In this episode, Rob and Don sit down with former Comics F/X magazine founder and editor Jeff Wood to talk about the West Coast independent comics scene of the 1980’s. The three discuss the origins of Comics F/X magazine, MU Press, the small press black and white comics explosion, and how “three adjectives and a noun” comics and anthropomorphic smut crashed the industry. All this and the story behind Jeff’s own legendary comic Snowbuni are waiting for you in this, the 14th episode of the Department of Nerdly Affairs.
Closing Music: Ode to Joy performed by Oliver Eckelt
Things Discussed
Comics F/X Magazine
Jeff Wood
Snowbuni
Mike Sagara
Steve Jackson Games
Uncle Al’s Auto Stop and Gunnery Shop Catalog
Car Wars
Jason Waltrip
Albedo Anthropmorphics
Omaha the Cat Dancer
Tank Vixens
Fish Police
Boris the Bear
MU Press
Antarctic Press
Warrior Nun (video)
Morty the Dog
Phil Foglio
XXXenophile
Girl Genius
Steampunk
What’s New with Phil and Dixie
Buck Godot
The Smart Passive Income Podcast
I’m reading “Dangerously Chloe” now. For some reason, it reminds me of Urusei Yatsura.
Hey, Robyn, you forgot to post the link to Gallimaufery.
>you forgot to post the link to Gallimaufery.
Here’s the bestest one I could find:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2708257-buck-godot
(‘Course…. I’m a Luddite, so Rob might be able to find a better one….)
>I’m reading “Dangerously Chloe” now. For some reason, it reminds me of Urusei Yatsura.
I could see that, although it kinda changes direction a little later on, once they’ve thoroughly introduced the main cast. (Right around the time Prudence shows up.)
It’s a spinoff from this comic: http://www.eeriecuties.com/articles/strips-ec/%28chapter_1%29_it_is_gonna_eat_me%21 which is VERY UY. (And just as funny.)
Don C.
For some reason, information about the Buck Godot: Gallimaufry series is hard to find, and I didn’t include it in the show notes because the link above that Don found was as good as it got. It looks like it’s been out of print for a bit, and may have been up on Phil’s site at some point and then taken down again. Sigh. Such a great story, but for some reason Phil has made it hard to get. I almost wonder if there’s a rights issue with one of the publishers the Buck Godot stories were originally published under.
We should probably include a link to Kyle Miller’s GameCreature site, which we mention in the podcast. He has an impressive gallery of projects, although it looks like his comic page is broken.
http://www.gamecreature.com/
I got Autoduel Quarterly for about two years. That and the Traveller Journals were wonderful lost pieces of great artwork and simple pamphletry that I miss!
I was wondering if you guys heard about “Dish Man”. Was a local author I think in Guelph area or nearby who used to make comics about his hero whose super power was the ability to do dishes. I have that super power too. (Does that make me “Son of Dish Man!”?)
At any rate, really informative and nothing I can really complain about because I don’t know enough to make me dangerous.
Anyone remember “Destroyer Duck”? Kind of like Howard the Duck meets Rambo.
What ever happened to First Comics? They had some of my favourites. Jon Sable. GrimJack. Starslayer… the good ole days when you could go to the Independents for story because the top two were engrossed in who could make the best artwork.
J
My contacts tell me that Dishman was created and published by John MacLeod, who is active on FaceBook.
https://www.facebook.com/john.macleod.3538?hc_location=ufi
>I got Autoduel Quarterly for about two years. That and the Traveller Journals were wonderful lost pieces of great artwork and simple pamphletry that I miss!
I liked AQ ‘cos you never knew what you were going to get each issue. WWWAAAAAYYYYYY back when that was kinda the trend for gaming mags. AQ was nifty as well for being one of the first (of not THE first) gaming book to blur the line between setting and player. (For those of you who may have missed out, it was presented as an actual publication for the AADA; the major organization within the Car Wars setting. It even had ads….)
>I was wondering if you guys heard about “Dish Man”.
Y’know…. it sounds really familiar….
>I have that super power too. (Does that make me “Son of Dish Man!”?)
….unless you’re the evil twin. Have you ever grown a goatee?
>Anyone remember “Destroyer Duck”? Kind of like Howard the Duck meets Rambo.
I do! I remember it was weirdly popular for a little while, then it vanished. There were a few books that did the same back in the day.
