DANGEROUS CURVES AHEAD- UPDATE!

Friends of the Nib, the Pacific Northwest's elite cartoonist organization, is having a benefit art exhibition and sale at their clubhouse, Cafe Racer, opening on Saturday, September 30 from 7:00 to 9:00. The show is called Kickstart Kuties, and all the work features babes and bikes as delineated by local talent. 100% of proceeds will go to assist Cafe Racer employee Jason, who was injured in a fall earlier this year.

The vast array of artists include that firecracker Ellen Forney, legendary clay animator Bruce Bickford, artist and illustrator Bob Rini, the brilliant Tom Dougherty, David Lasky and his FineComics cohorts, and, of course, the club's founder, Jay Dub.

The art will be priced to move, and there will be a lot of it, plus the Racer's usual array of artist-made food, beer and liquor. It'll be rich, my friends... rich!!

AND IT WAS! See evidence at http://www.fantagraphics.com/blog/archive/2006_10_01_fantagraphics_archive.html#115991041502635649

AMNESIAC'S NIGHTMARE

What was this place? Do you recognise it? It it that wretched amusement park again or is it a glimpse of one of the sacred precincts? It looks phony, but perhaps it's the best my approximative facilities can muster. Anyway... ugh.

READ ME THE PART AGAIN ABOUT THE MOUSE BEGGED CHARLIE

"The mouse was curled up in a nest of dry grass tucked deep among the roots of the sycamore tree. He slept, snug and warm, while the storm ravaged the woods above him. Untold billions of mice had lived in this world before him; untold billions would follow. He was comfortable."

ABOUT MY SHELL

Ten times it was admired and then it turned grey, but you can hardly remember that because by then you had departed for that amazing career as a painter of other men's children. Wonderful how we stayed friends all those years with nothing to work on together.

EVERYTHING I WANTED

Everything was neat, solid, nothing overdone. After those first few uneasy moments everything settled down. Did I feel bad about moving into the home of a guy I killed? No. It felt natural. It felt good. I always did have a lousy sense of humor.

SEE YOU ON THE FLIPSIDE

We're enjoying the walls.

REMEMBER THESE?

The old house smells like Pine-Sol. Hanging in the breakfast nook is a wooden plaque that asks, "If you're so dern smart, why ain't you rich?" On the coffee table, next to the depression glass bowl full of congealing caramel corn, is a wooden hinge that says "OPEN IN CASE OF FIRE!" Inside it says "NOT NOW, STUPID! IN CASE OF FIRE!" In Grandpa's study where the children aren't allowed is a miniature tableau of a bolt chasing a nut; it is captioned "No! Not without a washer!" And in Grandma's sewing room is the YEAH BUTT, which is given (temporarily) to childen who are always saying "Yeah, but..." when they should be saying "Yes, ma'am!" God bless America!

And yet, impossible as it seems, until recently the YEAH BUTT has never existed! Where has it been? Reposing in seed form in Mark Martin's sweltering brain; that's where! And now it has emerged from the realm of imagination and taken its place alongside the other great innocent novelties of yesteryear. Get yours at http://www.markmartin.net/yeahbutt.html

A KITCHEN MYSTERY

A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING

(Photo by Alan Bretz)

A WORD OF EXPLANATION

A concerned frankophile and toy collector writes, " I feel I must have a set of those black-and-white Frank and Pups standettes, and as an informed fledgling art collector I realize that the letterpress prints that accompany the deluxe versions are a steal. But I have very little wall space in my Tokyo apartment, and finding room to hang or store the prints is just too difficult."

Oh no it isn't! These prints, though made from full-sized drawings, have been reduced so that they fit into the boxes the standettes come in.; that is, the Frank print is 4.75" x 7" and the Pups print is 4.75" square. Printed on Arches paper, they come bagged with a stiff sheet of protective acid free paper.

And I must reiterate; what beauts they are! You can perhaps see in the illustrations above the relief created by the deep impressions of the copper plates into the paper. This explains the uniquely sumptuous clarity of these little masterpieces of the printer's arcane craft. You can find out more at http://jimwoodring.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/index.html

SOMETHING YOU DON'T SEE EVERY DAY

Yow! A whole bowl full of Frank tails!

MEN CALL IT SUFFOCATION

"Now this is what I call a coloring book," said the old-like party happily. He slipped the book into his cart. Twenty minutes earlier he had been yelling in exasperation at the clerks, telling them over and over he wanted to be led to the swollen foods; couldn't they understand plain English!? It turned out he meant frozen foods.

NOCTURNAL HENHOUSE OUTRAGE

Who's outside?

ONIONS SO SWEET YOU CAN EAT THEM LIKE APPLES