Edited by Michael Dowers Production by Paul Baresh and Keeli McCa

FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS 7563 Lake City Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115 | Edited by Michael Dowers
Production by Paul Baresh and Keeli McCarthy | Production assistance by Michael Dowers
Front cover by Esther Pearl Watson | Editorial liaison: Gary Groth | Thanks to: Gary
Groth, Emily Nilson, David Miller, Kim Thompson | Treasury of Mini Comics Volume Two
© 2015 Michael Dowers & Fantagraphics Books. All rights reserved. | Dedicated in the
fond memory of Kim Thompson, Macedonio Garcia, Gary Arlington, Bruce N. Duncan, and Tom
Hosier. | To receive a free catalog from Fantagraphics Books, call 1-800-657-1100 or
visit the Fantagraphics website at www.fantagraphics.com | First Fantagraphics Books
printing: January 2015 | ISBN: 978-1-60699-807-6 | Printed in Hong Kong
Photo Credits:
s
permission by Michael Dower
Page 6: Photo used with
lson
permission by Jeff Nicho
Page 120: Photo used with
r
Taylo
W.
permission by Dan
Page 154: Photo used with
permission by Tom Hart
Page 250: Photo used with
Keily
permission by Molly
Page 298: Photo used with
ar.
permission by Souther Salaz
Page 384: Photo used with
r
Photo by Michael A. Mulle
on Cole
Allis
by
ssion
permi
Page 438: Photo used with
permission by Jason T. Miles
Page 656: Photo used with
Paquita
permission by by Caroline
Page 762: Photo used with
CONTENTS.
Introduction - Michael Dowers
Time Warp #3 – by Brad
Foster, Weird Muse
Productions 2007
The Van Swaggers – anonymous
21.
Tijuana Bibles Guitarist:
27.
The Crippler – by Fiona Smyth
2007
The Adventures of Fuller Bush
33.
Man & John McCain – Ethan
Persoff & Scott Marshall 2009
Hairy Crotch & Rim Johnson
39.
in The Interview – anonymous
1995
Ben & Jenny – Lilli Loge,
44.
self published 2009
Hunky Luke in Calamity Jack –
49.
Anna Bas Backer 2009
Spank – Antoine Duthoit, self
54.
published 2013
Sally Starr Hollywood Gal
63.
Sleuth – Trina Robbins 1972
Tales of Mr. Fly – Bob
75.
Conway, published by Everyman
Studios 1980
Punkomix #1 – David Miller &
83.
Par Holman, published by Clay
Geerdes 1982
Two-Fisted Cartoonist #1 –
91.
Clark Dissmeyer, published by
Clay Geerdes 1983
Sasquatch #3 – Steve Willis,
99.
self published 1983
Fresh Meat – R.K. Sloane &
111.
Jeff Gaither, published by
Clay Geerdes 1985
Jeff Nicholson interview
122.
Nicholson’s Small Press
124.
Tirade #1 – Jeff Nicholson,
self published 1989
Dan Taylor Interview
156.
8.
12.
159.
167.
175.
187.
213.
229.
252.
255.
281.
289.
300.
303.
323.
339.
363.
371.
386.
Shortoonz #5 – Dan W. Taylor,
BOA Productions 1990
Unleashed #1 – Dan W. Taylor,
Weird Muse Productions 2010
Vomit #1 – John Trubee,
unselfpublished 1990
Wongo Batonga pt.2 – Jason
Atomic, self published 1992
Marvels of the Sideshow
Freaks – Patrick Dowers,
Starhead Comix 1992
Corn Comics #1 – Marc Bell,
self published 1993
Tom Hart interview
Love Looks Left – Tom Hart,
self published 1993
Devil Stay Away From Me –
written by J.R. Williams,
penciled by Pat Moriarity,
inked by R.L. Crabb, Starhead
Comix 1994
The Exquisite Corpse Bakes A
Pie – Ellen Forney & Renée
French, Starhead Comix 1994
Molly Kiely Interview
Sass! – Molly Kiely, self
published 1995
To Wenatchee – Jeffrey Brown,
IMD Press 1998
The One Eyed World – Pshaw,
self published 1999
Colin Upton Presents A
Short Guide To the Care and
Production of Mini-Comics –
Colin Upton, self published
1999
Shouldn’t You Be Working? #5
– Johnny Ryan, self published
2002
Souther Salazar Interview
387.
417.
440.
443.
453.
485.
509.
529.
553.
575.
607.
635.
658.
661.
675.
697.
725.