>What ever happened to First Comics?
They went under. Once Marvel and DC worked their way into the comic shops, EVERYTHING went superheroes. I remember First started producing more super-hero-y stuff towards the end; like EVERYBODY did…. but I think by then folks were going more for the “designer comics” and sure investments. So it didn’t help. (Same thing happened in the late 90’s when everybody went all Image.)
On the up-side, a lot of the rights to the First catalogue have reverted back to the creators. I know they’ve been doing new Grimjack books, and reprinting the old ones in big compilations.
>the top two were engrossed in who could make the best artwork.
I dunno…. a lot of the independents had great art too. Tim Truman is my go-to for “guy who should get WAY more recognition than he does.”
Don C.
Rooting around in some old hard drives, found this summary of the Comics F/X tabloid by “Seattle Four” co-founder Wade Busby. Since Wade has since passed away, this will be his last word on the subject.
Comics F/X: The Untold Story by Wade Busby
It has been a challenge for me to recall all of the events within this entire project and put it all in a positive light. When I walked away from it, l chose to put most of the memories behind me. The paper has been a line on my resume and a portfolio piece, but it’s never really impressed anyone or been a key factor in landing employment. I do look on it as experience, but it was often a 20 hour a week job on top of my regular 40 hours in the real world. Would I do it again? Maybe for twice the amount of pay. Wait…twice nothing is still nothing! Anyway, it’s something that happened in my life and I’ve learned a whole lot from it.
My main job as art director was paste-up. This involved working on big illustration board with blue-line grid, photocopies of text and art… and wax. Wax was everywhere. It felt like it took days to get it off my fingers. One time the waxer was sitting too near to the hot stove and some of the heavy stock paper that was used to catch the extra wax caught fire! If only we had pagination capabilities via PageMaker on a Mac, but Edd was limited to WordStar 2000 on DOS. I’m always amazed at those who’ve been in small press for a long time that still use a typewriter!
The Players
William Edward “Edd” Vick, a transplant to Seattle from the Dallas-Ft. Worth area was a long-time small press publisher. His Miscellanea Unlimited publishing house had been around since 1980 and it originally leaned a bit more towards the science-fiction prose realm. He came into the small press comics picture sometime during the first SPCE era through, I think, fellow Texan Brad Foster.
Jeffrey Hayes Wood, a sometime Texan who lived all around the country because of his airline pilot father started Pseudo Comics in 1984 during the time of Kevin Collier’s Fandom Times while he was a student at the University of Washington.
Buddy James “Hal Hargit” Smith, a native of Davenport, Iowa, knew Edd in Texas and followed him up here after an open invitation. He started his Ozone Press imprint in about 1984-5.
Wade Lincoln Busby, the only Seattle-born individual in the ad-hoc team began Brigade Graphics Empire- – later called Archetype Media – – in 1984 after taking classes at the University of Washington Experimental College in cartooning and being introduced to the small press network by Starhead Comix publisher Michael Dowers.
On Meeting Jeff
In late 1984, I saw Jeff Wood’s “CH-228″ reviewed in, I think, Fandom Times #10. He saw my ”Brigade” critiqued in the same issue. Upon seeing we both were Seattle residents, we wrote each other – – at the same time. My letter got to him first and we met shortly after that.
On Meeting Edd & Hal
I believe Jeff and I were at one of the one-day comic cons at the Seattle Center in the Spring of ’85. After hanging out there, Jeff wanted to go to Edd’s apartment for some reason and so Edd & I were introduced to each other. Apparently, he had just moved to Seattle about two months prior. I think the CenterCons were quarterly, because I believe I went to the next one in the Summer of ’85. Edd had a table set up and with him was Hal Hargit as well as Steve Willis (of “Morty the Dog” fame). I met them both.
Beginnings
All or most of our paths crossed over the next three years for various reasons; a Cartoonists Northwest meeting, another CenterCon, an anime video party, role-gaming. Then, in the autumn of 1987, all of us got word of Tim Corrigan’s announcement of the end of SPCE (Small Press Comic Explosion review publication). Many rose up to vie for the position of producing a newszine that would be the unification point. Little did I know that I would be included in on the game.
