327 Market

Back to the Black Rubber Bag Chapter 3

The Robert Bateman Cover Series 100% Recycled Artist Quality Sketchbook
aka the goat book
The Happy Goat approved comic drawing book. This one I started in November of 04. (The first one I bought on the same trip to Berk that I went on with H in 11-03-- the historic outing where I found Jeff's book). It has all the illustrations from 1711899 and a few from Misc. At some point of Sat, someone said that "people want to see the originals." So I put it on the table and it strangers thumbed through it. It was a weird feeling, like someone was going through my underwear drawer. It also has pictures of J* and C* and the entire "butt" strip that didn't get published (prolly a good thing).

Astro Bright Blue Happy Goat postcard
I designed it myself. Has the fetus-making-out scene in it. Wobbly and I drew it on a dulcet fall day in Muttonham, the day HG was born.

"what happened to David Wells" a dark tale by Nate Southard
I haven't read this prose-zine yet, tho' I remember Mr Southard well. Tall and bald and possibly straight, though I suspect he prolly has a nice girl with big hair and blue eyeshadow back in Austin. [sigh]

Three glossy postcards from Jane's World.

Clutch 14 Happy War
Another masterpiece from the Unstoppable Mr Beans. I think I am going to curl up with that one tonight. Ah, look at that perfect registration. is it still a zine when you have a real press print it? But that doesn't matter, I am not going to be a zine snob.

Eight glossy postcards from Mr Deveroux
Devon was our neighbor to our left. I mentioned him before, his partner was the silent bald dude who drew the whole time. By the way, i didn't get any art done at all. I talked the whole time. there was too much energy. I need silence and solitude to do my thing. All of his images have cars and vamps.

Ad for jenny's workshops at the Center for the Book.
Sign me up. Jenny was the one across the aisle who had the birthday. Her black corset was the hottest.

Biz card from Robert, the guy who sells the goat books at Accent. I think he must actually do his own art, but goof that I was, I never found out what it was.

Biz card from Surumai Graphic Exporters
Ryan bought one of everything, but he forgot to pay and I left my bill collector hat at home, so I was powerless to hunt him down and get my 15 bucks. Fortunately, Robert of Accent knew him, and brought him back later with the cash. An oversight, and he was quite penitent. He might want to order zines to export to those zine loving youth in Japan. Do we believe him? Or is he going to steal our art to publish illegally over there (like Liesa suspected).

Biz card for Nick Jeong. Probably the coolest card ever. Drawn like a 19th century circus ad. Charges 500 bucks a day for story boarding. Sign me up.

U.T.L. A preview
Tiny zine from Dave Bergland. Haven't the foggiest clue where this came from.

Artichoke sticker from the Center for the Book.
yum artichokes. perhaps the most decadent gift from HMB to the rest of the world. Artichokes, boil them for 45 minutes, after you've picked the black slugs off of them. Dip the leaves in mayonaise, or just eat it by itself. The aftertaste is nigh unto heaven. Only truffles approach that sort of flavor heaven.

2 copies of Applicant
I actually paid for one. Where did I get the other one? it is a mystery. I bought it at Anthony Hon's table, it had a huge poster saying "naked girls" on it. Damn right. the zine consists of pictures of PhD applicants and the things that the reviewers said about them. Supposedly the zinemaker found these files in the garbage at an unnamed ivy league university. And not a single nudie picture... i feel gypped.

biz card from me! a real HG artefact.
the motto for this one (there were ten different designs) was "really fabulous comics for your brain" on the verso it says "gallery AD.com" Hm, I wonder what that is.

a receipt from Justin
I wanted to make sure that the M*ster was able to get in, so I got her a badge. Justin was the dude we had to send all the official forms to. he was a nice man in person.

unused receipt book.
I am going to plead the fifth here.

blue fabric covered sketch book that i bought in DT san hose. I had to cut out the drawings so i could scan them in. has quite a few oddities and ends. lots of c-trying-to-be-chris-ware. [sigh] some of the drawings made it into the MISC book, but who knows where they are now.

little bag with ten little zines.
I haven't read them yet. tonight, my sweet, tonight.

I heard Seth speak. I was familiar with his work from the McSweeney's True Believer Comic edition. He could have stepped out of his dour, melancholy comics. He read from a prepared speech. He shared a painful story about his youth and his comic-reading shame. Then he shared various anecdotes about his favorite cartoonists and if they were dead, he shared about how they met their end. he was dressed as if he stepped out of the 40s-- a grey suit, round, horn-rimmed glasses and a bowler. I couldn't tell if he was playing a part, or if this was him. Maybe it doesn't matter, but it seemed far-fetched that one person could be so completely pessimistic. He talked about how real cartoonists are solitary, missunderstood, and have an intense drive to create. he ended abruptly and asked us if we had questions. he gave us about 1 second, then he thanked us for our patience and he stepped down. Of course, no one had questions. he seemed to be consumed by nostalgia for a departed golden age. Maybe I am too young to understand. maybe I am not a real cartoonist.

The M*ster came one day. I hooked her up with a poetry-chapbook publisher who is looking for manuscripts. Yay networking. We even ran into a woman from one of the Wired Wash's notorious readings.