In Case of Emergency Only –
Souther Salazar, Crashlander
Books 2003
Snake Meat #1 – Max
Clotfelter, self published
2004
Allison Cole Interview
Science Fiction Affliction –
Allison Cole, self published
2004
Thought Cloud Shrines – Theo
Ellsworth, self published
2007
Stay Away From Other People –
Lisa Hanawalt, self published
2008
Who Let the Gods Out – Travis
Millard, Fudge Factory Comics
2008
Too Small Comics #2 – Bobby
Maddness, Teenage Dinosaur
2010
Eric Parris World – Esther
Pearle Watson, Fun Chicken
2009
Rambo 3.5 – Jim Rugg, self
published 2009
Tel-Tales #1 – Donald &
Daniel Zettwoch, self
published 2010
Doppleganger – Tom Neely, I
Will Destroy You 2010
Jason T. Miles Interview
Pines 3 – Jason T. Miles,
self published 2010
DJ Cat Gosshie – Harukichi,
self published 2011
D.O.C. – Pakito Bolino, Le
Dernier, Cri 2012
Demondust #10 – Bernie
McGovern, self published 2012
737.
764.
766.
784.
785.
795.
817.
835.
Shuttlecakes – Susan Belle,
self published 2012
Caroline Paquita Interview
Womanimalistic #3 – Caroline
Paquita, Pegacorn Press, 2013
Artist website and contact
info
Nine Lives – Kristyna
Baczynski, self published
2012
Spithouse #1 – Leah Wishnia,
self published 2008
5/4 - Nick Bertozzi 2000
Plastic Tales and Stories
#2 – Ethan Persoff, self
published 1997
MICHAEL DOWERS
Comix
Brownfieldpress/Starhead
INTRODUCTION
By Michael Dowers
With this third and final volume of my take on the world of
mini comics, I wanted to continue with the historical part of
DIY zines. As I was gathering material I was so impressed with a
lot of the material that was coming in that I focused more on the
quality of some of these booklets than the history…
I look at this book as a chance to show off a whole lot of very
well made mini comics and some of the talented creators that were
and are involved in the medium. Using a little bit of history and
a timeline gives the books a touch of truth to the volumes that
were created. Of the 3 books I would have to say that NEWAVE is
the best. That was my time and my experience with the medium and
the passion that I put into creating mini comics came out a bit in
the NEWAVE volume. It would be interesting to see another editor’s
perspective on mini comics… it seems like each person sees the medium a little bit differently… maybe because mini comics are such
a personal experience. Mini comics are usually put together with
the creator alone in a room either drawing or folding or stapling
his or her creation together. With no outside influence, no editor
or publisher or even friends telling them what to do or how to do
it… maybe the differences are as simple as that…
I have tried to be objective in my choice of material here.
even
I have tried to show all kinds of different mini comics
though they might not appeal to my taste or what I like to look
for in mini comics. Autobiographical, historical, silly, scary
monsters, super hero parodies, sex, drugs, rock & roll, comedy at
its best, good art, mediocre art, and bad art… all of this and
more… and all entertaining as hell. One category I intentionally
left out, and would have to say includes the majority of all mini
comics produced, is what I call the “thin scratchy lines on white
paper” category. Now don’t get me wrong there are some very good
comics produced in this category; a few have been reproduced in
these volumes. Some of these are drawn that way by a cartoonist
intentionally, but these type of minis are in most cases usually
somebody’s first attempt at making a zine or by a cartoonist who
really wants to make a mini but doesn’t quite have the skills or
the knowledge to go about it… a beginner, a first timer, or just
a plain bad artist or bad writer or both. However I have many
times over seen this type of creator all of a sudden take off and
8
within a very short
time or within just
a few mini comics sta
producing exciting wor
rt
k.
I used to separate
those kinds of minis
(thin scratchy lines
on white paper) out
of my collection. Whi
ch was probably abo
half of the collectio
ut
n I had gathered. Abo
ut 1996 I took all
my “scratchy minis”
of
(literally hundreds
of them) and sold the
to some collector thi
m
nking at last I have
gotten rid of all tha
blighted useless wor
t
k only to find out 10
years later that a bun
of that stuff was goi
ch
ng for 40 or 50 dol
lars apiece on eBay…
well, I will never
oh
say that I know eve
rything there is to
about mini comics bec
know
ause I have very rar
ely ever guessed whi
one of these books
ch
would be the most val
uable. I learned a
time ago to just col
long
lect what I like and
I usually come out jus
fine, but after all
t
these years I still
have a problem with
scratchy lines on whi
“thin
te paper”…
What I am trying to say
is that while I try to
tive overview of the
give a good objecmini comics world, my
vision is very slante
Yes, I do have my own
d.
perspective on what
is good and the comics
that got me excited
and was willing to pre
sent here. This is why
it would be interesti
ng to see another edi
tor’s perspective…
It is hard to predic
t what the value of
mini comics will be
the future. I have see
in
n the value go up and
down and up and down
again. Vintage mini
comics seem to be gai
ning some ground aga
Around 2001–2002, vin
in.
tage 20–25 year old
mini comics were goi
for big bucks. Depend
ng
ing on the material
and
certain artists and
publishers it was eas
y to get 20–40 dol
lars for an eight
mini comic on eBay.
page
Even more money, and
I mean a lot more mon
could be fetched for
ey,
certain key issues of
the early works of som
successful alternati
e
ve comic book artist
s. That lasted for
2–3 years before the
about
bottom fell out of the
market and for certai
comics you used to be
n
able to get 20 bucks
for, you are lucky if
you could get 3–4 dol
lars on eBay. Since
then the market for
of these books has gon
some
e up again but certai
nly not to the outrageous prices one use
d to be able to get
.