One night Jeff, Hal, and Edd were running around together. Someone brought up the idea of starting a newszine. Everyone’s response, I was told was, “Well, I will if you will!” I think I was approached the next day and offered to be included. I do remember after Collier ended Fandom Times in late 1985 that Jeff asked me if he and I should start a newszine. After briefly considering the amount of time and dedication necessary I responded with an adamant, “No!” However, at the time (in ’87) I was a few months away from my first full-time real job and felt that, with the sharing of responsibilities, I could commit the time to it and “see what happens” and promptly declared myself art director with the purpose of building my resume since I received my Associate of Applied Sciences in Advertising Art that winter.
The Name
I was hit with the insight for calling it the Comics Fandom Examiner or Comics F/X and CF/X for short. I’ve always been fascinated by city newspapers and the alliteration of many of their names. “Fandom Examiner” to me implied a fake history of the merging of two papers in addition to the obvious, “F/X” that signifies “effects”, and as artist Chuck Bunker once demonstrated we were a source of one’s need of a comics “fix”. It wasn’t a real unanimous decision and I admit I honestly cannot recall what the other names were that were tossed about. Hal insisted on the paper being focused on “creator owned and controlled comics,” so it made for a bigger field than just self-published comics with the addition of indies, alternatives, and some underground. In hindsight the “fandom” aspect didn’t fit too well.
The paper was produced at first in Edd’s apartment. At the time, he lived on the edges between the University District and the Roosevelt District in the northern part of the city. He lived in a rather spacious two bedroom flat above a European deli. He had a revolving door roommate situation, including Hal early on and he filled out the space with his vast collection of books, LP’s, and comics. Our printer was a ferry ride away, about 30 miles outside the city.
Other Players
Chris & Leslie Lightfoot began handling the in-house newsletter that went out to all the major contributors within the first year. Leslie was MU Press’ first secretary after Edd went indie with his publishing label. Both have since contributed to his company to a few of the titles. I first met Leslie back in ’82 because I was in the same grade as her younger sister and I started role-gaming with their group at the time. Chris was in two cartooning classes with me at the UW Experimental College. I first learned they were seeing each other when Leslie appeared in Chris’ stead at the final class session. Small world (small city). They moved to Chris’ hometown of Spokane in ’96, but have returned recently. We remain out of touch.
Andrew McQuiddy moved in with Edd in mid ’88. It was Edd’s idea to have “A.P.” replace Wood in doing reviews and a few articles & interviews after Wood left. At the time he was pretty temperamental and he and I butted heads a lot – mainly over my art direction of, “give me your pages, I’ll make it fit”, vs. his, “tell me how many page you have, I’ll make it fit”. This is one of the causes to some of our blown deadlines. Some others directly involve Hal. Neither of us would bend and of course he wasn’t in charge. After ceasing to do reviews under his own name, he returned as “M. Organ” and “The General” – – both rather obvious in tribute to himself. He was a thorn in my side at the time and I do hope he’s matured in outlook and attitude.
Toivo Rovainen is someone I do not know much about. Edd brought him on board during the summer of ‘9 I to be editor. His mode of operation was, “I’ll do it ’til someone else will.” He oversaw the last two issues, #18 and #19. Things were winding down. Edd was trying to sell the newspaper to any other publisher and I had already left after issue 18. In spite of the fact that I had art director credit and some leftover reviews in #19, I had absolutely nothing to do with the final issue.
Others involved over time in our local staff with whom I had limited contact and little time to get to know were Mike Dugan, John Hartman, Getsu-Shin Moss, Jon Lewis, Mark Campos, Tom Hart, Mark Manning, and Tom Verre.
The Issues
# 1 had a cover date of April 1988 and featured news of the suspension of SPCE and Kevin Collier ceasing his news publications after a brief return. Many columnists began contributing including Matt Feazell and Michael Dowers. Roberta Gregory was interviewed and the layout was rather airy.
#2, dated June 1988 had a Leonard Rifas interview and improving layout.
#3, dated July 1988 was the free ChicagoCon giveaway ish. I was the only one of the four of us to attend. The issue featured a photocopy of an actual envelope that we received from Ed McMahon and American Family Publishers addressed to Mrs. Comics! Donna Barr was interviewed.
#4 had an August 1988 cover date and was given away free at the San DiegoCon. Jeff, Edd, and I were there. Featured in this ish were “The Real Dirt”, a gossip column by Arnold (I think Hal Hargit) Simpson and “Ask Mrs. Comics”, a Q&A advice column based on last month’s envelope incident. Wood steps aside as reviewer and the mysterious (infamous mainstream letter-writer) T.M. Maple is unmasked!
