So what happened with Amazing Heroes that screwed everything up? How come I've never heard of this "Happy Birthday"? (oh, that's right, never mind). Do you still have, like, a million copies of the thing sitting in your garage?
I simply forgot to get my information in to Amazing Heroes for their Preview Special of upcoming comics. Back then I was naive(r than I am now) and actually believed it would make a big difference if I placed an ad somewhere or got some ink somewhere. Which it does, of course, make a difference, but not necessarily a make-or-break difference. If any difference at all. Know what I'm saying?
I do not have a million copies of anything. DARERAT was the one I self-published, and I don't know what happened to all the unsold copies of that. I think I remember telling the printer to just dump them when it became obvious that they were just going to sit there forever and the printer said "They can't sit here forever."
Ya know what's weird? My "career" in comics has had some incredible highs and some incredible lows. "Incredible highs" being relevant - My entry on wikipedia will never compare to George Herriman's. But here's the weird thing: I'm sitting here explaining to you what happened to the jillions of unsold turkey books I printed, and I just sold $640 worth of original art from that era two hours ago.
i just got a copy of "accidental ambassador gordo". i bought it for five pennies on amazon (plus $3.98 shipping). a few small flaws, but the book looks unread. arriola's work was rarely reprinted, and they didn't have in the local papers where i grew up. so i kind of recently discovered his work (i bought the reprint book of his work that was publkished in 1950) and was really blown away by it. he was an incredible artist, and i wish someone would reprint all the gordo strips in chronological order. if you have five pennies to spare, you might want to check this book out (but i think i bought the only copy there for 5 cents).
Did you really throw those Darerats away? Surely I would have put a bunch of them somewhere!??
That 640 bucks for old artwork made me feel kind of "giddy". I don't know why. I never sell anything. It'll be my mercenery children that will profit from your fame.
Benny, is that you? You write like Benny, whoever you are.
Well, I woulda had to pay shipping to get that ton of comics, and at the time, it seemed like a really bad idea to throw good money after bad. In fact, it STILL seems like a bad idea. To this day, I doubt if I would have sold enough DARERATS to offset that shipping cost. Plus, I'd have been storing and moving the albatrosses all these years...
Sometimes it's best to just let go and move on. But I gotta say - anybody who DOES own a copy of a DARERAT owns a pretty good comic. It's not the greatest comic on earth, but it's a hell of a lot better than most.
Gordo was fab! I read him in the Sunday funnies in San Francisco all during my youth. I was sad when he retired... and even sadder that there ain't hardly no reprints.
LOL, that drawring of MM behind the chair with the crucifix made my day.
Mr. BonzoGal bought me a copy of "Great British Comics" for my birthday this year. The book isn't that good- the author writes about comics a lot but doesn't give graphic examples. F'r instance, "Bonzo Dog" only rates a photograph of a tin toy- no actual strips! Weird.
8 comments:
So what happened with Amazing Heroes that screwed everything up? How come I've never heard of this "Happy Birthday"? (oh, that's right, never mind). Do you still have, like, a million copies of the thing sitting in your garage?
I simply forgot to get my information in to Amazing Heroes for their Preview Special of upcoming comics. Back then I was naive(r than I am now) and actually believed it would make a big difference if I placed an ad somewhere or got some ink somewhere. Which it does, of course, make a difference, but not necessarily a make-or-break difference. If any difference at all. Know what I'm saying?
I do not have a million copies of anything. DARERAT was the one I self-published, and I don't know what happened to all the unsold copies of that. I think I remember telling the printer to just dump them when it became obvious that they were just going to sit there forever and the printer said "They can't sit here forever."
Ya know what's weird? My "career" in comics has had some incredible highs and some incredible lows. "Incredible highs" being relevant - My entry on wikipedia will never compare to George Herriman's. But here's the weird thing: I'm sitting here explaining to you what happened to the jillions of unsold turkey books I printed, and I just sold $640 worth of original art from that era two hours ago.
Ain't life funny???
i just got a copy of "accidental ambassador gordo". i bought it for five pennies on amazon (plus $3.98 shipping). a few small flaws, but the book looks unread. arriola's work was rarely reprinted, and they didn't have in the local papers where i grew up.
so i kind of recently discovered his work (i bought the reprint book of his work that was publkished in 1950) and was really blown away by it. he was an incredible artist, and i wish someone would reprint all the gordo strips in chronological order.
if you have five pennies to spare, you might want to check this book out (but i think i bought the only copy there for 5 cents).
Did you really throw those Darerats away?
Surely I would have put a bunch of them somewhere!??
That 640 bucks for old artwork made me feel kind of "giddy".
I don't know why. I never sell anything.
It'll be my mercenery children that will profit from your fame.
Sigh.
Benny, is that you? You write like Benny, whoever you are.
Well, I woulda had to pay shipping to get that ton of comics, and at the time, it seemed like a really bad idea to throw good money after bad. In fact, it STILL seems like a bad idea. To this day, I doubt if I would have sold enough DARERATS to offset that shipping cost. Plus, I'd have been storing and moving the albatrosses all these years...
Sometimes it's best to just let go and move on. But I gotta say - anybody who DOES own a copy of a DARERAT owns a pretty good comic. It's not the greatest comic on earth, but it's a hell of a lot better than most.
See? I told ya! Good things do happen...
If I ever read Gnatrat the movie, I might come back for more...
Angs0n
p.s. still searching like heck for TMNT 23
Yeah, that was me.
something happened where it didn't get my name.
And a bunch of other weird stuff.
Gordo was fab! I read him in the Sunday funnies in San Francisco all during my youth. I was sad when he retired... and even sadder that there ain't hardly no reprints.
LOL, that drawring of MM behind the chair with the crucifix made my day.
Mr. BonzoGal bought me a copy of "Great British Comics" for my birthday this year. The book isn't that good- the author writes about comics a lot but doesn't give graphic examples. F'r instance, "Bonzo Dog" only rates a photograph of a tin toy- no actual strips! Weird.
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