RESPECTO! Gets Some Respect!

 A good news update on my comix story “RESPECTO!” (background info is in my September blog post). House of Harley, the British Comics publisher of the annual anthology publication UGLY MUG, has been doing a great job sending out review copies of UGLY MUG #7, that my story RESPECTO! appeared in, and it’s getting some positive feedback and attention.

First up is THE AWESOME COMICS PODCAST (Vince Hunt, Dan Butcher and Tony Osmond) which I was unaware of until now. I believe it was Tony’s pick to review UGLY MUG #7 (please correct me if I’m wrong), which begins at the one hour and fifty-nine minute mark (1:59) and “RESPECTO!” is talked with enthusiasm, at the (2:02) mark. I really enjoy how these three guys banter about comics, even when they aren’t talking about my stuff  and will add them to my extremely-too-long podcast queue. Here’s ACP episode #433 – ‘Monster MONSTER”. Enjoy!

Next up is a YouTube based video podcast called “Talking Small Press Comics” with Larned Justin and Steve Keeter. In episode #56, they review UGLY MUG #7 beginning at the (31:35) mark and mention “RESPECTO!” twice, first at (34:58) and again at (38:02). Unfortunately, they fail to give me credit (I did sign my comic in the first panel and I’m credited in the back of the book), which was a minor thing. I do appreciate how much they enjoyed the story and art. It’s fun to watch them flip through the book and show pages to the audience via their webcams. Larned and Steve look like they are having a lot of fun looking at the comics.

This is cued to the RESPECTO! part of the talk, but if you want to listen to the entire section on UGLY MUG #7, go back to the 31:35 mark.

Last up is a traditional blog post mention in Win Wiacek’s “NOW READ THIS!” from November 30, 2023, “Ugly Mug #5, 6 & 7”. Overall Win seems to be a fan of UGLY MUG and though “RESPECTO!” is only mentioned and not talked about in detail, I do appreciate being in such great company. This was another comics/comix blog that I wasn’t familiar with and look forward to digging through previous posts and reading new entries.

Ugly Mug #5, 6 & 7

It’s very satisfying to see something you create being seen and talked about within the comics community. One of the beautiful things about the internet is how easy and immediate it facilitates community and connection. That’s a true boon for small, weird art groups to connect and support each other as these podcasts and blog do for underground (? is there really an underground scene now? A topic for another time…) art, comix, music, film, etc.

Copies of UGLY MUG #7 can be ordered through LULU press.

Read more about UGLY MUG at House of Harley.

OK HW

UGLY MUG #7 – RESPECTO! Finds a Home in the UK Comix Scene

It has been too long since I had a comix story in print, actually in any form available in a public way. You would have to go all the way back to December of 2010 (!) where I had a three-page Xmas story called “Santa Dali” printed in the zine "Pork Belly: Special Santa Issue”. How and why it's been so long since I dropped out of the scene is no matter, just too busy living, but now I'm back with a four-page story called "RESPECTO!" that is right at home in the pages of UGLY MUG #7, an annual British anthology of weirdness lovingly curated and published by The House of Harley. UGLY MUG is a print only publication that can be ordered through the HOH website. Besides my tale, the rest of the 120 pages is filled by a stable of wild ink-slingers including SAVAGE PENCIL (The Legend), John Bagnall, Ed Pinsent, Tom Baxter Tiffin, Jason Atomic and many others.

My story "RESPECTO!" has two inspirations; first was an unfortunate message exchange with an unhinged individual hurling insults and threats at me and in the same breath demanding respect, totally unaware of the hypocrisy of what they were saying . It made me think about what respect is and how do we go about trying to get it. The second inspiration was to use the bizarre and beautiful African masks that I love to study and draw. There may be some who will call this "cultural appropriation", but my intent is to show my respect for this art and culture. These are not my designs, just my interpretation. To dispel any confusion, I have included the origin tribe and region information with each character and hope people will be curious enough to do their own research and learn about African tribal art.

OK HW

Order UGLY MUG #7 at The House of Harley