Digging In Boxes and Other Fun Activities

It’s another week and another stack of comics to share with y’all. I still don’t really know what I am doing with this, but I hope it inspires people to check out some of the work I highlight or do their own hunts through back issues to find cool old comics.

Last week, my friend and I went to the house of someone that was selling comics on Facebook Marketplace and said he had a room full of comics that you could fill a long box for $125. I was very intrigued but also knew I should bring someone with me. Thankfully I didn’t go alone. When we got there, it was a small 2 bedroom garden level suite at the back of the house. When I told him I was mainly looking for underground or 80s comics, he said, “oh you mean like Valiant, yeah, I have a bunch of those”. I did not mean valiant. The whole place was just filled with boxes of comics, a stark vision of what would happen with me if I wasn’t living with my significant other. He brought us to the room that had the cheap comics, which also happened to be his bedroom and he had about 7 swords on his bed. He proceeded to explain each sword to us and ask us if we knew how much they were worth. It was an experience… the comics were a pretty odd selection. I did end up filling a long box of various weird shit, but it’s probably mostly garbage. Remember, either bring a friend, or have a safety plan when looking at random collections from the internet.

UFO Mushroom Invasion by Shirakawa Marina.

Up first is the latest from Ryan Holmberg’s ongoing and expanding curatorial output. This is the second release from his Smudge imprint at Living the Line, UFO Mushroom Invasion. Original published in the late 70s, this work some very enjoyable weirdo sci-fi horror work. I really like what Holmberg is doing with Living the Line, putting out work that doesn’t have the traction for bigger publisher. Living the Line is an extremely confusing publisher, with interesting work like this and a Kuti anthology and then also putting out ugly AI comics and Dave Sim’s amazingly maddening Strange Deaths of Alex Raymond (that book is fascinating. If you haven’t read it, seek it out and strap yourself in). Anywho, back to UFO Mushroom Invasion. It’s pretty much what it sounds like, alien mushroom’s invade earth and cause chaos. Loved it. great little one shot. Much stronger entry into this series than the previous Her Frankenstein. This book doesn’t reach to far or get to complex, it’s just a simple story of how to respond to tragedy and things just seem to never get better for anyone. It’s nice interspersed with little factoids about mushrooms that add an interesting layer to the book.

Zoo 4 by Anand Pagalkuta

I picked up the Zoo collection published by Bubbles last fall and was blown away. I knew of but had not read any work by Anand Pagalkuta. The collection was a revelation. Incredibly strong comics. Hot on the heals of the previous collection, Zoo 4 is his latest work. Reading Anand, it reminds me of early Clowes, where he is able to do such interesting observational work while also making strong comics. Zoo 4 is probably one of my most favorite comics I have read this year. It’s really really really good. Anand lives in India, so if you are ordering outside of Asia or the south pacific, you would likely be best off finding someone selling his work in your area. You can explore his insta as well.

After the Apocalypse is from 1987, published by Paragraphics and created written by Cliff Biggards with early art by Mark Bagley with inking by Dave Johnson. It’s the only issue of this post apocalyptic story, focusing on survival in the near future after Russia nukes the united states. Judging by the cover, I was hoping it would be more unhinged, but it’s a pretty straight forward competently put together comic. It isn’t overwritten like a lot of other 80’s black and white I collect. Looking up Paragraphics, it appears that the 2 other comics they published were more humor or parody, which makes this a little more fascinating. Was there plans to do more, but with the 80s black and white bust and Bagley quickly moving to Marvel put an end to that? I love 70’s/80’s black and white comics that appear to only have an issue or 2. I am really obsessed with how they are unique time capsule’s of a particular person’s vision. They aren’t necessarily good, but they are a time capsule worth exploring.

Gear Foot Wrecks by Leo Burdak is a perfect example of this. I had been searching for this comic for years. Back when I started the Canadian Comics Archive, I was really into finding more about artists and documenting their work. Colin Upton showed me this comic and I was instantly intrigued. It is a truly unhinged work that came from another type of mind. I was actually able to track Leo down and cold called him. Colin and I went to visit him and I recorded an interview that I still haven’t done anything with. He gave us copies of some mini comics he did that never got published and let me borrow all his art to scan it. He quit doing comics in the mid 70s with his only major work published in a National Lampoon comics collection and was written by future Deadwood writer, Ted Mann. I found Gear Foot at the local Vancouver Comicon with the other back issues featured this week. I dream about doing a collection of uncollected Vancouver based undergrounds and including Leo’s amazing comics. Sadly I was never able to do this while Leo was around. He passed away a couple of years ago, but his family gave me a bunch of unbound mini comics that I intend to put together and sell at a high price at some point to help fund a project.

Kaktus Valley is an anthology curated by John Carlin and Gary Panter, with a significant amount of work that is a collaboration between Gary Panter and Ric Heitzman. Published by Fantagraphics in 1990, appears to be first of more, but sadly, it’s the only issue. This anthology also features other great folks like Wayne White, David Sandlin, Mark Newgarden, Mark Beyer and much more. Heitzman and Panter work really well together, lending to each other strengths. Their story is a whimsical short that takes place in a desert setting, not unlike Coconino. The whole book reads like a kids comic that isn’t ready to take care of children.

Death Warmed Over is by multimedia artist, Krystine Kryttre. the work looks to mostly be scratchboard/woodcut style, but full on underground comics. published by Steve Lafler’s Cathead Comics in 1990, collected varied work for anthologies from 1985 - 1990 and features an intro by the previously mentioned, Mark Beyer. This is such a great book. It’s dirty, personal, vibrant and full of life. The book starts out with a memorial about her close friend Dori Seda and their adventures welcoming Krystine in the San Francisco comics community. It’s touching and hilarious. I highly recommend exploring her site and checking out her taxidermy.

Send me stuff to read!

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Robin McConnell
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