artist, ink artist, letterer. For this project I inked another artist's pencils and lettered the pages. I have enjoyed collaborating with other people, and this project was very different. The main character was based on Annie Sprinkle, a former porn star turned performance artist/ sex activist. The series premise was that Annie ( Miss Timed ) ran afoul with a time machine and then bonked her way through history in a series of sex-positive adventures. I sure got to ink a lot of pubic hair. The writer was Andy Mangels, and the pencil artist M. Michael Clarke. This comic's sexual dynamic was heterosexual, flirting with bisexuality. Andy and I are both very Gay, and M Clarke then a straight virgin, an odd set to create a sex comic with. I was reminded of those medieval drawings of elephants drawn by artists whom had never in real life seen one, had only had what an elephant looks like described to them. It all was good fun.
"Annie Sprinkle is Miss Timed" # 1, 2, 3, 4, published by Rip Off Press, 1990 - 1991
This comic was produced in the standard comic book collaborative model: editor, writer, pencil artist, ink artist, letterer. For this project I inked another artist's pencils and lettered the pages. I have enjoyed collaborating with other people, and this project was very different. The main character was based on Annie Sprinkle, a former porn star turned performance artist/ sex activist. The series premise was that Annie ( Miss Timed ) ran afoul with a time machine and then bonked her way through history in a series of sex-positive adventures. I sure got to ink a lot of pubic hair. The writer was Andy Mangels, and the pencil artist M. Michael Clarke. This comic's sexual dynamic was heterosexual, flirting with bisexuality. Andy and I are both very Gay, and M Clarke then a straight virgin, an odd set to create a sex comic with. I was reminded of those medieval drawings of elephants drawn by artists whom had never in real life seen one, had only had what an elephant looks like described to them. It all was good fun.
This was drawn for a queer pagan zine called "Wiggansnatch" published by my friend James Moore. I had been drawing a seriously political comic strip then, and for this work I wanted to dabble in something less grim as Reagan-era politics. "Wiggansnatch" was ahead of it's time, damn shame it's now mostly forgotten. James Moore passed during the burning times of the HIV pandemic.
PORTLAND BIRD/CASCADIA
"Cascadia" ( first titled "Portland Bird") was an environmental/political comic strip that I drew for close to a decade. It was a radical mash-up of the politics of those times, based out of a swamp close to Portland, OR. It was published in the Earth First! Journal, the Portland Alliance, and other publications. The primary characters were a great blue heron and a spotted owl whom lived and enjoyed an unconventional relationship together in dangerous times.
Below is the artwork from a Radical Faerie gathering at the other Wolf Creek Radical Faerie Sanctuary, 20 years ago. I have over two decades of artwork I have yet to post here from my time involved with the other Wolf Creek Radical Faerie Sanctuary. Back in the 1980's I became involved with a group of Gay Men to purchase a parcel of land in Southern Oregon which had a history of radical Gay gatherings and communes. The goal was to have a safe space for Gay men to come together, network, and heal from the war against us; for empowerment and life during the burning times of the H.I.V. pandemic. We were able to purchase the land at Wolf Creek, using bequeathed estates for this vision from Gay men who died of AIDS. We set up a 501 C-3 non profit to manage this, based on concensus politics and a non-hierarchal leadership structure facilitated through a loose circle of Gay men. Over time a few bad apples through a series of membership purges and targeted attacks took over and rewrote the vision, history, and Sanctuary. And thus was it gentrified. Today that Wolf Creek Radical Faerie Sanctuary remains a battle zone which chews up and spits out new generations of those set to leave their mark upon those bleeding, embattled hills. It could be possible to show up for a gathering there and be oblivious to the odious history of those few power trippers who have lost their humanity in their pursuits of purging the heretics. As the fates would have it, those who were at odds with the "Gay Vision" thing are today drawing up exclusion lists beyond just the Gay men they started with. My farce presented through the pages of this online Radical Faerie Comic Church is total fiction, populated with fantastical characters, and in no way could even live up to the actual happenings at that other Wolf Creek Radical Faerie Sanctuary.