#5 was the October 1 988 issue. A lot of socio-political hot buttons were surfacing in and among the staff and in the paper. A.P. arrives as reviewer and Hal apologizes for hurting a lot of creators’ feelings in his reviews.
#6, dated December 1988 had an editorial that I wrote stressing that there was purpose and direction for CF/X. Looking back, however, I’d say that we held onto far too many purposes. This was the first ish with national and international (Canada) distribution to comic shops. Michael Dowers joined as reviewer and Chris Lightfoot joined the news department. Bill Barminski and Natalie d’Arbeloff were interviewed and the controversial Andrew Roller contributed “Computers & Comics”.
#7 had a cover date of February 1989. It had a slightly larger size due to a change with the printer. Featured inside were an Allen Freeman interview, “Christian Comics” by Don Ensign, and no reviews from me for a while.
#8, dated April 1989 was our first anniversary issue! It featured a progression in a more tricky and busy layout. Wood returned to reviewing and Dowers bowed out. Spain was interviewed and Steve Willis penned a guest editorial.
# 9 had the date of June 1989 and had the overall theme of being the Canadian issue featuring a look at Colin Upton, John Bell, Jacques
Boivin, Chester Brown, Jackie Carriere, Julie Doucet, and John MacLeod. Mike Dungan and John Hartman came aboard as reviewers and Hal took a reviewing break. A really late April Fools cartoonist strip trade-off was featured – – predating the one nearly everybody participated in throughout the mainstream press by seven years! Jeff Wood handed off all responsibilities and stepped aside for a while.
# 10, dated July 1989 was free at ChicagoCon. I stepped in as editor and Edd finally admitted he’s really been the publisher all along. Hartman left and Carole Sobocinski was interviewed.
#11 had an August 1989 cover date and was free at the con in San Diego. Edd went and I think Jeff did too. I was back reviewing, MU announced impending expansion to indie status and Carol Tyler was interviewed.
# 12, dated October 1989, was the Halloween issue with a special reversed-out banner. Mark Martin was interviewed.
# 13, dated January 1990, featured Ace backwards, Terry Hooper, and Ed Pinsent interviews, as well as news of Jim Pack’s return with the Comicist. Also inside were a UK Comics Art Com report and a rather incomplete 1990 Small Press Directory. Getsu-Shin Moss joined as reviewer and Jeff Wood returned to reviewing!
#14 had a February/March 1990 cover date. MU Press bought out Hargit, Busby, and Wood’s share and took over publishing! Production moved two blocks south of Edd’s apartment to the new first floor office on Roosevelt Way! Hal returned to reviewing! I became co-editor with Chris Lightfoot! I made it a UFO ish in a membership-saving move and Jeff Wood announced his retirement from small press (but still reviewed for the moment). A.P. stepped aside from reviewing and stuck to interviews. Also featured were the Small Press Round Table and the Mid-Ohio Con Report.
#15 cover dated April/May 1990, featured Larry Blake and Mary Fleener interviews as well as the Alternative Publisher’s forum.
#16 had a date of June/July 1990 and was a combination Chicago/San Diego free issue. None of us went to Chicago and all of us (Wood, Vick, Hargit, and Busby) went to San Diego! I stuck around three other friends, though, to make up another quartet: Scott Tolson, Ron McCain, and Jason Lamb (Ron’s notable for ink & inventory work for DC and some pseudonym work for Marvel; Scott & J.R. have done work for Dark Horse). This issue contained Jay Lynch and Matt Brooker interviews, a report of the Glasgow Comic Art Con, and the Small Press Round Table Part 2. Hargit returned as editor, Jon Lewis joined as reviewer, M. Organ (A.P.) reviewed and we gained UK distribution!
# 17, cover dated February/March 1991 was, of course, the LATEST issue, what with the 6 month gap in publication. This was the final issue with “world-wide” distribution and the subscriber base drastically dropped resulting in the expiration of the bulk-rate permit. In an editorial, Hal explained the lack of activity and the need for a format change.
# 18, with a cover date of November/December 1991, sported a brand-new look! No longer a tabloid sized paper in newsprint, but a magazine-sized title on white bond. Edd simply had it put on the same presses as his other MU titles! Toivo Rovainen stepped in as temporary (and final) editor and massive staff changes took place, with most of the old crew replaced by Mark Campos, Tom Hart, Mark Manning, and Tom Verre in reviewing. Hal stuck to just answering letters. I maybe did only 4 or 5 pages of pasteups on this issue.