I
loo
mini comics being pro
k at a lot of the
duced today and thi
nk about their possib
value in the future
le
. There are a lot of
very high quality min
comics being made tod
i
ay. In the ‘80s most
mini comics were rep
duced on photocopy mac
rohines. Black ink on
white paper was pretty
much the standard.
For a little variat
ion one could use col
paper with the black
ored
ink. Some people wer
e able to have the
comics offset printe
ir
d and a lucky few wer
e even able to print
full color. Today I
in
see more creators put
ting a high quality
ef9
are so good they
fort into their handmade productions. Some of these
d covers and
are like works of art with multi colored silk screene
printing, and home
ph
risogra
s,
binding
perfect
e
handmad
rs,
interio
of the procomputers putting out some top notch work. The quality
the ’80s and the
duction of the mini comic has changed a lot since
ty, excellence, and
integrity is much greater because of the sinceri
print runs I would
amount of work put into them. With some very low
e in the future.
think that some of these books could be quite valuabl
dumb mistake in
Stupid Mistakes Dept: I confess to making a very
mess. After the
the last volume and need to straighten out my own
I got a message
first volume of Treasury of Mini Comics came out,
an Patrick Rosenvia Facebook from super underground comix histori
on was the first
kranz stating that he never said that Gary Arlingt
ted to him,
attribu
I
nt
stateme
a
comics,
mini
market
and
to publish
s’ website. I want
which I had mistakenly taken from Dylan William
pointing me in the
to apologize to Mr. Rosenkranz and thank him for
right direction and not beating me up over it.
comics has been
Putting together these three volumes about mini
has ever cringed
at times a mind numbing challenge. I am not one who
very large projfrom the size of a project, and have produced a few
in and keep on
ects in my time with no fear whatsoever… just dive
of the tunnel has
swimming until you can see the light at the end
gigantic mini books
always been my motto. This three volume series of
it coming to an
see
to
glad
Iam
and
es
abiliti
my
tested
has really
not even gotten
have
ly
certain
and
s
mistake
few
a
end. Yes, I made
appeared in the
close to featuring all the artists who should have
give the reader a
books. But in the end I feel I have been able to
a look into a selfgood overview of what mini comics are about and
made world of some very talented creators.
comics we have
Continuing in the search for the origin of mini
the ’60s and ’70s
talked about how the underground comix movement of
preceded them. Or the Fanzines of the
late ’50s and early to mid ’60s could
have been the spark that started the
wildfire of DIY comics. But, really, we
already know the origin of mini comics in America. Dating back as early
as the late 1920s, it was the Tijuana
Bible: A group of explicit underground
sex comics that were created by the
New York mafia. Some say the term “Tijuana Bible” originated when the Feds
would come knocking on the sellers’
10
doorsteps, and their defense was “We didn’t print
these comics… they
are coming out of Tijuana.” Somebody had enough
of a sense of humor
to start calling these little eight page comics “Tijuan
a Bibles” and
the name stuck. Literally thousands of these tiny
sex comics were
produced and millions sold under the table through
men’s clubs (Lions, Mason’s, Elks), the local pub, carnivals and
the circus, dock
workers’ and labor organizations. Any place where
men gathered. The
featured popular cartoon characters and famous Hollywo
od actors and
actresses acting out their little sexual tales. By
today’s standards
these booklets are fairly harmless. A common plot
for the Tijuana
Bible: The woman is a total knockout and the man
is just a goofy immature, inexperienced geek with a hard on. This scenari
o is repreated
over and over again in the eight-pagers.
Because of America’s obsession with breakfast cereals
, mini comics were way more popular in the late 1940s and early
’50s than they
are today. Breakfast cereals used mini comics
as premiums to get
parents to buy the cereals for the their kids.
Hundreds of titles
were printed and placed into the morning rituals
of most of America’s households. The looney toon
bunch (Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, and
all their friends) were some of
America’s favorite mini comics
titles. Today these mini comics
can go for big bucks and can create a very valuable collection.
Treasury of Mini Comics Volume
Two slowly begins with the real
origin of mini comics, the Tijuana Bible… I have included one original, authentic
Tijuana Bible title
from the 1930s. For those of you who have never
seen a real Tijuana
Bible, you can now say you have had the experience.
What follows is a
flood of modern versions of mini comics artists
playing around with
the format of the original Tijuana Bible includi
ng an amazing version of one of Jim Woodring’s characters (Frank)
called Spank from
the French artist Antoine Duthoit, living up to
the reputation of
the Tijuana Bibles, stealing an already publish
ed and copyrighted
cartoon character and turning it into a deviant
sex fiend… a rare
treat indeed.
This book really begins at the end with a special
tribute by
Newaver extraordinaire Brad Foster, an emotional
and passionate look
at aging mini comics creators. Old Newavers never
die, they just move
into their mothers’ basements.
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19
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24
25
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30
31
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34
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36
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38
39
40
41
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44
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