
(This interview originally appeared in Six Foot Crow #1, so some of
the contents may be a little dated. Typo 2.0 enhanced)
Age: 33-The Jesus Year
Fave Brew: Witches
Height: 5'8"
Favorite Movie: My own cartoon-"Psycho-Motis"
Weight: 160 +/- 5 Ibs
Last Book Read: "Sexual Personae"-Camille Paglia
Fave Food: Anything where someone else pays the tab, particularly
if they're female. Tho' I tend to prefer Mex. Real Mex, not Cal Mex.
Last Solid Bowel Movement: Days ago. Got flu.
How long have you been drawing?
I can remember my first stickman when I was 2 or 3. My Ma was trying to
learn me my name, so that would be 30 years plus. I was always the class
clown-art guy in school. I dropped outta high school & started doing
it for $$$ when I got the first chance, 16 years ago.
What were your earlier Influences?
Mad Comix (not the mag, the books), Zap Comics, Warner's cartoons &
MGM cartoons, specially Tex Avery. Black light posters, album covers, van
murals & hot rods, most 'heavy' music at the time: Hendrix, Alice Cooper,
the Stooges, & Black Sabbath. I try to duplicate the 'feel' that my
records gave me. Big Daddy Roth and Robert Williams influences are endless,
I don t know where to start. And lots of totally mind-wrecking drugs.
Amerikan Primitive (Pizz's Comic book) Was fucking beautiful, any other
comic book work?
This is the first time in print I have ever seen the Amerikan spelled right.
Everyone always misses that point. Actually, that book is really fuckin'
raw & chewy, over caffeinated , rushed & crummy. The next book will
be a collection of various 'pieces', not a rush job to meet a publisher
deadline. Tentatively titled: Ugly Amerikan, the only problem is most of
the stories end in double-truck spreads. (All the rip off things)

What are you working on right now?
A lawsuit to fucking Eclipse Comics for stealing our Murderers trading cards
idea. In a more artistic vein. I'm painting oils for an upcoming show in
Hollywood & that's got me goin' around the clock (May 8th at La Luz
De Jesus). The last comix were a collab with Foetus for the final rip-off
wheels issue & a new ' Dreams' piece, the latest Motorbooty, the poster
for the World Tattoo Convention in Amsterdam, and a bitchin' new ad for
Sympathy Records. Keep yer eyes peeled for upcoming work in 'Hustler' Mag.
Who's putting out shit that you like right now?
A lotta that Italian & Spanish stuff I like: buncha French shit. Solid
brush lines, clear fast chunky art. I'm a brush guy, love brush. More English
stuff is trendy, faddy haircut & boot crap. Just wanna be a Yank. A
lot of American stuff is overworked over hyped bullshit too.
Read Comics? Which ones?
I really don't buy any comics. I'm Just too cheap. Just the occasional no-sales
sleeper. I like the ones that actually read, gotta story. The art resonates
so much more if there's some story. Otherwise you just skim over hours of
work. Anyways, I gotta see these people at comic-cons & shit. We're
all supposed to be Pals, & if I name one, I gotta name 'em all, or I'm
a shit.
Why dontcha hardly draw noses?
Noses don't carry any expression. Except for the occasional Negroid nostril-flare.
Hey, I don't mind drawin' noses. My old (70's man) shit is all noses.
Just a stylistic conceit that is recognizable, a girlie-fashion thing, I
like the way it looks. Girlie photos with the nose washed out look great.
OK, lets suppose that for a kajillion bucks, you agreed to spend an entire
week In a meat locker with only ten albums. What would they be?
Hadda make it a meat locker eh? Couldn't be some exotic tropical isle packed
with brown Wahines, eh? Very well...
1. Stooges-'Raw Power'
2. Laibach-'KRS POP TRIGLAVOM-BAPTISM'
3. Motorhead-'No Remorse'
4 . Cramps EP & 1st LP/CD collection
5. The Steroid Maximus Collection/The fabulous Garage Monsters- 'Powerhouse'
included.
In the works- 'Harlem Nocturne' & 'Jungle-Surf-Stomp'. On Sympathy Natch.
6. Swans-'White Light From the Mouth of Infinity'
7. Les Thugs-'I-A-B-F'
8. Young Gods-'Young Gods'
9. Black Sabbath-'Masters of Reality'
10. Marty Denny-Collection CD

How did the Murderers trading cards come about?
You hadda fuckin ask! Simply, I was over at Otis's house. He was workin
on this Albert Fish. Says. 'I wanna do some 'Murderers' cards'. I says:
'Like that book you started that went nowhere? Let me in on it so that it
can get done.'(Not in so many woids. but you catch the basic drift.) It
started out real fun, we'd do each one a different style ('coz that was
easier than havin' to play editor & baby-sit forty fucking artists.)
He'd come over to my place to hide from his (now-ex) wife. We'd draw, talked
about how fucked these guys are. See, were both wannabe's. LOVE to be able
to be killers, but prison life is NOT an option. We'd get weirded out, after
studying forty of these fuckheads you see how easy it is to off people &
how most people Just walk into it (being, victims). It's a very thin. hazy
line. Once crossed-no exit! When it came to the writing, we were trying
to be all dry & factual about it, then we'd ask each other the real
story & we'd blab the cool shit. So I says-'Dear colleague, let us write
this in the street patois of the common man; vernacular speech, colloquialisms,
slang, & what have you. with a clinical detachment.' Actually, I really
said- ' Let's write it like an off duty homicide cop drinking beers with
his buddy who's an Enquirer reporter.' We'd both do the research for each
guy we did, then I 'd do the final write & style out all the text. They
got big! Went on talk radio twice. CNN picked up the story, got interviewed
on local TV, were in the Times. ... Then the money came in and the 3rd partner
got a wild hair up his
ass and ripped us off completely! Don't buy anything from 'Mother Bomb Press'
. He's an absolute pirate. Now it seems folks don't remember & Eclipse
Comics has hired a big P.R. firm to make a big stink over it, with 'upset'
phone callers & everything we did first! They've made us the niggers
of the card world. In a cultural context, so to speak. Feel like a wog!
Like watching Pat Boone get famous on a song YOU wrote & got paid $3.00
for!
Where will you be in ten years?
Hopefully on that exotic tropical isle with wall-to-wall brown Wahines.
Probably working on more paintings for my 'international' (Snicker) collectors.
Maybe a few more books under my belt. Perhaps a return to animation. Definitely
NOT working a day job somewhere.
Any closing comments?
Major complaint # 1: Ever since Crumb, every motherfuckin egomaniac cartoonist
(I stand accused) deems their pitiful existence worthy of endless blathering
in lieu of a real fuckin script which you. the payin' public hasta shell
out the clams for. It's half-assed & lazy. Most cartoonists are petty,
cash-poor sniveling alcoholic motherfuckers you 'd hate to be trapped in
a hotel room with. believe me. I know...
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