# 19 for me is an enigma. I saw it once in a clearance bin at a comic shop in West Seattle that subsequently went out of business in about 1998. A bunch of leftover reviews appear from me in this ish. Other than that, I didn’t work on it, in spite of the art director credit.
Thanks for sharing this, Jeff! This is amazing material from a historical point of view.
Yeah, Wade really did his homework on this. I’m glad that I found this article again and posted it. Scrolling through my archives, I see that I have thousands of photo, art, and text files that I should post online in various venues, related to the history of small press and comic book fandom. …something to keep me busy, I guess.
You might also consider just starting/continuing a blog on your site and just throwing them up there as you find them. They become content people will find as they search and link to, and it will drive a constant stream of traffic to your site over the years as it sits there. This could be very helpful should you want to do more creative work like comics in the future, as you’ll have your own organic traffic driving platform and audience which is always there as long as the site is, and it required little effort by you to produce content.
I have a vast archive of art and commentary that was developed in my YaBB (Yet Another Bulletin Board) database which was online for over 20 years, starting in about 1995. Unfortunately development on the YaBB core stopped some time ago, as a result, it is no longer secure. I was defending against constant hack attacks, many of which were successful. So I took it offline. I’d like to repost it, but the database would need to be translated into pHpBB or some other, more secure, software. Right now I don’t have the time or the money for this effort. Hopefully someday. Maybe I should start a GoFundMe?
That’s actually not a bad idea. I suspect there might be a few people who would want it restored.
Hey, I happened to reconnect with Steve Willis of “Morty the Dog” fame. He has a blog now:
https://mortycomixstevewillisproject.blogspot.com/
Nifty! Thanks for link, Jeff!
Creator Jeff Nicholson and his OC, Ultra Klutz, were big news during the 1980s small press scene. Here’s a recent interview that touches on many of the same topics that I had discussed during my interview about small press/independents with the DNA.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piULBp3S-Gg
For any of your listeners who would like to learn more about SnowBuni, there is a new independent book (SnowBuni’s Phantasmagorical Dark Ride) available in multiple formats from IndyPlanet.
https://indyplanet.com/snowbuni-and-her-phantasmagorical-dark-ride
Actually, that comic is something of a who’s who of old school independent cartoonists.
Weird thing: I don’t know why, but it seems that cartoonists organize themselves into cabals that maintain connections for a very long time. Is it a way of dealing with the isolation of being a cartoonist?
Don C.
I hadn’t thought about that, but yes, I met many of the creative-type people in my current circle of correspondents back in the 1980s. Many of us are still working on the same projects, even.
I’m not sure it’s so much about the isolation as it is with the people with whom we feel comfortable; I think cartoonists are the type of folks who have a small circle of close friends, and not a large group of associates overall.
Yeah. It’s also a job that requires a fair bit of isolation, so it might attract the less social types. (Being something of a misanthrope I can get behind that idea.) I think for a lot of cartoonists the job takes up a lot of their energy and thoughts, so it’d be easier to associate with other cartoonists as opposed to finding normal folks who want to discuss line weights for hours.
Don C.
Over the decades, it has slowly dawned on me (having known many cartoonists all over the world) that cartoonists tend to be “damaged” people socially, and I don’t say that in a derogatory way. I mean that cartoonists tend to be socially isolated, awkward, or unskilled, and sometime during their lifetime they discover an ability to communicate with artwork (which is often a solo activity, for best focus). This behavior is self-reinforcing, as the more time they spend perfecting their art skills, the more praise and admiration they receive for their efforts. In my case, my family was military and was moved often from state to state… I did not develop many deep friendships as a result, but I did a lot of correspondence, and usually included artwork with my letters. This was all postal mail, back before the development of the Internet.
Just got a message from 80s cartoonist and small press publisher Chuck Bunker, who was just listening to this podcast with Pseudo Comics this week. He lamented that we never mentioned cartoonist Tim Corrigan, who published SPCE (the Small Press Comics Explosion), the MightyGuy series of comics, and many more (mostly superhero parodies). Chuck feels that Tim’s contribution to the fan scene in the 1980s deserves recognition and merits attention. I agree.